Hair Yoga: Stretching & Twisting for Healthy Hair!

Hello Beauties!

My hair has been stressed and tense lately, and I needed to find a solution. I was fed up with the tangles, knots and uneven growth. When my body is tense, I can rely on yoga to loosen me up and make me less stressed. I thought that if yoga can do such good things for the body, why can't there be yoga for the hair? Then I realized - there definitely is such a thing as hair yoga! It's basically what most naturals in a blogosphere and on youtube have been talking about, but I thought a comparison to yoga works to remind me that I need to "destress" my hair.

Let me explain exactly what I mean. There are only two moves in hair yoga

1. Stretching: This basically means keeping you hair detangled as much as possible. This limits shrinkage and KNOTS. Knots have to by clipped, which limits growth retention!
2. Twisting: Putting your hair in two strand twists or braids as much as possible keeps your hair in a stretched state. Twists and braids also retain moisture (in my experience at least). If you leave your twists or braids in for a week or more, then you will lessen the amount of "handling" (brushing, combing, playing with) that your hair goes through, which then limits opportunities for breakage. 

This is all I mean by twists:

This "hair yoga" analogy is kinda corny, but helps me remember that I don't want my hair to be all tense and tangled. Also, I think it pretty much explains why everyone is so hype over protective styling. Protective styling really does help. Now that I have 5+ inches of hair on my head, I really gotten to know my hair type. Its EXTREMELY curly, and the curls are small, which means endless knots. To be honest, I think this 5-6 inch average height is awkward. I'm struggling with coming up with cute styles, and sometimes I just don't have time. Furthermore, I'm getting tired of knots, so over the passed couple weeks I've rarely been seen out and about in just a wash-and-go afro. I keep my hair in twists. I don't LOVE the twists aesthetically, but I've found ways to make them work for me:

• Tiny Twists: smaller twists tend to "adopt" to my curl pattern, while larger twists just hang.

Larger twists 

I didn't really like how these twists came out, they remind me of spider legs lol

Smaller twists

These took longer (way longer) to do, but I like them better

• Curling my twists: Using Eco Styler Gel and perm rods I simply curl and set my twists. Here's how it looks:

At the end of the week, usually a day or two before I shampoo my hair, I'll probably untwist and wear a twist-out. This works well because the twist-out lasts through Friday and Saturday - the days I might want to go out, socialize etc. 

I really hope this "hair yoga" plan works to retain my growth. I plan to take it on as a hair-lifestyle, instead than just a thing I'll do until I have x amount of new growth. Although... I actually would like to have about 5 new inches of growth by this time in December. *crosses fingers*

While I've been protective styling for a while, this particular blog post was inspired by Kimmaytube's video: "AFRO - Why I won't wear my hair in one!" WATCH it - its very informative.

Be beautiful :)

xoxo

Estelle. so unique and fly!

Henna Experimentation Part 2

Hey Lovelies!

So, above is my part two vid. It's already been a month since I dyed my hair using Henna! In all honestly, I don't think it was worth all the hype. The color change was barely noticeable and while I was scared to dye my hair, I did intend for the change to be noticeable. The redness is pretty in the sunlight and all, but that's about as much as it does in terms of color difference. I plan to dye my hair a fun color for the spring, hopefully in March, using an actual boxed dye. (I'll definitely let you know how that goes lol.)

As for the conditioning....

Its nothing to go crazy about. There was a lot of residue which was very annoying. I don't know if that's because the brand of Henna I used was not powdered out well, or if it was because I'm bad at rinsing out my hair, but either way, there was too much residue for my liking. The MOST annoying part has been the SMELL. Days after, whether I was co-washing, shampooing, or styling, I could still smell it.... Finally, my hair was no softer than it would be if I had just used a regular conditioner. All in all, Henna doesn't seem to be a big deal. Experimenting was fun though.

Would I suggest Henna?

Yes, if you want a slight change in color you should try it. Henna has a different impact on everyone's hair, it mostly depends on the porosity of your hair follicle. However, if you just want to condition, I would say to go with your routine deep conditioner or just shea butter & olive oil.

And that's that!

I hope this gave you a little insight on my Henna experience :)

BEFORE HENNA-ing:

AFTER HENNA-ing:

Much love to you!!!!

Marsha Ambrosius!

Henna Experimentation Part 1

Hey Everyone!

This is a video from my youtube channel about Indian Henna as a natural Hair Dye.

I wanted to try some new color on my hair, but I was scared to do a box dye. (However, I will rack up some courage and do it in the spring!) I decided to look for something natural, and Henna was the first thing that came up in my search.

For information on what Henna is and dying naturally curly hair click here >> http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/kinky-hair-type-4a/coloring-type-4-hair

If you decided not to click, its a grounded up plant from India and parts of Africa, that when combined with liquid can be used as either body art or as a hair conditioner/natural highlighter. For more info watch my video/click the link!

In my part 2 video/blog post I will talk in detail about my results and how my hair looked/felt in the days after I dyed it!


Stay tuned!

Be Big & Beautiful

Solange Knowles!

Dealing with Hair Drama

Hey Everyone!

So today I just wanted to talk about the hair drama I've been having. I went natural in December 2010, and I haven't had dandruff since.... and now its back. Its crazy. I don't know what started it really. I experimented with hair weaving last month. I had kinky twists in for about a week, and thats when I notices the dandruff. So I guess I'd say thats what it was. I'm trying to find a solution, and for now I'm going to try improving my moisturizing regimen. I wash my hair (at night)

Then...

1. I put 2 pumps of "Mixed Silk Leave-In Conditioning Creme" from roots to ends

2. I put 2 pumps of "Herbal Essences Leave-In Protector" (for split ends)

3. I did two-strand twists using "Shea Moisture Curling Souffle"

In the morning
4. I conditioned my scalp with Olive Oil and Castor Oil

I'm hoping this method works. If my dandruff decides not to leave I'm going to buy tea-tree oil (suggested for dandruff) to see how that works.

The other issue I'm having is with knots. KNOTS KNOTS KNOTS!!! I hate it. Everyday. All the time. The worst is when I've just detangled my wet hair, then it starts to shrink on itself and knot up.

My solution to this one is going to be protective styling. My go-to style is two-strand twists. With this style, my hair is entirely combed out, and plaited in some way. I find that I play with my hair less when its twisted, so this helps too.

Third and last problem. Uneven growth. the front center portion of my hair grows sooo much faster than the rest. It makes my afro look awkward. My solution to this is basically the same - more olive oils and more protective styling. I'm also trying to drink more water.

If you're having the same problems, comment with any solutions you have, or tell me if my regimen works for you!

Hope this helps :)

Be big and beautiful!
xoxo

Bob Marley's hair is classic!

One Year (and some) of Happy Nappiness!

Hey Lovelies!

I've been trying to do a better job of document my hair growth and styles, and I just wanted to share some pictures from late 2011 with you.... By the way Happy New Year!!! My goal for this year is to really get some good blogs done (in a timely manner). I'm really hoping to have a HUGE Afro by December 10 2012 (My Natural Anniversary) so part of my good hair care regimen will be documenting what I'm doing. Ok so here are my pics!

So at the moment I consider myself to be a 4A- after washing and conditioning, my curls are very spirally, and are a little smaller than the width of a pencil

OCTOBER

Don't mind the ridic face I was making.. I was being a fool lol... no particular style here 

I loooved how these curls came out so I had to take a pic. This was a Wash-and-Go

NOVEMBER

Big Twist - Twist Out (I'll explain at some point)

Twist-out part 2

My Twisties! I kept these in for like a week and a half.

I tried kinky twists for about 2 weeks. They came out nicely!

After I took out my kinky twists I had a pretty decent  fro.
I'm lookin kinda rough tho... I think I was tired

JANUARY

I did some more twists for the beginning of the year.
They came out pretty wild but I don't really care lol.

Yep! So thats about how my hair has been lookin' for the past couple months. I've been having some protective styling issues, and I'll share them in another post.

TTYL!

Be Big & Beautiful :)