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

It's been a long time (long time), I shouldn'a left you (left you), without a dope beat to step to (step to) ........

Hey girlies, how's it going? Wow, its been ages!!!!!! I was away for much of last month and apart from being lazy and starting a new blog here, not much else has been going on.
With regards to my hair care regimen, nothing's changed. I've reached a point where I know what works for me and I stick to it. PJ fever has since left my body, but that's not to say I'll never try any new products. I'm very low maintenance at present and do mostly buns as my protective style. I am however thinking of going back to braids or trying out the crotchet weave thingy as my hair's been 'out' since November last year.

As I mentioned earlier, I was away on holiday and so decided to get my hair straightened for ease of styling. I had initially gone to an irish salon to get it blow-dried and straightened, and all I can say was it was an epic fail. The guy did not know what he was doing and I didn't want to keep bugging him and telling him his job. After a barely satisfactory result, I knew I was going to have to go back to the amika hair salon/shop at St Stephens's green shopping centre to get my hair re-straightened.

(side note: I had bought a hair straightener from them last christmas after getting my hair straightened at the brazilian salon at clarendon street, which is now closed. As I was walking to the ATM to get out some cash, one of their attendants stopped me and demonstrated their hair straighteners on my hair and boy was I blown away. My hair came out super shiny and soft just after one glide. Now mind you I had just come out from a salon and although my hair had been straightened, it lacked that lustre. As such, I was sold and purchased their titanium plated product which they claim rivals GHD and is less damaging to the hair shaft than ceramic straighteners).

Saw these 'dishwashing sponges' in Paris and almost screamed.... Knew I'd have to share it on here

This was my go-to style in Paris. A lot of the Parisian women seemed to be rocking this style so I decided to do 'follow-follow'

Just an aside- saw these cute baby dolls which were actual perfume bottles in a store.

Curls still holding

Take care my lovelies,

and God bless.

xoxo

Miss Jay

My 3 year Nappiversary :)))

Woohooo!!!! I'm THREE years transitioning- exact date 25/4/2013. I still haven't mini chopped cos I'm planning on traveling next month and so I'd like to wear my hair straight for when I go. I straightened my hair for my birthday and decided to do a length check. I'm BSL guys (*wipes tears*).. I'ma leave you with a pic of my length check and do hope to post more often. Going through a lot of changes at the moment (and no I don't mean puberty....lol).

Till we meet again, take care
Miss J

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!!! :)