Catching Up

Christmas party 2011 hairstyle

Wow, that's all I've got in the last month.  I need to take some more photos.  The girl's hair is now about 9 or so inches long, and hairstyles stay in for a week at a time.  Working full time and parenting a toddler leaves me with very very little free time.  So really no intricate or even really interesting styles lately.

Her hair is finally long enough to make a veil style work, and that's what she wore last week.  I would have taken photos but the girl caught the 72 hour stomach virus from hell which threw us all for a loop.  We didn't do much more than continuous loads of laundry in between spoon feeding my daughter water one teaspoon at a time.  Photos were the last thing on my mind.  We'll have to do that style again.  It was a nice one.

A belated happy new year to everyone :)
Ciao,
Jenny

The Holy Grail of Sleep Caps

After over a year of searching for a sleep cap that isn't too loose or too tight, that has enough room for all her hair underneath it, and that stays on all night, we have finally found THE ONE. 

Check them out at Pretty AnntoiNet's Silk Lingerie for Hair online store.  They are 100% silk, and made just for girls, bonnet style.  The band is part elastic, part silk tie; you can make it as tight or loose as you need to, so it will grow with your child's head.  The elastic is covered in silk, so no  rubbing on the hairline and the silk tie is exposed and cute tied in a bow.  As a bonus, they are really gorgeous and luxurious looking.  At $18.00 each they are the most expensive sleep cap we have tried.  For us, though, the price has been worth it.  

My girl wears the cap like this with the tie in the back so the tie won't hang in her face:

But this is what it looks like with the tie in front.  Super adorable!

Darcy's Botanicals vs Kinky-Curly Take 2

Last post I mentioned a product comparison experiment I tried.  On the right side of the girl's head of hair I used Kinky-Curly Knot Today (KCKT) to condition and detangle clean wet hair, then Kinky Curly Curling Custard (KCCC) for hold.  On the left side I used Darcy's Botanicals Daily Leave-In Conditioner to condition and detangle, and Darcy's Natural Coils Curling Jelly for hold.  Then I promptly braided her hair.

If you remember, I found KCKT to be an excellent detangler, but did not like the way the hair lost its slip after applying the KCCC.

When I took down the style, the difference between products was still very noticeable.  Here's what happened:  Taking out the braids on the left side, I misted them lightly with water and was able to unbraid with my fingers only.  The hair was soft and still detangled.  I could get a wide tooth comb through it easily as I went along.

 On the right side, I misted the braids lightly with water, but needed the tail of my pin tail comb to undo the braids.  The hair did not feel as soft, and was much harder to comb.  In fact, I had to add product to it as I went along to be able to comb it without pulling.  This was the Kinky-Curly side.  And the results here completely jive with my impression the week prior of the hair losing some slip and having a different texture once the KCCC was applied.

 After the braids were removed I braided the mostly dry and stretched hair into one cornrow from forehead to nape of neck on each side of her head.  The flower at the nape was a nice touch.  We ended up taking this out the next day to wash her hair, but used the idea to come up with a similar style for the next week.  

Anyway, these results sealed the fate for the afore-mentioned products in this home.

Keepers:  Kinky-Curly Knot Today, Darcy's Botanicals Daily Leave-In Conditioner and Natural Coils Curling Jelly
So long Kinky-Curly Curling Custard.

Ciao,
Jenny

Full Head of Cornrows, Ethiopian Inspired AND Kinky Curly vs Darcy's Botanicals

This style was inspired by a 6 year old girl I met in Ethiopia.  It looked so pretty and practical and I'd been dying to try it, but was intimidated by the cornrows at all angles on the head.  But, ooooh, I am so excited about this hairstyle!  I started with freshly washed and conditioned hair, and cornrowed while the hair was very wet.  I think braiding wet hair is the main key to longevity for hairstyles for us.  Anyway, there are several reasons why I am happy with this style and the making of it:

1)  The girl mainly sat still for it.  THANK YOU TV!  I don't know what took me so long to discover this distraction technique.  A couple of the girl's fave shows and 2 snakcs...It worked like a charm.

2)  It only took me an hour and 15 minutes to complete.  Much less time than I expected.

 3)  The cornrows were short so I didn't run into the problem of the hair that I started braiding with first, running out of length in the middle of the braid.  It is always tricky for me to hang onto the hair and deal with dry and slightly tangled ends when that happens.

 4)  I had to braid several of the cornrows upside down...but it worked!  I stood, bent over at the waist and held her hair out of the way with extra fingers as I went.  I thought this was going to be very difficult, but it wasn't.  The hair being wet helped immensely.

 5)  The style has lasted a whole week so far.  I could make it last longer but I think I'll take it out tomorrow and try something new.  Suggestions?

6)  And last but not least, I tried a little product comparison experiment during the making of this style.  Prior to styling I washed the girl's hair with Aubrey Organics Honey Suckle Rose Shampoo and conditioned with AO's Honey Suckle Rose Conditioner.  I rinsed the conditioner out.  Then, on the right side of her head I used Kinky Curly Knot Today as a leave-in detangler.  As I braided that side, I added Kinky Curly Curling Custard to each section.  On the opposite side of her head I applied Darcy's Botanicals Daily Leave-In Conditioner before detangling.  As I braided that side I added Darcy's Botanicals Natural Coils Curling Jelly to each section.

Now, this would have been a more appropriate product comparison to do on loose hair.  The only loose hair she has in this style are her puffs.  And they have looked exactly the same the entire week.  Both Kinky Curly and Darcy's products have about equal hold.  The braids on both sides of her head became equally fuzzy as the week wore on.  The only difference and preference I identified was during the styling itself, specifically the detangling phase and the braiding phase.

During detangling, the Kinky Curly Knot Today (KCKT) had significantly more slip than the Darcy's Botanical Daily Leave-In Conditioner.  KCKT has been my go-to for detangling ever since I tried it a few weeks ago.  And this experiment sealed the deal.

During styling, the feel of the Darcy's Botanicals Natural Coils Curling Jelly was much smoother and the hair retained slip.  Instead, as I applied the Kinky Curly Curling Custard to the opposite side of her head, the hair lost its slip and it felt more difficult to smooth into place with my fingers.

In summary, a winner style.
My choice for best detangling product is Kinky Curly Knot Today.
And my choice for best styling gel/serum is Darcy's Botanicals Natural Coils Curling Jelly.

Happy long weekend everyone.
Ciao,
Jenny

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales on Hair Care Products

Katie at Happy Girl Hair published her 2nd annual blog post on post-Thanksgiving sales.  I've been waiting for this so I can plan my shopping. :)  Unfortunately Aubrey Organics is not listed.  There's nothing on their website either.  If anyone knows what sales they have coming up, please leave a comment!

http://www.happygirlhair.com/2011/11/2011-black-fridaycyber-mondays-sales.html

Happy Thanksgiving and happy shopping!
Jenny

Cornrowed Spider Hairstyle

My girl wanted to be Spiderman for Halloween this year.  I got an amazing toddler costume from buycostumes.com and then you can imagine how excited I was to find a corn-rowed spider hair style here at Beads Braids and Beyond and here at Keyative Styles hair blogs.

I attempted to copy the spider part of the style.  It turned out really big.  So big I couldn't even capture the whole spider in a single photo.  Here's the best I could get:

I didn't even try to braid the intricate spider's web with the rest of her hair.  Instead, I braided it all into a head band cornrow.  Unfortunately the finished product only lasted four days.

The following video is almost not even worth watching, it's so dark.  But I posted it for documentation purposes.

Happy Halloween from Batman, Supergirl and Spiderman!

Sleep Bonnet

I finally found the answer to our sleep cap dilemma...the sleep BONNET!  This is a drug store cheapy in the photo.  I tried something similar when the girl was 1 year old but it would fall down over her face.  Now, it mostly stays on.  

So, actually, this photo is a few weeks old, and my next post will be a nice variation of the bonnet that is my favorite and working really well.  Got to get a couple photos first, but if you want a sneak preview, check them out here.

Ciao ciao!
Jenny