Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Curl set on type 4 hair

Most of my closest friends have natural hair, and we have all helped each other past the learning curve and with styling processes over the years. When I was younger I used to braid and twist hair, with extensions at times, for friends and family, and even for small payments extending outside of my closest circle. It's helped me learn a lot about natural hair patterns, and how we all will have different responses to different things. Me and my girls, and even my guy, have different textures, different thickness, in density and strand diameter.

So meet one of my closest friends! She has beautiful, type 4 curly hair, that forms tight, well formed curls very easily. Her hair takes to shingling and moisturizers very well. She wanted a curl set so I came by and used small and medium curlers with Ecostyler and CON Rosemary and Lemongrass leave in. Above is a pic of her washed, detangled, and conditioned hair before the set, and before any product.

We chatted and watched tv as I put all the curlers in, and I flat twisted some of her roots in front for better staying power. That was something I learned would work well after doing my own set. Here is a quick video of me putting a few of the rollers in.



And after they were all in:
She has been re-doing them at night to fight the frizzys. She is an active person who goes to the gym regularly. But it looks really cute! Now that she knows how to set it like this she is planning on doing a rod set this weekend on smaller curlers. She sent me these pictures of the results today.




Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Shingle and Curl Set - Devolution & Welcome to new friends

Follow up on the shingle and curl set!

Welcome to everyone who found me through CurlyChronicles Vlog post on It's Just Hair. I am so excited to meet so many new friends on Youtube and on my blog! I have been clicking on everyone and everything in every spare moment I have, with the enthusiasm of a 3 yr old lol.

Thank YOU CurlyChronicles for your celebrity endorsement, and for making some of the best videos on highly textured natural hair, styles and culture.

I know a lot of people enjoyed the video on the shingle and curl set. I'll certainly make more vids, and I'm very glad the low quality from my iPhone vids is not a total deterrent from watching them.

So I also wanted to share the picts I took as the set aged and reverted. The first picts are from the first 2 days after I did it. The last picts are from the Friday before I washed it (6 days later). It held up pretty well, and I never put curlers back in it at all. I tied it up at night but the edges got frizzy fast- I think the next time I would do some flat twists there first for some staying power. I did notice that my hand-in-hair-syndrome was very counter productive to this being a protective style in any way. The circular shape of the curls promoted knots if I were to even think about seperating dry curls. Big no-no for this set. Don't separate dry curls.

Other than that- I used the Natures Blessings pomade and castor oil daily to keep it "moist." Natures Blessings is a natural Pomade I get from my local health food and ethnic stores around DC. It's usually about $4-$5 bucks and smells herby-wonderful. My BF uses it on his curly hair regularly and for him it's enough to keep his curls shiny and popping all day. We call it the "Green Stuff."

So here is day two. Excuse the shadows!





Then the final day, with a headband and loose ponytail. The curls got smaller and smaller every day as my own curl pattern began to reclaim my hair.



Blunt Bang

I found the picture I was looking for! This was taken of me and my homegirl (also natural) at a lounge in DC. I had the bang in full effect with eyeliner and a shrunken bob style. I was feeling it :-)


Below are pictures of me yesterday and today rocking the same look. I rather enjoy the shrinkage factor with the bang- it's a ready made style. Eye makeup becomes the key.

I also am thrilled to announce that my face has cleared up! I was on a month long cycle of twice a day antibiotics and continue to apply Tazorac cream once a day. The results are amazing. I just have some scarring that I can easily cover with powder, and no active breakouts :-) See your dermatologist if you continue to struggle despite your best efforts and natural remedies. This has saved my face, and a lot of money (spent on things that were not working).




Saturday, April 10, 2010

Shingle and Curl Set - Video

I took a few vids with my iPhone today of this shingle and curl set I'd been wanting to attempt. I started to take pictures, but they didn't do enough to explain what I was doing. So ta-da, my first poor quality YouTube videos :-)

Here I'm almost done setting the ends of my hair on large and medium sized snap on magnetic rollers. I braided my hair into 4 sections, applied castor oil to the ends and my scalp and towel blotted the excess water. I used mixed chicks leave in liberally in each 1/4 and then set small sections on the rollers using the pink Eco styler gel. Its basically a shingle set, using a brush similar to a denman. The natural separations of my own curls set up the pattern for separating the ends later. And I can set it faster and with more ease because I'm just curling the ends.



About after about 1.5 hrs under the dryer, time to take down the curlers! It dried faster (vs 2.5 hrs!) than a regular set because it was all so exposed to the air.



And now I separate the curls apart.



I'll take picts galore tomorrow when I wear it our for the day :-) I love it so far, and so does the Mr.

Friday, April 9, 2010

The Big BANG!

I love my "bang!" I have had, like, 3 moments total where I wish the front was longer again, but I get over it fast when I discover a new style. This week I wore it out in a blunt across bang for a few days, with eyeliner and a shrunken bob shape. It was very girlie :-* and a picture was taken of me at a lounge, which I'm trying to get and post.

But below is how I wore it today. I have been using good ole Kinky Curly custard mixed with Elasta QP mango butter, and refreshing with CHI keratin mist.

I loveeeee the way it smells. And it actually doesn't really even smell good, per se... lol. I got it on super sale ($4 @ Ross!) and wanted to try it but essentially, I use it for smell alone vs plain water.

But here I am today at work with a low side puff and a bang.



Saturday, April 3, 2010

Hoarding pictures

I have not had the time to write the posts that go with these styles, but rather than keep hoarding them I decided to take a few moments and just post the back log. I wore my hair in these various styles this week. I've been co washing mostly and using Aveeno Nourish and style Soft-hold gel-Creme. It gives it a dope shine and light hold. It seems to have a good balance of leave in and gel, but not the hold I'd need to make my fro lay down. I also have picts of a wash and go that I set on flexi rods below.
Below is the puff that prompted a stranger to ask if it was all my hair.

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