My hair needs keep changing....

At one point in my naturale life, Kinky Curly hair custard (weird but mustard sounded more right for a sec) was all I needed and my Fro and I were happy. Then a few years later my hair hated it! Mucousy, (I am British-influenced you see), and plain too heavy for my mane! Enter kinky curly leave in. Absolutely love that stuff! Fro decided she outgrew that too..... Dang!

Oh Cantu! Cantu made the leave in conditioner just for me! A little goes a loooong way!! I can still use it for my twists but not a quick leave in for a wash n go. Yucky mess. 

Shea moisture's curl enhancing smoothie is almost edible. That stuff is amazing! I have to be careful not to use too much anymore or my hair remains heavy for days. A dolop for the whole head. That's it! Used to be I needed to use it section by section. Not anymore. Fro ain't so greedy anymore I guess. 

It's been a journey of discovery and having to go along with Fro's needs and demands. At this juncture, seems like my good ole spritz still works its magic on Fro. I know moisture, temperatures, wind etc all factor in when it comes to what your hair needs. Different seasons, different needs.

Don't know if I'm the only one who has experienced issues with product rejection but I will sure Google to find out! 

One of these days I will figure out my winter/fall stash, spring stash, and  summer stash. Maybe even have a grey basket for the winter, green for spring, and yellow for summer. Orange for fall? I live in Texas. All I have is one barrel of stash.... Oak wood blinged with turquoise and a touch of leather. 😆. jk. Getting country-fied (country fried? lol!) here. Kidding. Sometimes I feel like a nut.... 😎sometimes I don't!

It's your mane, love it!

Mrs. Roulette

Crochet Braids with Marley hair.

I don't even know why they call it crochet braids. I mean, it's a weave don't you think? 

I was going through a spell, and I was super tired of Fro driving me nuts. The mister knew it was coming..... Another failed attempt at a different do. And I was bent on it too! So I lived on YouTube. Lawd I did! 

Then I started having visions of myself as a hair pro. Pst! Then I decided to go at it.

So I tried and succeeded! This monster of a marley crochet braid was the ish! That night I mean. Then I woke up. Poof! Hair everywhere! My head was as big as my pillow. I could tell mister was not fond of it but he kept mum. Smart fella. 

See, the vision was for it to look like so,

On the wedding day that is, not after lol! 

I absolutely had not time the night before or morning of the wedding to re-dip the hair to create the look I was going for. So I bravely befriended the giant Fro. Next day was a dear friend's wedding. This naturale was going to rock it! 

The pic above was after I re-dipped the mess to tame it a little bit (days after the weddo). It wasn't that bad on the big day actually, except I think my head took more mega pixels than necessary in the pictures. 😛

There we are! Fro and I taking center! Looks fab though don't you think? The bride was stunning, and her girls? Well, we were super hot! Loved our dresses! 

Back to the hair story. 

Few days later, I had to do something different with my crochet weave. Ahem! Braid. 

Then another day...

Creativity fixes lots of messes. 

Would I do marley hair again? Prolly as twists, not crochet. Hubby later admitted texture was too rough and he didn't like it. Well, I didn't much care for it either! But those are truths we naturales take to the grave.... Lol!

I think I got my money's worth. But may be a loooong time before I considered crochet braids again. Maybe a curly type of hair. I have done that before but I didn't keep it long at all. 

So this caps off a metamorphosis story of the crochet braid/weave. Have you tried it before? Do you live on YouTube every time before you change styles? Or Google? 

Naturally,

Mrs. Roulette 

Flat twists..... I'm actually getting better at it!

So, Fro is growing and sometimes she is a hot mess to deal with. Can't believe I even toyed with the idea of locking the darn mane to keep them in check! But hubby would never let me go through that coz he knows it's my shortcut to a second big chop! 😛😛😛. 

So here she is now, grown and thinks she runs the show.....

She looks a lil shrunken but that's coz she was straight from a wash. 

Next day after this wash I tried a flat twist to the front.

Not too shabby! 

Last night I was catching up on Sleepy Hollow. Decided to try some flat twists while watching TV. All I used was the shea moisture curl enhancing smoothie. Not even spritz. This cream is superb.

It makes my hair feel so soft!

I think my hot oil treatment did make a huge difference this time around. As I flat twisted, I didn't notice or hear any hair breaking or snapping as I went. So it must be stronger. Will try to do the oil treatments once a month or so. 

I'm impressed by my own work. Seems like after so many attempts, the angle and hand direction comes a little easier. 

I untwisted them this morning, with my hands laced with a dab of olive oil to prevent creation of frizz.

Not super crazy about the results but it's aaaight. 

When my hair grows longer maybe the strands will fall better. Moknowshair is my hair crush. Doubt my hair will ever be that long or full but a sister can only dream. You should check out her flat twists!! Hair porn. Seriously. 

What's your go-to style? 

The Crown of my Glory - The Afro Puff

Looking for a quick do that never fails in delivering elegance, class and grace? I love my afro puffs. And boy have the regenerated! From the TWA (teeny weeny afro) to my now grand puff, I have never been disappointed by this style.
My puffs have been the crown of my womanly glory.

With my newest bestest products, Shea Moisture, my crown is loving it and to have so many compliments at work about how soft my hair feels and how great it smells, I am sold for a looooong time on this line of products. Found them on sale at Sally's Beauty for 7.99 each (shampoo and conditioner). CVS had them for 14 bucks or so. Really? Think I have a dollar tree in my backyard? SMH.

Anywho, I had shampooed and conditioned my hair a couple of days prior but on a daily basis, I do some sort of moiturizing. For this particular day, I used the Shea Moisture restorative conditioner after touching my hair up with a little water in my hands. I combed through with my fingers to evenly distribute the conditioner (it's great as a leave in for dry hair but I had also used it as rinse-out after I shampooed). A wee bit goes a loooong way. Then I followed with a little bit of curl enhancing smoothie. These products smell aaaaaaamazing!!!

And I didn't want to stop touching my hair.... silky smooth!!! With my hair so baby soft, I even felt guilty using any edge tamer. So I didn't. Simply let the baby hairs be.Then I used a hair band that has loosened up enough that I could double up without giving myself a migraine. You know what I'm talking about. the bands that are so tight you get a face lift and a banging headache. For real!

With the doubled band at the edges of my hairline, I gently pushed it up slowly, less on the front end and more on the back to get the high top puff. I secured the band with three pins evenly set apart and finished with my flower. BAM! Done!

Awww, look at my puff all big and about the size of my head!!!!!!!!!
Dressed down, dressed up, doesn't matter. This is one easy go-to do when you do not feel like doing too much with your mane without sacrificing classy appearance.

Do you have any questions regarding any of the products I use on my styles? Simply comment and I will be sure to respond promptly.
It's your mane. Love it, live it, rock it.
Blessings.

Flexi rods - There is always a first time!

Ever hit a snag in your hair journey where you have no idea what to do with your hair? Yep, me too!!! So I was sitting surfing Amazon (I am an addict). Stumbled upon this supposed soft flexi rods that are easy to sleep in and you get defined curls..... hmmm. Alright......

Next thing I was watching out for the mail man and wondering why the P.O. seldom delivers to the door anymore. Finally got them but it was one of those weeks where work kicked my butt to near death and it wasn't until much later that I tried them.

I chose to use them on my dry hair since I did not have forever to wait for it to air dry. I was prepared for 8 hrs or so but that was it. Sista gotta go to work! and looking like Methuselah is by no means therapeutic to the patients. LOL!

Time frame, about 8 hrs. I slept in them and I think I may have rolled them too tight but otherwise, cushy enough that my scalp was cool with it.

Took them down and boy the volume it seemed to give my hair! I did not want to separate the curls for the fro I had planned for. So I just left it like that. 

Even went to the trail for a 3 mile run with it. Yeah, sexy and sweaty go together, agree? :-)

Girls don't sweat, they perspire. Just had to throw that in there. 😜

It took a lot of time for me to get the rods in place. But with more practice (and youtube videos) I think I will perfect the skill. I am sure placing them on someone else's hair would be a breeze just like the flat twists....Man, do I have a time with doing those on my own cabeza!!!!!

Have you ever used flexi rods? What is your opinion on them?

Thanks my dears and God bless you!

Two Strand Flat Twist Natural Hair Pompadour Updo

How to style your hair the simple way - Naturally.

 It's not easy being a natural chic. I hear this all the time! How is it I find it so natural to be natural? I am sure it's not the supposedly easy to manage texture my hair possesses because Lawd I wish my mane was a little thicker so I can achieve the big twists and fros!!! It's never about the texture. I feel that it is more about knowledge of the products that work well with your mane.

Basics of hair regimen varies from one naturale to another. I mix my routines up. So it's never really a regimen. All I know is that shampooing, conditioning, hot oil treatment, masque, protein treatments, and deep conditioning are all in that non-systematic regimen. Point of this post is to encourage y'all to think it simple, keep it simple, and the results will simply amaze you.

Take Lily's hair for example. She has not relaxed her hair for over a year and today, I snipped the final few wisps of relaxed hair. Today she shampooed and conditioned with Shea Moisture products.

 

Love love love the way her hair feels after using this pair and following with 5-10 minutes of Organics hair mayo treatment. This last step is optional. She could have skipped it but I was not sure if she had the conditioner...... So she followed instructions from the last wash.

 

In comes the famous Cantu leave-in conditioner....

 

Sorry, darn picture pasted so big but this seems like the actual size LOL!!!!

I let it rest in 4 big matutas while we ate dinner then I undid them to prep for styling.

 

Last time I twisted her mane I discovered that Olive oil twisting gel does not go well with the leave-in. Makes this grainy residue. So now, no gel but not sure if the twists will hold without any, I was not going to be embarrassed with a flop. Mimi nani? Translating that phrase makes it sound a little stupid. "Who am I?" :-) LOLEST! I opted for the Pro Styl gel. Not my go to product on natural hair but it worked great! It promises not to flake and after drying, I did not see any. Whew! My choice of twisting gel currently is the Cantu twist and lock gel. Aaaaamazing! But my hair stash is in KC and I am in Austin.... Long story for another day.

 

Applied a very small amount to each section making sure it coats the hair thinly from root to tip then I did my twisting. Combined flat twists and double twists to create an asymmetrical do.

 

I love the shine on her hair!! 

I did Bantu knots to 'lift' the twists a bit by bunching up about 4 twists and twisting them snugly and wrapping the ends under the knot. 

I love how the result turned out!! She should be able to rock this do for about two weeks. It can tolerate workouts and still manage to be dressed up for work by simply maintaining the sheen using a touch of jojoba oil every two days or so. 

I hope you like it. It was simple, easy and Lily loved it! So you see, it didn't take much. Do not overwhelm yourself with too many products  for one-time styling. With time, you will learn your own basic styling must-haves. For me, it is the Cantu leave-in and jojoba oil/my homemade shea, coconut oil, jojoba mousse. Done. Simple way, naturally.

 

Think it simple, keep it simple, and be amazing, your own way. It's your mane after all!!

 

Yours truly,

The Frugal naturale