Super Easy Roll Tuck Pin Protective Style

Continuing with my protective styling....YAWN!!! Protective styling sucks!

For those that have not been following, I am going to attempt to do protective styles at least 5 days out of the week. Protective styles are defined as styles in which none of the ends of your hair are showing. Protectives styles protect the ends of your hair which are the oldest and most fragile portions. When people say that their hair won't grow it is a matter of their hair breaking off, not of their hair not growing. In order to see hair growth you must retain the hair that is already on your head. Protective styling is a great way to help this process. Or at least that is what all the long haired ladies on YouTube say. For me, I love big afros so this has kinda been a challenge mentally for me. I am always trying to find new hairstyles that work on my short hair.

Today I have a roll, tuck, and pin hairstyle. Theses styles are good if you have streched out hair that needs to be washed and detangled but you have not had the time to do so just yet. They are really, really simple and work on my short 6.5 inch hair.



The hairsyle is cute, it is kinda retro which are styles that I like. Like I said it was super easy to do. The tutorial is below.

Ladies! I need help! What are some of your fave toll, tuck, and pin hairstyles? Post them in the comments section.  

For White People Who Adopt Black Babies

I was walking through the local farmer's market this past weekend and I spotted a white couple with the currently trendy black adopted child from Africa. Now, I have no problem with interracial adoption. A loving, caring parent of any race is better than no parent at all.

However, I do have a problem when white parents DO NOT take the time to learn about how to properly care for their child's kinky hair. This poor child's hair was matted, dry looking, had broken ends, and I am sure it has not ever been cared for properly since she left Africa. It took everything in me to NOT go over to the parents and beg them, "Please let me teach you how to do your child's hair." I hate when people give me unwanted advice about my hair, diet, and whatever else they see fit, so I just watched them from afar and prayed that one day they would be enlightened.

The child looked to be around age 5 or 6. I figured at that age kids are not really that cruel yet, however, pretty soon she would be getting older and if her hair continues to look a mess as it currently does, she has years of torment ahead of her.

For black kids (and black adults) hair is a very important part of their self-esteem and self image. It is the dream of many little black girls today to have hair swinging down their backs either from a fresh press or from the little beads that go on the ends of cornrows.   I don't know how many hours me and my friends spent doing each other's hair back in the day. We went through A LOT of  weave, gel, hair clips, and hair mags.

I am not white so I really don't know how important hair is to them. However, I suspect that they don't understand the significance of hair to us. I also know they don't know the amount of effort, products, or techniques it takes to maintain our hair. And this really is not a problem that only white people have. I know there are many black parents who don't know how to take care of their child's natural hair either, so they slap a perm in at 5 or 6 and the child's hair follicles are destroyed for the rest of their life. I had to ask myself why was I so compelled to reach out to speak with this white parent when I see way more black parents with children with jacked up hair. Hmmmmmm.

At any rate, there are some resources for white parents on how to care for their black child's kinky hair. There is a website Chocolate Hair, Vanilla Hair which was created by a white woman, for white people, on how to care for their black child's hair. It has a lot of great pics, and her daughter is very very adorable. It is a great resource for parents of all races to get inspiration for their child's hair. many large cities offer hair care classes specifically for white people who have black children. A quick google search brought up a few in places such as Chicago, DC, and even Sun Prarie, WI (wherever that is). So if you search the information is out there!

I hope it trickles down into the hands of the little girl's parents I saw this past weekend.

Do you all feel that it is "rude" for a black person to offer unsolicited advice to a white parent whose black child hair looks a mess? Would you do the same to a black parent whose child had damaged broken off relaxed hair?

Music City Naturals Natural Hair Event 2013

So I am super super SUPER excited about this hair convention in Nashville! I actually don't think I will be able to go...my favorite kizomba dancer Mafalda is going to be in ATL this week. I am a total groupie for Mafalda. She lives in Portugual and she is rarely here in America. So I will be going to see her I think. But if I happen to be there I will see you all there!

Here is a breakdown of the speakers.

Schedule of Presenters (taken from the website)

We'll begin the speaker series at 1:45p with Kaneesha Martin of the Mahogany Suites Salon in Smyrna. Kaneesha will tackle the topic: "Do I still need a stylist, I'm NATURAL!?" She'll discuss the importance of having a professional eye walk you through the transition process and answer your questions on hair care.

At 2:30p the Design Essentials Style Team will do a haircare demonstration presenting their new line of natural care products. You'll see the team style a natural hair volunteer. The team will be available all day to answer questions about products and services.

3:45p Ashanti Pratt of Braids Ashanti will lead a discussion on Proper Protective Styling. You don't want to miss this discussion as Ashanti tells us how to protect our edges, prevent breakage, and maintain length through protective styling.

Natural haircare always leas to a more natural skin routine, Professional Make-up Artist and esthetician, Contrecia Tharpe of Eternite Day Spa will speak at 4:30. Contrecia will be on hand to answer you skincare questions and give some smart make-up tips.

5:00pm is for our Long-Term Naturals! Been living this natural life for 5 years our more? Well, Tekeisha Brooks of A Natural Affair Beauty Lounge & Salon in Memphis, TN will answer your questions for taking your natural hair to the NEXT LEVEL! Length retention questions? She'll be able to answer all those questions.

The last hour is for the kids! Chloe and Dominique-Alexis from Baby Big Hair will discuss all the ways to care for your little lady or gentleman's natural hair! The children's presentation begins at 5:45.

Do you all plan on going to the event? Have you ever been to a natural hair convention before?

Chunky Flat Twist Updo

This weekend I did a flat twist updo. I recently learned how to do flat twists so I am really excited about adding them to my styling regimen. I think they are cute, and they fall into the protective styling catergory.

On Friday I attempted to do something to my hair that I will not mention but long story short my hair ended up in a puff.

Here is the tutorial:

You all should try this hairstyle! It is really easy and lasts a while. 



Two Strand Twist Out Side rolls

I am continuing my protective styling routine. My twists started to look a little fuzzy. They actually did not look that bad, I just became really bored with my hair so I tooked them down. They were a little dry so I wet them in the shower and then rolled then into buns down the side.



I liked how it turned out. The texture was really nice. This protective styling is forcing me to get creative with my hair styles!

What are some ways you get creative with protective styling?

 

Protective styling

Personally I HATE protective styling. But I want my hair to grow and people on YouTube swear up and down this is the way to go. So I will do it for now. Here is a pic of my current protective style.

It is two strand twists rolled back into a bun and secured with a comb. BORING! Actually, not that boring. The thing about protective styling is that you have to do it a lot it seems. So I am going to make a compromise. I will protective style during the week and on the weekends I will wear my hair out.

I have also added a few new things to my hair regimen

1. I will finger comb from now on when detangling myhair for the weekely wash.
2.  I will re moisturize (meaning wet) my hair every 3 days.
3. I will start using grease and water. I know it is old school, but I hear it works pretty well.
4. I will start using kimmaytube leave in conitioner when I get all the ingredients in.
5. I will deep condition every 2 weeks.

Wigs are still a protective styling option for me. I am still in love with finger comber and that is usually what I wear on the weekends if I am going to a special event. I currently also have Creta Girl by Freetress, I will do a review on it soon. I have also discovered a new hair weave line called the Heat Free Hair Movement. But they are busting heads on the price. One pack is $139 for the 12". And you need two to do your hair. Now, the hair is fiyah, but, I don't have that kind of money right now lol. They are also tripping cause I can't copy and paste a pic here to show you the hair. I don't understand why companies do that. It is free advertsement. Anyway click here to see the hair.

How do you all feel about protective styling? Is it something you love to do or a necessary evil?

Prom updo: Flat twist updo on natural hair

Hello! Currently my hair is about 6.5 to 7 inches. I am very excited about the length I have retained. By the end of the year it should be 10 inches or more. 

This is a hairstyle that I had for prom. I work at a high school so I was a chaperon. I should have done a tutorial or pics while it was being created...oh well. Maybe next time lol. 

My prom date

Caleb the cutie. He likes possums. And taking other folks food. 

So the style was very easy to achieve. Basically you just flat twist your to the center and then twist the center up towards the top and secure.  At the top I did individual two strand twists and wrapped it around some old braid hair to achieve the hump. I secured with hair pins...that is it! It took about an hour to twist.

This hairstyle did not stay in past two days. On the Sunday after prom I went swing dancing and people kept hitting my hair and the braid hair kept peeking through. So I just took the whole thing down and
cowashed my hair cause it was itching.

Until next time!!!!

Black Folk, White Folk, and Hair

I work at a high school. At first I was a little apprehensive about wearing a huge afro. I was like, "Is this gonna be considered not professional?' But then I was like, you know what, if my hair was this long in real life, this is how it would be. It grows up, not down. If I am cool with it, others will be too.

Well, that is what I told myself anyways.

So I walk into the school and I see several white coworkers:

"OMG! I loooove your hair!"
  "I wish my hair could do that!"
"Whooo hoooo! Tina Turner! I like it!!"

This is the reaction from black folk:

General laughter.
"You don't know what you want to do with your hair."
"What is this?"
*black power fist in the air*
*prodding and poking of my hair * (which I hate!!!)


To be fair a few black folk did say that they liked it...mostly men lol.

 And my new hair did spark some convos with co workers about natural hair vs straight hair and hair looking "nice" or "in control".

I think the issue is that my hair is "out of control", untamed, wild, up in the hair, big, free formed, just...there. And this makes some black folk uncomfortable. Oh well.

First Few Days with Finger Comber

What can I say??? I love it! This has been my everyday style since I received it. Though I love the wig, it is not perfect. Here are the issue I have with it.

1. No comb! Though there is a bra strap band thingy that makes it feel a little more secure, I still wish it had combs.

2. The color is a little to dark for my natural hair. I have put a black rinse in my hair, and it still does not match. This wig is jet black. Make sure you get you correct color.


There is actually a new wig on the website which I am interested in, but it is sold out.... here is a pic:

You can find this one at www.fingercomber.com when they get back in stock.

This weekend when I have time I am looking forward to experimenting and playing around with the wig more. More pics to come!

 

UPDATE:

A few more looks with Finger Comber are here.

Finger Comber Wig is Here!

I finally ordered and have my fingercomber wig. I loooooove it!  A better review to come.

Here is a sneak peek.

If you want to order go to www.fingercomber.com.