DARK 'N' LOVELY BRAIDS' N WEAVES SYSTEM

A few months back the lovely people at Dark 'n' Lovely (Courtesy Aretha Yorke Sabeng and Annette Akye of NaturalistaGh) contacted me to review products from their Braids' n Weaves line. This line of product is geared towards "keeping your braids or weaves as neat and fresh as the first day!!"

HIBISCUS CONDITIONER MIX

Since i dyed my hair, i have had to re-organize a few things. I have had to condition and deep condition more.
I tried the hibiscus conditioner mix and i must confess that i liked it but when it got to washing it out, it almost drove me crazy.

Now, let me list the benefits of hibiscus for the hair.
Hibiscus has been known for its conditioning properties;

• stimulating hair growth and helping to prevent hair fall.
• It can be mixed with ayuverdic herbs (amla - to thicken the hair and prevent premature grey strands) or henna to achieve a red/burgundy tinge.
• It can also be used as a tea (hair) rinse to help promote hair shine. ( info. from the Sheabutter Cottage)

 Hibiscus powder from the sheabutter cottage

STYLING MY DIFFERENT SHADES OF BLONDE

I love my new colour. Its my babe now because i have to treat and handle it with soo much care.
I loved my natural hair colour and how i styled it but i love my new colour a whole lot more these days.

 A simple bun at the back and a tweaked hump. Basically one large two strand twist, teased and pinned down. No gel.

POP OF COLOURS (THE DYE JOB)

This "insanity" was my third time at taking a box dye to my natural hair. I know some naturals are skeptical about altering the colour and to some extent the texture of their hair. But as i usually say "its just hair" and it will grow back.
I purchased this box dye sometime ago but never got round to actually using it. To commemorate two long back breaking years of an Mphil programme, i decided that it was time for some colour and liberation.

The exact box dye!!! Ginger Blonde

THE MULTIPLE HUMPS

Eeeerm i dont really know the exact name for this hairstyle i rocked to church on Easter sunday, but if anyone knows it please send it my way. Until then i will call it the multiple humps. I watched a youtube video of this style and i liked it so much that i decided to recreate it and i think i must have done something right because i had amazing comments. The best comment was from a guy who seemed so intrigued that natural hair grows long (ladies!!! lets show them paaaaa, lol).

AFRICAN THREADING

Over the weekend i finally succumbed and comb detangled my hair after constant finger detangling for almost 5 months. I was expecting two outcomes. One, either to loose a lot of hair and go crazy or to just comb out the shed hairs. Well, i was surprised nonetheless when i only eliminated just shed hair (yesss!!! i inspected it). Finger detangling can do no wrong as far as i am concerned. I dont even own a rat tail comb. I forgot to take pictures after i took down the threads. Soo sorry about that.

REVIEW OF HAITIAN BLACK CASTOR OIL: 1. DEEP CONDITIONER MIX

My first review of this oil from sheabutter cottage will be how I used it in my deep conditioning process and my results after it. My first thoughts of this oil were

• I love the packaging. The packaging (bottle) is rubber and so dropping it due to conditioner or hair product-slippery fingers is not a problem. You can easily pick it up right away if it falls. The labelling is also on point, easy to read and traceable right back to the manufacturer (sheabutter cottage). It provides a little background into the origin of the oil and instructions on how to use it. The smell of Haitian Black Castor Oil is similar to the regular JBCO (and am sure the same for castor oil in general except the scented ones).

• 

  Oil under review. HAITIAN BLACK CASTOR OIL
  

HAITIAN BLACK CASTOR OIL

If you read some of my posts on Facebook, then you must know by now that I love love Castor oil specifically Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO). It’s simply my liquid gold in a bottle. I use it in several ways.

·         I massage my edges with it

·         I add few drops to my deep conditioner mixes

·         I use it as a hot oil treatment

·         I seal in moisture with this oil

This oil is simply amazing!!!!!!!

Some of the benefits of JBCO (and I tend to think castor oil in general) are

·         It thickens the hair

·         Grows out the edges

·         Softens the hair

Last weekend I was gifted a bottle of HAITIAN BLACK CASTOR OIL (HBCO) from sheabutter cottage (Thank you Mrs. Wood). 

Haitian Black Castor Oil.

The JBCO and HBCO are both castor oils from different countries, the first from JAMAICA and the latter from HAITI. I am not expecting vast differences between the two in terms of consistent and amazing results. I will have a pictorial post of all the various ways in which I plan to utilize this oil.

SHEABUTTER COTTAGES’ SANKOFA DAY MEETUP

Last weekend (5/04/2014) I attended the meet up organized by the founder of sheabutter cottage (Mrs. Akua Wood). If you couldn’t make it, then you missed out greatly. For me it wasn’t just about the products on display that caught my fancy. The highlight of my day was meeting all the lovely ladies (and yes there were a lot of natural haired beauties and some relaxed hair ladies too). I saw amazing products, hairstyles and great personalities. It was a pleasure meeting for the first time some of y’all who follow me on face book. Thank you.

 

Such an amazing view. I dare you to say natural aight beautiful

BANTU KNOTS!!!

I am not a newbie when it comes to bantu knots but over the years what i usually do is bantu knot only the front section of my hair and leave the back sections loose.

I CUT MY HAIR!!!

Well the title of this post is scary. I only cut a few inches off my hair. This year is all about better and a healthy hair journey. I will like to call it a much needed trim.

Just a few inches from my length and my wash days go soo fast. My hair has got a lot of body and character now. Am enjoying my current length.

AU NATURALE for 2014!!!!

Hi everyone,
I am soo late with this post but i will fill you in on all that i have been up to since January with respect to shindigs concerning my hair.
So i decided at the beginning of the year to shake up my hair regime drastically. It was a major shake y'all!!!!. Some of the changes i made are ridiculous but "its just hair, if it falls out i will nurture it back". Lol
Below are the changes i have made and they are all jeered towards a better and healthy hair journey.

1. I have stopped combing or detangling my hair with any combs (wide tooth or small tooth combs). What i do instead is finger detangling. If you dont understand please watch this video below from afroDiva Nally.



                     

CURLFORMER-FABULOUS CURLZZ!!

I decided to try curl formers.
All i used was a conditioner and nothing but a conditioner. No holding product whatsoever!!! I was skeptical at first and was really convinced it was going to be a failure. But i was determined to fail and post it proudly on my wall.
Well, after tossing and turning the whole night through, i was wrong. But before i go any further please permit me to lament. Sleeping in curl formers is no child's play. I had a horrible night and someone will have to pay me to sleep in them again. Never ever again. Hooded dryer on cool and loads of heat protectant!!!!    
But i loved the curls soo much.

I started on really wet hair. I began from the nape of my neck and worked up wards ). The trick is to start with slightly bigger chunks of hair at the nape and fill in the back and work forward (otherwise you will run out of curl formers unless you have more than 40 pieces as i had and secondly it made my progress easy and fast). I first passed the hook through a curl former then gently twisted my roots before pulling the hair through it (I hope this is understandable, if not kindly leave me a comment in the comment section below). The hook can be a bit tricky but please be careful before you rip all your hair out. It gets easy after you get the hang of it.

Extra wide and long curl formers (40 pieces)

TWISTED DEEP CONDITIONER MIX

I have read on a few blogs and have watched several YouTube videos on the benefits of coconut milk for natural hair. I already know the benefits of coconut oil for hair and am a firm believer as it is already and so I had no qualms about trying out coconut milk.

Now the twist here in terms of how I used it is that I didn’t want to go the route of all the bloggers and You tubers I had read and watched. I decided to jazz my mixture up and have fun in the process. 

I wanted a power packed mixture. After looking through my stash I had an eureka moment with the light bulb going off and all, lol. I decided to mix bentonite clay (bought this from the shea butter cottage), coconut oil, argan oil and coconut milk. I had to use a little more elbow power to get my mixture smooth.
Coconut milk from the little research i carried out is purported to tame frizzy hair, promotes hair growth, improve scalp condition and condition the hair.

STYLE OF THE DAY

Even though I meant to deep condition after washing my hair, it’s Wednesday and that can only mean salsa. I am definitely not your everyday twist girl. With my length it takes forever to install, hurts my tuchus and gives me single strand knots. I like twists but am not crazy about them. On the other hand I am your everyday UPDO girl. Few accessories and I can create masterpieces.

A leave in conditioner, argan oil for sealimg, four hair bands and two bobby pins later I was ready to step out and conquer the world.

Enjoy your hair

Courtsey of Whoissugar (she flat twisted the hair at the back but i was hard pressed for time and so a bun it became)

WASH DAY

Next after the overnight prepoo was washing. I shampooed and then conditioned.  Both the shampoo and conditioner cost GH C1.99 at Shoprite and you can find it at game as well. The shampoo didn’t strip my hair at all, in fact because of the oil and honey I had prepooed with my hair was still insanely soft after shampooing. I applied the conditioner and worked it into my hair section by section and lightly finger detangled to get the shed hairs from my hair.

Shampoo GH C1.99

PREPOO TIME

I decided to prepoo on the spur of the moment. Since my hair was already in its loose state, all I did was divide into four sections. As I always say, doing everything hair-related in SECTIONS has been one of the hair practices that has saved me a ton of hair. It makes every process less painful.

I first applied my oil mix on dry hair. I warmed the oil in hot water for just a few minutes to make it lukewarm but not scalding hot (no one wants to fry their scalp). I massaged my scalp and applied the oil to the length of my hair with particular attention to my ends (the oldest portion of my hair). I was heavy handed with the oil and for good reason. For me massaging the scalp allows blood circulation which promotes hair growth. Secondly the oil lifts any dead tissues and flakes from my scalp so that I don’t have to subject my hair and particularly my scalp to any rigorous scrubbing. I have a sensitive and a highly irritable scalp and so this is what works best for me.

Oil mix: EVOO, Coconut Oil, Almond Oil & Grape seed Oil

WEAVE TAKE DOWN: PART 2

I do not follow the regular way of doing things because I always find ways of putting my own special twist to jazz up activities that ordinarily would have been mundane. As I always say, it is your hair and so ENJOY!!!!!

My palette. Where it all began

WEAVE TAKE DOWN: PART 1

My hair and I have been missing in action for a minute now. Three reasons.

LIFE. 

SCHOOL WORK. 

LAZINESS.

Blow-dried and ready for a weave

HOMEMADE DEEP CONDITIONER

Before i did my very last henna treatment, i knew i had completely run out of deep conditioner. My broke self and my self imposed frugal status prevented me from running out and buying a jar.

I then remembered something i read online a few years back when i started my natural hair journey "Whatever you put on your hair should also be good enough to eat". And so with this in mind i went on an excursion in the fridge. I didn't know what i was going to achieve but at the end of the day i got a very low budget deep conditioner. My hair is enjoying a smoothie. lol!. SOFTHAIR.BOMB.COM