Style Series 14 - Straight hair don't curr

When it comes to styling my hair I've been pretty low maintenance going with the bun and changing the partings for a varied look (yes, it has reached that point). The only other thing I do is to straighten it, and that's usually when I am travelling or have an event coming up. As I don't have the time for all them intricate natural hairstyles, straightening has become my go to option thus far. I try not to do it too frequently and in the last year straightened it 4 times - Sept 2014 (x2), Dec 2014 and Mar 2015. I also had to find a new hairdresser after receiving very rude over the phone service from Charlotte Mensah's hair salon in London (yes, I'ma call you out). Shicco's hair salon on Kilburn high road, became my shoulder to cry on, and Alan, the Jamaican hairstylist has been my styling buddy since then. His style of straightening is different to the Brazilian blow dry method I'm used to but it works as my hair gets straight with half the heat. Oh and did I mention, it costs half the price…so YES!!!

Now I must recount this story to y'all. The 2nd time in Sept I straightened my hair was all the way in the Middle East :O….I know, crazy right. Hmmm…it wasn't even funny. So, being someone that likes to plan ahead, I knew I was going to a land of no return and as such knew it was critical that a good straightening job was done before I left. After many complaints here and there at C.M, I was satisfied somewhat and went on my way. Now I had travelled for my friends wedding which was like 10 days after the day we arrived and so by that time, having walked through all sorts of humid, windy, deserty landscapes, my hair was getting a bit desperate.

My friends were getting their hair re-done and so I decided to accompany them to the salon to keep them company when the hair stylist challenged me saying they could do my hair. I was like (ghetto laugh with the fist) 'do you know what you're getting yourself into'? I explained to him that although my hair looked straight, it became an afro once wet. The guy was like eh no problem, they can do it. So I took the plunge.

The first guy that washed my hair was filipino (don't ask), and I'm sure he must have been like -_- when he saw the texture change. He also committed the greatest hair sin of not detangling when wet + conditioner in situ, and so I prompted him to do so after which he attempted to and ended up running away with his hands in the air (ok, I exaggerate). Anyways, he did not know what to do any longer and called another stylist who attempted for a bit but also got intimidated. (By this stage I was sitting out on a chair, and so it was a bit bemusing watching their facial expressions through the mirror). Anyways, finally they called one of the lead stylists who like a boss, took my hair in his palms and started to detangle root to tip before blow drying it. Now for some reason, they used the ceramic hair straightener to curl it instead of the normal curlers, I'm guessing cos they were scared. What was also really funny was my friends reaction to my shrinkage. We had chosen hair styles prior to getting our hair done; once my hair was washed and shrunk 50% however, she looked at my hair and said, 'I think you may need to pick a different style, as I don't think your hair is long enough for the first style'. I was just like watch….lol. And so she was shocked after it was straightened saying 'how, what, when, where???' I was like 'black hair magic…..shhhhh'...lol.

Anyways, here are some pics from that fateful day. The outcome was satisfactory, the only issue being the holding spray, which made my hair start to revert in some parts (esp the front) but halted the process midway with the stiffening/holding properties. Ok enough of the talking... enjoy!!!!

*

This was what the back looked like finally. Only my friends hair to the left was able to hold the curls

***

These pics were from the first time I straightened them in September  2014, before going on holiday.

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And here is the finished job by Alan, my new styling buddy; This was in December 2014. I had quite a lot of split ends and so I gave him permission to be scissor happy as he cut inches off.

***

It's pretty much hovered around the APL mark and beyond, but not quite BSL just yet. I also haven't worn any protective styles- braids, weaves et al since May last year, so I think it's about time I braid it up. Nwys, that's all for now folks.

Keep smiling and keep shining.

xoxo

Miss Jay

Style Series 13 - Curls Curls, Yeah Yeah!!!

It's been almost 4 months at this stage since I last blogged and to be real honest, my passion has kind of waned. I haven't been taking good care of my hair and had to cut off a couple inches in August due to split ends. So after all the hoo-ha, I'm back to APL hair. At this stage I'm in braids to avoid any further damage due to my complacency. I bunned my hair for almost a year consistently that I'm beginning to worry I may be developing some traction alopecia :( I'm in a very weird state, right now and do hope to come out of it soon.
Geez, this sounds very gloomy and I too feel like crying so I'm gonna focus on the positives.

The past 4 months have been pretty awesome. Got to visit some amazing places, meet new people and  share some great experiences I will never forget. For the most part of it my hair was in a bun but at the end of my tip I'm like, you know what? I want some curls!!!!

...... I decided to go back home and spend the next couple hours re-curling it, knowing fully well that it would still end up a frizz-ball later that day.

The funny thing is I kinnda like the texture of frizzy medium sized curls....dunno why

And finally we got the back view....I just love how my type 4 hair can come out looking silky at times.

Was walking down the mall, when I was stopped by these hair straightener sellers and they decided to sample their curling wand [Amika, is the brand] on my hair

I was due to wash my hair the next day, so was like ah sure. As usual, the curls only lasted so long as it started raining soon after, but it was fun whilst it lasted.

Now I'm back to my lovely fluffy hair, although it's in braids. I'm afraid I may have suffered some heat damage in the front. Was too scared to look as I blow-dried my hair after washing to make it easier to braid...so I guess I'll find out the truth, real or imagined, when I take out my extensions.

I am making sure to take care of my braids by washing and conditioning once weekly, and moisturizing and sealing every 2 days. I have also commenced taking Biotin tablets and have decided to go on a 1 year fast from heat.....*gulp*, following which I'd probably straighten my hair once a year unlike my usual 2-3 times yearly.

My friend also suggested, dreadlocks extensions, which I'm gonna try in December. So if any one knows where they do this in Lagos, I'd be very happy with suggestions.


Well take care luvies,
XoXo

Miss Jay

Style Series 12 - Curlformer set

Hello my fellow naturalistas,

Happy New Month (as we say in 9ja cos we just have to celebrate everything). And you know what, we have every right to celebrate as we have made it through half of 2013 already. I was watching a Matthew Hussey video the other day, which I felt very inspired by. He encouraged his viewers to make the most of the 185 days left in the year citing that there was still a long time to achieve the goals you had written down in January. So do not be dismayed if you haven't attained some of your goals. Just keep focussed and I believe you will get there with hard work and determination. I am excited and believing for the best. Are you??

Anyways, So I went home* 2 weeks ago and finally received my curlformers that I had ordered from the U.S since February...( boy was I elated...in addition to sighting my KCCC and olive oil eco styler that my sis had bought during her last trip to the U.S which was like several months ago....I totally forgot about the later two as I wasn't allowed to take them with me as hand luggage).

40 curlformers per bag in long and narrow

Anyways, I had a formal dinner last Thursday and so thought  it would be nice to use my curlformers.  After much researching on youtube i decided to moisturize with my faithful yes to carrots argan oil leave in conditioner and set with lottabody setting lotion.

Unfortunately, I had left one bag in the UK and so I had to improvise as the set of 40 wasnt enough for my not so big hair. I had a set of 'arabic' curlformers which a friend had given me a while back, however they were short and so I had to use 2 per mini-section. I also filled in the gaps with flexi rods and used perm rods (for the areas where my hair was sticking out of the curlformers).

It was a whole day affair and after 3 hours of applying the curlformers and 1hr of hooded drying, I was good to go.

Items needed:
Co-wash- herbal essences beautiful ends conditioner
Styling- Yes to carrots leave in conditioner with argan oil, lottabody setting lotion (mixed one part lottabody with two parts water)
Accessories- hair clips, widetoothed comb, penman brush, curlformers long and narrow

I decided to curlform on freshly co-washed hair as I had shampooed the day before.

Step 1- Divide hair into 4 sections and co-wash with herbal essences beautiful ends conditioner.


Step 2- Twist hair into 8 sections i.e. 2 twists per quarter.

Step 3- Take down one twist (1/8th) and moisturize/ smooth with leave-in and then detangle with a wide tooth comb.

Step 4- Spritz section (1/8th) with lotta body setting lotion.

Step 5- Separate a small section from the bigger section (1/8th) and detangle using denman brush.

Step 6- Apply curl former to section

Step 7- Repeat all over hair

Step 8- Airdry x 6hrs or use a hooded hair dryer x 1hr (medium heat setting)

Step 9- voila

Had to pin curl the ends cos the curlformers were to short for me

right sided view

4 hours later, post humidity and all

me no likey :(

So was it worth the hassle guys? What i'd say is if you live in a place where the humidity is lower you can get more wear out of the style.

I 'pineappled' my hair to sleep the first night and wore it with the frizz and all the second day. By the second night it had gone super frizzy and so I decided to bantu knot the whole thing, which was easy to do as I had all my sections already made out.

So I wore my hair in a bantu knot out days 3 and 4 and boy was it fierce. I'd do another style series with the pics of the bantu knot out later in the week, so stay tuned!!!!

xoxo

Miss Jay

Style Series 10-Twist out

So I did a two-strand twist last week and decided to take it out for the weekend. I simply unraveled each one but did not separate any further the original twists.
Hope you like the pics.......

To the left

And the back (ish)

Crown view

back-ish

x2

Right side- still had one twist unraveled

And that's all folks!!! :)

Style Series 9- Two Strand Twist

Hey guys, how are y'all doing? I hope great. Wow today has been somewhat adventurous. So I decided to deep condition my hair (ORS hair mayo + plastic cap + 2 hrs), as I hadn't done so in a while.

My hair had soo much build up from a hair mousse and gel that I had used previously, so I shampooed and conditioned with the Yes to carrots range. (my sis finds the name so funny...go figure)

I was to meet my friend for coffee and for some reason thought I had a lot of time on my hands and so decided to do a 2-strand twist. I had only done one quarter of my hair when I realized it was time to meet her. I text her saying I'd be 30 mins late. (How I could possibly twist my whole head of hair in 30mins I just don't know but I decided I'd try and be superwoman).

So 30 ended up being 45mins and like a boss I had 3/4 of it completed. So I simply used a big flower to pin up the fat 'juicy' twist lurking at the back of my head, as I walked out in style with my hair partially done. Abi is that not what style is all about- being unique et al?

Nwys I got back home and finished the rest of it. Unlike my previous 2 strand twist (style series 5), this was done on wet/freshly washed hair. The products I used were different as well and are as follows:

* Aloe vera gel (optional)

* Yes to carrots leave in conditioner

* Almond oil

My routine was really basic.
Step 1: Moisturise with leave in and seal with oil
Step 2: Detangle with tangle teeter
Step 3 (optional): apply pea sized amount of aloe vera gel
Step 4: twist away.

Below are pics of the finished look....

Got milk? Hair?

My relaxed ends still holding on for dear life

So that's all for now. Till then, take care and God bless.

xoxo,
Miss J

Style Series 8 - box braids

Hey guys, I think I mentioned in my last couple posts that I was thinking of doing box braids...well I stopped thinking and had them done. It took 2 hrs and boy are they convenient. I havn't been too experimental with styling however. These are the 2 ways I mostly wear them when going out.

XoXo

Miss J

Style Series 7- Bantu-knot out

So I was having a bad hair day last week as I went over to visit my folks. As usual, I didn't have anything in my hair arsenal as I had to travel real light (especially after paying to put my luggage in hold the last time....sigh...ryanair)... On a side note, I think it would be such a great idea if the airlines in 9j imposed a 1-piece hand luggage policy; it would be a blessing to see Nigerians traveling light for once (or who knows, probably mama iyabo and her 5 underaged children will be carrying 1 small suitcase each).

Anyways so my dad was distracted by my 'messy' hair upon seeing me and as usual we had the 'when are you going to do your hair?' conversation; I later made a trip to tesco that day, and stocked up on some conditioner.... (little aside) Speaking of conditioner I had to go to 5 different pharmacies/health shops today before I could find a Giovanni direct leave in conditioner. I literally bought the last two in the store and God knows probably in this city. Only 2 of these places sold the giovanni line and the pharmacy I bought the leave-in's from said that they may be discontinuing the range...oh joy!!

Did I mention that one of my natural friends got a relaxer? (ok I know I didn't mention..lol). You know what,  it actually didn't bother me as much; and it definitely has not  hasn't changed the way I see or feel about her one bit. 

For some people being natural can become almost a part time career, whereas on the other end of the spectrum, it's just one of those things. I think it was later for my friend and I hate to think that she got frustrated with her hair and didn't know what to do with it but turn to the creamy crack.

The one thing I  must say I regret however was not inviting her home and demonstrating with my products how to manage her hair. I've actually NEVER dealt with anyone's natural hair but mine come to think of it and I'd really love to give it a go. 

Anyways sorry for all the digression, having a bit of verbal diarrhea today.

So I decided to do a bantu knot out. As usual I divided my hair into four sections and starting with one section, I did about 9 bantu knots per section. I spritzed each small section with water and added a pea-sized amount of conditioner to the section before 'rolling'. I didn't have any oil with me at the time otherwise I would have used something thick like castor or moroccan oil to seal in the moisture. Unfortunately I didn't take pics of the initial bantu knotting process but did take a few of the results. The style lasted about 5 days and by the 5th day I wore my hair up in a messy bun.

PRODUCTS: hands, water, herbal essences (beautiful ends).

Day 1 hair- side view

Day 2- a bit more stretched out...i think

Anyways that's all for now folks. I found some old pics of a faux bun and a flexi rod set so keep an eye out (literarily...lol) for the next style series.

Mucho lovo,
Miss Jay :P

Style Series 6- the top bun

Sunday 20th May, 2012

Hey guys I promised i'd blog this weekend but man it sure has been busy; busy but fun. Pentecost 2012 was totaly amazing..the music was great and the messages reaffirming...I almost didn't make it but God made a way. The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with old friends over a movie (the Dictator- no comment), the UEFA champions league final with a bunch of decent pub fans and a mini reunion over indian food. I had a real good weekend and boy will I miss this city.

Back to hair tales, I actually planned on taking out my twists at the 2 week mark on Friday and got myself some tressemme conditioner (2 for 5 quid :D) and a detangling comb to assist in the process, however, sleep won over and by the time I awoke, it was too late to start as I had to rush to Pentecost.

So I ended up rocking a top bun and wearing it down post co-washing for the entire weekend.

I must say I really like the top bun and will definitely be keeping my twists in till the end of the week at least.

Luckily I had a pair of hands to help take the pics this time around :)

'top' bun indeed

side view

the back

and again :)

And that's all for now folks.

I'll try and post again at the weekend 'cos I'm having quite a busy week.

Take care and God bless.

xoxo

Miss Jay

Style Series 5 - the 'mini' twist

5th of May, 2012

So I don't know what possessed me to do this at 11:30pm last night, but I had just washed my hair and there and then decided that I was going to put in some mini-twists.

I started twisting the 1st of 4 'big' sections at like 11:30ish and didn't go to bed till like 2am.
I then woke up at 9am or so and continued the rest. It took me watching (and crying to) the second half of 'Precious' and 'The Sisterhood of the traveling pants 1&2' to finish my whole head.... sigh, now I really wanna go to Greece.

Anywayz, I plan on keeping them in for 3-4 weeks and boy am I looking forward to taking a break from styling my hair.

Below are the Steps, tools/ingredients I used as well as some pics. Enjoy!!!

PRODUCTS (L to R): T44Z(scalp & hairline), shea butter, jojoba oil, water, detangling comb

Step 1: As my hair was already in 4 sections from the wash, I decided to take down one section and  make about 6  vertical parts from my midline to my ear.

Step 2: I twisted each mini section loosely and then started mini-twisting section by section. 

the mini sections from the vertical parts

Step 3: I did about 4 sets of twist for each mini section. (As my hair density is quite low, you may need more mini-sections or twists per section). For each mini twist, I'd first of all spritz my hair with water then apply some shea butter to that section before sealing with jojoba oil.

Step 4: I'd then detangle the section starting from root to tip using a medium sized comb, before twisting. (I find it's easier to detangle if you got a good amount of oil on each section). 

Step 5: After completing one of the 4 big sections, I'd move to the next and the next, until I was done twisting my whole head of hair.

the 2 front sections

section 3 complete, about to start section 4

A close up view of the roots (which ideally should be a bit tighter)

another view

the back view

side view

I tried twisting and pinning the front section.

The remaining pics are of the finished style...they look more like midi twists to me now that I look at them...ah wells, enjoy!!!

getting my 'bob marley' on ;)

ok, so I noticed my mirror was a bit TOO 'cloudy'

And that's all for now folks.

xoxo
Miss Jay

Style Series 4

The 'dry' bun- Wahhhhhhh :'( i can't find the 'hash' / 'pound' key on my laptop keypad. Yes, call me 'bush' or uncivilized....but the truth remains that its not there staring up at me *wipes tear*
I guess the reason for this could be that this is an 'Aba' (meaning fake) style series; i'll explain.
You see, I didn't do too much with my hair over the lent period. I guess she too was fasting...lol.
One of the few things I did do was to perfect my bun. Unlike my previous post, this was done on 'dry', stretched out hair. 

I'd also like to apologize in advance for not having pics for each stage. As it stands i'm not an octopus yet ;) and until I get a tripod, please bear with me :)

Stretched out hair- I stretched out my hair by dividing my hair into 4 sections after washing it and making 2-4 twists per section. So in total I had between 8-16 twists. I tied my hair down in a ponytail and 'rocked' that hairstyle for about 2 days. On the third day, I took it out and.....

Step 1: Unravel the twists and mist each section of hair with water (or a water: glycerin mix- 60:40) using a spray bottle.

Step 2: Moisturize and seal each section using a moisturizer and oil of your choice. (I used Giovanni Direct Leave-in conditioner to moisturize and sealed with avocado oil.)


Step 3: Tie your hair into a low ponytail using an ouch less/ snag free ponytail holder

Step 4: Use your index finger to make a 'hole' in the middle of your ponytail and using that as your vantage point, distribute the hairs outwards (like a star)

Step 5: At 12 o'clock, divide the hair into two parts, and starting with the right section, gather and tuck the hair in as you move clockwise. As you approach 12 o'clock again, continue to roll and tuck in the section you left out together with the hairs in your hand.
(i hope this is not too confusing... I could do a video to demonstrate if need be)

Step 6: When you have your bun, use another ponytail holder to secure the bun in its place and voila!!!.

Step 7: Tie a satin scarf over your head for at least 10-15mins to allow the style to set.

front-top view

another view

and another

back view- z bun

and that's all for now folks.

xoxo,
Miss J