SHEA...ruled that one right on out!

Just popping on to say the trial of the shea product did NOT go well here. It's heavier than the product we usually use and while we did not seem to have a particular problem with buildup, we DID have a problem with odor.

We were all sitting in the living room one day with the girl on my lap and I kept getting these faint whiffs of yucky smell. I made everyone in the room smell their feet to rule out the source of the offensive odor. It wasn't sweaty feet, but I wasn't far off. It was sweaty head! Oh, MAN! Not sure if it was shea and sweat alone, or shea and sweat and chlorine from the afternoon swim, but either way the shea was a common denominator and had to go.

We are back to our usual routine with no more stinky problems. I'm not throwing out the shea just yet because I do think it's fine in the winter time when the girl's head isn't sweating much.

We're still up for a change so I do think it's finally time to order the Kinky Curly products and give them a go. Watch for that review in the next few weeks.

Anyone else have seasonal products? I'm curious...

Ciao,

Jenny

Changing Up the Routine

We've been doing the same thing product-wise for a while now, we're bored, and getting the itch to change it up a bit.

I really meant to test out the Kinky Curly products this summer but just haven't gotten around to it. Anyway I think they'll probably work better on the girl when her hair is longer, she's out of the car seat (a BIG curl-killer) and she's able to keep from rolling around on it.

Instead, yesterday I found a bottle of Darcy's Botanicals Shea Butter Curl Moisturizing Cream that we haven't used in a long time. On Nani's baby curls the shea was a bit heavy and I didn't like it as much as Darcy's Daily Leave-in Conditioner. Her baby curls are gone, and her hair is thicker and longer now. I decided to give the shea a go. It's been two days and seems to be doing nicely on her loose hair. What I need is something that keeps her hair from drying out and keeps her curls definied and frizz-free as much as possible.

I'll let you know how I like it.

Have a good week everyone.

Ciao,

Jenny

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Ciao,

Jenny

The Evolution of a Hairstyle

Often it takes me several sessions to complete a style. Especially if braiding is involved. This one took me about 5 days. We all loved the end result and it stayed in almost two weeks total. Here's how it went:

Day One: I braided the lower third of the back of her head into box braids, parted off a central section from the forehead to the back of the head and cornrowed. The rest of the hair went into two puffs, one on each side of her head.

Day Two: This style was Ethiopian-inspired. I've seen it on several Ethiopian women. There are alternating thick and thin cornrows going from front to back of head. It's really beautiful. On day two I braided the next two cornrows, thin ones, on either side of the central thick cornrow. Here are a couple of pics.

Day Three: I braided the next two cornrows, on either side of her head. The remaining hair on each side was gathered and banded.

Day Four: I finished the intended style this day. Here it is. I really liked it!

Day Five: The first cornrow was fuzzy by day five so I took it out to rebraid it. I liked the mohawk look the loose hair created so much, that my girl ended up wearing it as a style for several days!


This is my favorite style yet, we'll do it again for sure!

Ciao!

Jenny

Holiday Hair - 4th of July

This style evolved. It started as a simple puff style early in the week. The girl's hair was divided into four sections by one center part forhead to nape, and one part ear to ear. The sections were gathered into one puff each. Later I made the center part a zig zag part. Today I cornrowed and braided.

The style features red, white and blue star beads braided into the first cornrow, and the same beads hanging from the ends of her braids in the back. The ends of the cornrows are banded with red, white and blue terrycloth bands. I love this look from the front with the zig zag part and a hint of beads hanging in the back. From the back, I don't love it so much.

It's supposed to rain here on the evening of the 4th. If it does, that'll be the third year in a row. Bah humbug!

Happy 4th of July to my American readers!

Beach Hair

I really wasn't expecting my girl to have great looking hair at the beach last week. But sea water had a surprising effect. Her hair formed tiny bouncy, springy spiral curls all over her head. She wore her hair loose all week. I rinsed it daily and washed it twice. I used Darcy's daily conditioner in it twice a day and let her play in the sand and water as much as she wanted. I loved the windswept coily look. It fit the environs perfectly and looked beautiful on her.

Detangling did pretty much suck when the week was over. That was the one big downfall. We're back to puffs this week. Nothing exciting - but they do look cute.

Ciao ciao!

Jenny

Box Braids

I can really see how long my girl's hair is getting when I put it in box braids. I love the look of these, and they lasted about a week and a half, which is a lot longer than styles usually last on her.

It typically takes me at least a couple of days to put these in. This time, as usual, I started at the nape of the neck, sectioned off a row, divided it into boxes, and braided. I think I did 2-3 rows and put the rest of her hair into 2 puffs. The next day I finished braiding and to make it go faster, I sectioned pretty large boxes. She wore her hair like this, and a pink headband dressed the style up a bit.

After a few days I divided some of the sections on top and made them smaller. I really liked the look it gave her with the braids that hung on her forehead. That's her Papi (Dad) in the photo with her.

I took the box braids out the day before we left to spend a week at the beach. The girl is wearing loose hair this week and I suspect I'll be kicking myself within a couple of days for not leaving her hair in a protective style. I'm not worried about salt water and sand. Those can be washed away. It's the tangling that has me preoccupied. We'll see, but I'm predicting a long and tedious detangling session when the week is over!

Happy Sunday!

Jenny

Ethiopian Music - Mesonegaya

We LOVE this song!

:)

Jenny