TWISTS! A First Attempt

I've always thought the girl's hair was too silky to hold twists.  They would always just unravel as soon as I let go of them.  Maybe it's because her hair wasn't long enough, or her hair was too wet while being twisted.  I'm really not sure.  Because the other day I twisted up a section of hair in the front and it puffed up and held rather nicely.  She's been wearing the twists as bangs all week and the photos were taken after a couple of days.

So.  To put in the twists I started with very slightly damp hair and used Darcy's Botanicals Avocado and Wild Plum Twisting Cream.  I divided the hair into square sections about the size of a quarter.  Each section was divided in two strands and twisted.  Simple as that.  At the end of each twist I twirled the two strands together and banded them.  Even though the process was super simple, there must be a couple of tricks I'm missing.  The twists weren't completely uniform and they kinked a bit instead of lying straight.  If anyone has any tips, please leave a comment.

Have a great weekend,
Jenny

Seasonal Challenges for Curly Hair Care

The girl really loves the pool and she actually has some talent in the water. At 2.5 years old she jumps in, and refuses to be held while she dives under, swims around, then tries her best to resurface. She stupefies us all.  I can't wait to see what develops out of this love of swimming.

So...we spend a lot of time at the pool during the summers. I never really noticed the toll it takes on her hair until recently. And now I'm wondering if pool water damage is the reason our good ole standby products haven't been working as well?!

Sunday she spent about 3 hours in the water and when I got her home I washed her hair. I used our usual Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose shampoo and conditioner. Aubrey's is the only shampoo and conditioner I use on my girl's hair except for an occasional wash with a sulfate-containing shampoo when we need to strip her hair of product build-up (check out the Aubrey Organics website). But this time after the final rinse her hair felt like wet straw.  Umm...YIKES!  I remembered I had some Herbal Essence Hello Hydration conditioner that I typically use after her deep cleaning washes.  Hello Hydration contains dimethicone, a silicone that coats her hair and seems to make it feel more moisturized.  You can read about dimethicone at The Natural Haven blog in their Ingredients Dictionary.

It worked.

Since then I have also applied some coconut oil and almond oil and those seem to be helping to retain moisture as well.  She's been wearing her hair in one or two puffs with the front cornrowed into sideswept bangs that I band to the side so they are out of her eyes.

Sorry, no pics.  It's been a hectic two weeks.  So anyway, for some reason, last year I didn't notice this type of dryness during the summer.  But maybe that's because her hair was shorter and easier to care for.  I am learning this year that hair care for my girl will be seasonal, and I'll need to change it up depending on the environment.  Not sure what the fall and winter will bring, but I'll be sure to post about it. :)

Have a great week everyone.
Ciao,
Jenny

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