A Couple of Easter Photos

How I Manage Fuzzies to Stretch a Style

The style from my last post lasted a week and a half.  I had to take down the braids at the back of the girl's head on day four and re-braid them, then took down the braids on the sides on day seven to do the same.  Nap time at day care just kills these braided styles.  She rubs her head around and they get fuzzy.  Here's what I do to manage the fuzz and stretch a style out a little longer:

1)  I always put the girl to bed at night in her sleep cap.  It really does make a difference.  She started keeping one on her head throughout the night at age two.  We use the gorgeous bonnets from Pretty AnntoiNets.
2)  In the morning I spritz her hair with water, or a mix of water and Darcy Botanicals Daily Leave In Conditioner.
3)  Next I moisten my fingers with oil (I am currently using coconut or almond oil - both have the most pleasant of scents) and apply the oil to the fuzzies all around her hairline, pulling the hair and smoothing/sealing it with the oil.
4)  Last I apply either Kinky-Curly Curling Custard or Darcy's Botanicals Natural Coils Curling Jelly to the fuzzies at the hairline.  When it dries the curls are coiled up and stay put without frizzing all day.

While I am certainly no expert, that routine is what is working for us so far.  I am always up for suggestions, though.  What do you do to keep braided styles from getting fuzzy?

Happy Easter!
Ciao,
Jenny

Hair Day

The girl's been wanting hair like mommy's (long) lately.  In this style she's got a ponytail she can shake.  She's loving the beads, too.  I hope this lasts more than a few days, we're really liking it.

Ciao!
Jenny

Recycling the Twists

Putting the twists in ponytails let us keep them in a little longer once they started getting fuzzy:

The girl and me making her birthday cake:

Hair Day

The day before hair day this week, I got the impulse to do something different with her bangs which had been worn loose for a few days.  Without making parts, I divided the bangs into a few small sections and twisted each section into a double strand twist.  I then clipped the bangs to the side.  Very cute.

 The twisted bangs inspired the style we put in yesterday.  It's the first time I have done a whole head of double strand twists.  We washed and conditioned her hair with the cornrows in.  Then, I took out one cornrow, combed out the shed hair, sealed with oil, added a leave-in conditioner, sectioned and twisted.  Then on to the next cornrow. I thought it would be faster to do the twists than it would have been to re-braid all the cornrows, but I was wrong.  I spent just about another 3 hours on this style.  Geez, I am so slow!  This gets better with practice, right?  Here's a pic right after I finished.

 The rest of the pics are from today.  Lots of shrinkage.  I don't think these will last all week, so look for a new style in a few days.  I'm debating a loose-hair day or two about mid-week, we'll see.

I have been doing something new lately that seems to be working really well to leave the girl's hair shiny, smooth and moisturized.  I've been using an oil to seal in the moisture.  I would normally use coconut oil, but being winter, my oil is solidified and it's a pain to thoroughly melt it in my hands before applying. It's just not THAT warm in my home.  Instead I've been using almond oil which I just happened to have. And I've been using it in this order:  Spritz with water, apply oil smoothing through the hair, apply a water based moisturizer over the oil.  I always thought the oil should come last, to seal in the moisturizer, but I recently read otherwise on here on the Black Girl with Long Hair blog.  I still don't understand why that particular order, but I've been doing it.  It works.  I particularly appreciate how smooth the ends are.  They've been staying nicely curled and smooth instead of getting dry and frizzy as they used to do.  It makes the style look neater and cleaner.

If you don't already read Black Girl with Long Hair, check it out.  You can also sign up for their newsletter which is where I get a lot of great tips.

Ciao everyone!

Jenny

Style Marathon - Week Three

(Edited to add above photos - I ended up leaving the bangs loose and for moisture and hold I spritzed them with water, then smoothed them with almond oil and to finish added Darcy's Botanicals Natural Coils Curling Jelly.  They lasted all day without frizzing.  I think the key was the oil. )

Original post as follows:
We've loved this style so much I decided to leave it in one more week.

This weekend I did not take down the cornrows and rebraid them like I did the weekend before, so the style is looking pretty fuzzy.  But last night I did take out the little pigtails in the back and joined the braid ends together into one low braided ponytail.  And I took out the bangs and washed and combed them.  I'll either put them in a puffy twist this morning or leave them loose.  If I have time before we leave for school I'll take a pic, so check back tomorrow to see what it ended up looking like.

This style has been so great and last week when I rebraided, I didn't use any elastics at all, so the style truly is a protective one.  It's so compact and not easily messed up by hats making it a very convenient winter style.  It did take me about 3 hours or so (including breaks) to put in, but lasted so long it's been well worth it.

When the girl was younger, about 1-2 years old or so, I used to wonder why my styles lasted a day or two instead of a week or longer like I'd read on other hair blogs.  I know now there are several factors:  soft silky baby hair is harder to keep in braided style; the shorter the hair is, the more easily it slips out of styles; and the younger the child, the more rolling around on the floor and rubbing of their heads they do.  All style ruiners.

I'm off to get ready for the day.  Come back later to see a pic of today's style revision.
Ciao ciao,
Jenny

Full Head Cornrows, Week 2

Oh boy am I happy with last week's style.  It lasted a full week, looked pretty, was an easy style to get a hat on over top, and was worth the 3 hours (including breaks, but still, I'm slow, I know!) it took to put it in.

So this week, I took each cornrow out one by one, moisturized the hair with water and Darcy's Botanicals Daily Leave In Conditioner, sealed in the moisture with almond oil (it's what I had handy and smelled lovely), and re-braided.

The girl actually looked forward to hair time this time, as she knew it meant a couple of hours of whatever she wanted to watch on tv.  Man...I'm thinking back to my mom's one-hour-of-tv-a-day rule when I was a kid, wishing I had curly hair that took her hours to style.  Coulda watched more Little House on the Prairie. (Remember THAT show?  Yeah, I'm old. :-P)