Twists and Puff - this week's low manipulation style

Imagine a day when there are no classes, no work, and no scheduled activities....

...Tuesday was such a day for me!

So what better excuse can there be to play in my hair and experiment with a low manipulation style?

I had deep conditioned my hair the night before, so in the morning I shampooed and towel-dried my hair. Starting out with the style was hard. I don't usually deviate from twist-outs or braid-outs, so planning a style I would keep for a week was tricky. 

I was clueless as to what look I wanted to achieve, but I knew that I would be doing some twists since that's the easiest style I can do.

After much fumbling and uncertainty, I ended up dividing my hair into five sections. 

• In the front, I made chunky twists and used bobby pins to create a kind of "pompadour".
• In my crown area, my hair felt very moisturized so I skipped adding any product and did not de-tangle. I simply left my hair to air-dry in a ponytail. (Think "wash and go")
• I also put chunky twists in the back section....well, maybe they were a bit too chunky since the twists still refuse to hang straight down!
• Lastly, I made a cornrow on each side of my head near my temples, and pinned the ends up towards the "puff" or ponytail. 

Yesterday I slightly altered the look since I took down the ponytail section, moisturized my hair and also put that section into chunky twists. This way, my entire head is in a low manipulation style and I don't have to worry about my crown area tangling during the week. 

I'm loving the ease of this style since I don't have to re-style daily. I'm also preferring doing short term low manipulation styles like this one instead of braids. I love braids but I can never keep them looking neat for more than two weeks! o.o I won't even start on how long it takes to install braids.

This style took me about two hours since I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I overtime, the time will shorten as I'll become more comfortable and skilled in doing a variety of hairstyles.

What's your "go-to" low manipulation style?

Love, 

~Hatter

The Hols are here!

Whew!

This week my exams finished so I'm finally free!

If I could sum up how I feel in one video...this would be it:

(And who doesn't love Tom Hiddleston?? :)

This semester has been extra busy for me and unfortunately I haven't blogged nearly as often as I should have.

My second year of university is now half-way finished...I can hardly believe how time is flying!

Since my mini-chop in August I've mostly been keeping my hair in braids. Trust me, this has saved me sooooo much time and energy. All I have to do in the morning is moisturize and seal and I'm out the door. When I get home later this month I plan to take out this current set of braids and maybe...cut off the rest of my straight ends. :)

I'm excited to see how much my roots have grown out since August. I'm still not a big fan of the teenie weenie afro on myself...so we'll see whether I decide to big chop or continue to transition. I'd love to accomplish a long term transition of 1-2 years like some bloggers, but I'm just too impatient!

Watching youtube videos has helped to keep me inspired while I couldn't play with my actual hair.
Here are some of my recent favourites:

As the year comes to an end I feel that I need to sit down and reflect on my highs and lows, strengths and weaknesses. I plan to do this especially for my university experience. Honestly, this semester has been my most challenging so far; emotionally, spiritually and mentally. So, I need to evaluate how I can prepare for next semester so I don't feel like I've been hit with a ton of bricks at the end!

Have you begun to reflect on the past year, or made any goals for the new year?

Oh, and I can't wait for Christmas!!

Lots of love,
~Hatter

Six months post relaxer

August 10th 2013 made me 6 months post relaxer!

That date also marked my mini chop, leaving me with 2-3 inches of relaxed ends attached to my new growth. So far, I can already tell that my natural hair texture is different from when I was a child, and I'm excited for my big chop when I'll finally be able to appreciate and critique every kink and coil.

Currently I am very inspired by this video uploaded by one of my hair crushes, Mae.

She is four years post big chop and I love love love her hair! Her video encourages me to be patient in my transition, as well as to put in the hard work necessary for cultivating healthy, gorgeous natural hair.




After enjoying my short haircut for about 2 weeks, my mother installed another set of braids. Honestly, I would like to maintain my hair myself but since university has started again and my mom is going back to St. Kitts, I know that my laziness and impatience would sabotage my hair-care efforts.




I plan to keep these braids in for 8 weeks, which should last me until the end of October.



How's your hair journey going?
Love!
~Hatter

Snip snip! Short Hair!

Last Saturday 10th August my mom mini-chopped my hair!

I've been thinking about doing the big chop for weeks, but my mom thought it better to keep some inches of relaxed hair- i.e. to transition rather than be 'drastic' and chop all my length off. Now I'm glad that I listened to her...I don't know if I would have been happy with only 2-3 inches of hair!

Note: I still have 2-3 inches of relaxed ends, so I would not consider my haircut a big chop. The cut is one phase closer to being fully natural. 

After the chop, I washed and conditioned my hair and honestly...I was at quite a loss about what to do next. After an easily detangling session, I proceeded to twist it, gave up, and settled for large cornrows. However, my mother took pity on my desperate efforts and kindly fixed me up with smaller, neater cornrows. Then she twisted the ends up like bantu knots and pinned them down.

Girrlfrieeend! I felt so much better when she was finished with my hair. I'm an impatient person, and I can lose hope easily when faced with a difficult challenge. So to see a light in the tunnel and be encouraged by my mama to have patience with my hair really helped me to get more enthusiastic about my new look. 

The night before...

I then slept with my hair in the braids and on Sunday my mom and I loosed them and styled. Viola! After some picking out with an afrocomb, I was left with very curly, cute hair. I pinned back both sides and the front piece, leaving the rest out.

...the morning after!

When my hair was first cut, I felt like I was thrown in a boat on rough, rough waters. Did I make the right decision? Oh my gaawd what did I do to my hair?? lol I think I've gotten over that now and I look forward to relearning how to care for my hair. Since Sunday I've been re-braiding or re-flat twisting at night, and in the day wearing curly styles. Yo it's not easy!! But I know I'll become more patient and adept with time. 

So I'm still transitioning to natural hair. When will I cut off the rest of my straight ends? I would like to say I'll do the big chop at 1 year post relaxer (February 2014) but I know that depending on my mood and how my hair grows out, that date may change. 

I'm on my way!

Love,

~Hatter

My waist-length braids

Last Sunday my mother finished installing my waist-length braids.

This is the first time I've worn braids in about two years, and I've never had braids so long. I was a bit uncomfortable swinging around all the hair on my head and they also felt quite heavy for the first few days, but I've since adjusted to the weight.

Whenever I saw women with waist-length, or longer, braids I always thought, "Why would anyone want to wear super long extensions??." I assumed that it must be a pain in the neck to take care of them.

Now, I see that they really aren't so annoying, and I love the elegant look I get from wearing the braids cascading around me.

The most annoying thing about them was figuring out how to seal the ends. My mom used 'Xpressions', 100% kanekalon hair, which was very light but tangled very easily when manipulated. I tried plaiting the braids to the very end, then dipped them in boiling hot water. So far, most of the ends have stayed but some are already unraveling.


Here is a tumblr page I found with a lot of inspiration for box braids: iloveboxbraids.tumblr.com


And here is a video of some styles I plan to wear if I'm not lazy.

Yesterday I quickly washed my braids, skipped deep conditioning and proceeded to use a braid spray, then sealed my hair with jojoba oil. Next weekend I'll show my hair some much needed tender loving care by doing a lengthy deep conditioning session.

Love,
~Hatter

All Twisted Up: wash day @ 5 weeks post relaxer.

Today's wash day was very easy and enjoyable! 

What I did:

• Skipping my usual oil pre-poo, I instead deep conditioned on dry hair with Creme of Nature Argan Oil Intensive Conditioning Treatment with my heat cap for one hour. After my hair cooled down I rinsed in the shower.
• Using my trusted Motions Lavish Conditioning shampoo, I cleansed my hair once and rinsed with cold water.
• After air-drying with the T shirt method, I applied some African Pride Olive Miracle Anti-Breakage Moisturizing Lotion (see above photo) from root to tip, detangled, then proceeded to twist medium sections of hair. I lost very little hair today! Might have been due to my conditioning on dry hair :)

I have to say that the African Pride Moisturizing Lotion is fantastic for my new growth as it always leaves it extremely soft, moist, and flattens my poofy roots. Although it's a lotion, the consistency is light, quite watery and not too greasy to apply, which makes it perfect for my hair. It also helped to keep my twists from unravelling.

Both the Creme of Nature Conditioner and the African Pride moisturizer worked well for my hair- leaving it very easy to manipulate. I was able to easily finger-part my hair, plus, I had almost zero tangles!  Although in my opinion the Argan Oil Conditioner is nothing extraordinary, it's a nice weekly moisturizing treatment. 

I hope it works this well on 7 week post hair!

I really want my twists to stay intact for at least 2-3 days as they are a great low manipulation style. For classes, I plan to put them in a ponytail, bun, or some kind of twisted updo until I'm ready to take them down. The great thing about twists is that I can access my new growth and make sure that its thoroughly moisturized throughout the week. Hope they won't unravel during the night!

Have you ever done two-strand twists on relaxed hair?

~Hatter

Protective Styling Inspiration

source

One of my hair resolutions for 2013 is to maintain thick healthy ends. One strategy to achieve this goal is through protective styling.

Keeping my ends up and away from my shoulders, clothes, or any surface that can rub against my hair and cause breakage is a must to keep my ends even and healthy. I also want to make sure that my ends do not get dried out by the air or sun.

In the past I wasn't too enthusiastic about protective styling because I thought it was...well, boring. Thankfully, Youtube has since changed my view!

Lilith moon is one of my top inspirations for cute, easy protective styles. Here are some of her looks that I hope to use in my regimen on a regular basis when I hit 6-7 weeks post relaxer:

Here are some other protective styling ideas:

I hope I'll be able to manipulate my hair easily enough to achieve these looks at 7-8 weeks post. 

I plan to use water, moisturizer and a lot of finger-combing to be as gentle as possible on my hair, since I'll be dealing with the thick, coarse texture of my new growth, and the more fragile, straight texture of my relaxed hair.

Do you know any more cute protective styles? Don't hesitate to share them! =)

Lurv,

~Hatter

Hatter Snap: 1st Fishtail Braid

This was my first attempt at the "fishtail braid". I found a really good tutorial on youtube and decided to try it out, since I was feeling a bit bored with my hair. 

The braid isn't perfect since it's my first try, so I'm definitely going to practice styling it just right. :)

This braid is much easier to create than it looks! It just takes a bit of practice to get used to twisting the hair.

Loose fishtail braid :)

In the picture above, I removed the hair elastic at the nape of my neck, then gently pulled on my hair to loosen the braid a bit. I think that when my hair grows out longer this style will be much cuter.

Love!

~Hatter

My Stretching issues 8-9 weeks post relaxer

*disclaimer: this is a lengthy Hatter post!*

Okay, now that you're prepared, read on valiant reader!

On my last relaxer stretch I successfully made it to 9 weeks post. *woop woop!*

Ironically, the only other time I successfully stretched that long was earlier this year on my very first relaxer stretch of my hair journey. Since then I've only been able to manage my new growth for about 7-8 weeks before getting fed up and going to the hairdresser.

As I've mentioned before, by the 7-8 week post relaxer mark I usually encounter these issues:

1. by eight weeks post my hair does not feel "slippery" or smooth and lubricated after deep conditioning. 
2. detangling after washing and deep conditioning becomes almost a nightmare as breakage, tangling, matting (and tears) increase and rollersets become increasingly difficult.

Although I adapted my regimen slightly during my last stretch to try to deal with these issues, I still encountered similar problems. =(

Some things I thought would have helped:

•  using diluted moisturizer to hydrate and soften my new growth. (This actually did work! My new growth was as tame as a lamb lol.)

• more low manipulation and protective styles during the week such as buns and braidouts.

• I also stopped using combs everyday and decided to finger comb more often. I do think that this contributed to less breakage than I usually experience around 8 weeks post relaxer.

• I focused on keeping my ends moisturized by generously apply deep conditioner from tip to root, as well as coating my ends with oil at night.

• I used a heavier protein treatment to deep condition with. 

On my last wash before my relaxer I used the Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise after pre-pooing with the Optimum Care Fortifying Conditioner. I realized that I gave my hair a double shot of protein! That might explain why I still experienced significant breakage on my last wash day. My hair might have gotten too much protein, causing it to snap and break off. 

This is actually ironic as my hair usually loves protein. I guess I messed up my moisture/protein balance that time.

It also didn't help that at 7 weeks post, I failed to detangle properly and as my hair air-dried I got some wicked dreadlocks forming at my roots. (For realz)

I can't understand why my hair gets so tangly and rough after 7 weeks post. Is it that my cuticles remain raised? If so a product like Roux Porosity Control or even an apple cidar vinegar rinse may help to close my cuticles and make my hair smoother and easier to manage.

Or maybe 8-9 weeks post just isn't a viable option for me. I know that the longer I stretch, the healthier my scalp becomes between relaxers, but I really don't want to sacrifice the health of my hair. My hairdresser claimed that the texture of my hair makes it difficult to stretch longer than 8 weeks. Honestly, I think I agree with her. I have a tight curl pattern...picture the thickest,  most dense afro you can imagine...

...yup! That resembles my 4c hair texture.

Can that texture and relaxed hair realistically coexist for an extended period of time? My experiences seem to be telling me no =(

I hate the relaxer process and I really want as few trips to the salon as possible in a year, but the cons have been outweighing the pros of stretching 8 weeks and beyond. The breakage (and tangling in particular!) I experience at 8 weeks post have to stop as I really can't bear to continue dealing with them in the near future.

I'm honestly not looking forward to stretching beyond 8 weeks again, so I think that on my current stretch, my last wash day will be at seven weeks post, then a couple days after that its relaxer time.


Any advice?

~Hatter

Hatter Snap: Braidout Bun

Yesterday's braidout bun.

I slept with my hair in two braids, then in the morning I finger-combed my hair into a top bun. Even though I got really loose waves, I loved the volume I was able to achieve, especially as my hair was just relaxed on Saturday. =)

Protective styling to longer, stronger hair.

Have a happy day peeps.
~Hatter