Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Heat Stretching a wash and go

I wanted to show off a little length this past weekend so I decided to stretch out my wash and go before I even washed my hair.

What that meant is that I needed a pretty solid shingle to start with.  I washed my hair using bentonite clay and followed with the Herbal Essences Honey I'm strong conditioner.  Then I actually used some Yes to cucumbers leave in conditioner I stumbled on in my bathroom.  Its a light leave in that I can't say I'm smitten with, but for a wash and go I use a ton of castor oil with my gel, so I figured a light leave in would be fine. I shingled it pretty thoroughly using KMF gel and castor oil and I actually went to bed a few hours later with damp hair pulled up into a pineapple with a scarf.

So the next morning it was just slightly damp at the root so I diffused for a few min and then I switched the attachment to the concentrator nozzle.   I will make a video about this but I use the tension method to stretch from root to about 2 inches form the ends.  I like my ends to stay coiled as tightly as possible. 

So here is the result.  This lasted for 3 days :-)

Drying shingled set:
Finished product:

Monday, March 25, 2013

Bang, bang, bang. Still.

I have legitimate bangs.  Like the rest of my hair is long but among my layers I have a relatively short "layer" in front that I wear as a bang. I go back in forth in my head, and sometimes to innocent bystanders, about how I may let it grow out.  I may let my hair grow this time for real.  I may not cut my bang back...

But then...  I cut my bang back.  About a month ago now.  I said I wasn't cutting it then one random day, it was there, and too long, and welllll- I cut it.  And I love it still.  I am re-committed to it to tell the truth.  No matter how my hair is looking I can refresh that front section in minutes and have new hair.  It's liberating and saves me on a bad hair day. It gives me a different look to play with, concerning makeup and earrings. And how about this... It makes my bead head not so bad lol. I can leave it out and fix it easily so I have a cheat.

Last week when I did that twist out I really didn't want to wash my hair again before the week was up.  So it slowly went up into a high bun.
I didn't like brushing it back so tightly though, since I hadn't bunned it from being wet and de-tangled. I felt it was stressing my hairline a little.  I had used a lot of gel to get it all up and smooth. It was flaking by the end of the day too :-(

So the next morning I let it get a little wet in the shower, parted my bangs out and rinsed just that part of my hair out.  I re-shingled it with the power gel since it's still sitting on my dresser.  I used castor oil and layered it in.  I made a low bun with the too-through twistout  to reduce stress on my nape.
So I got two more days out of this :-) I eventually had to wash all of my hair out though.  The accumulation of products on the bunned hair was getting out of hand.

But I definitely appreciate my bangs.  Just wanted to share.  Don't be afraid to cut. A strategic snip or two can make a head-full of hair a lot easier to handle. 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

A Twistout

I have not done a twistout in a long time and having gotten a little bored with my wash&goes = Ta-da! Time to revisit.

I twisted it wet with KMF gel, castor oil and KMF mistreated conditioner as my leave in.
Of coarse it was not dry in the morning so I had to wear my ropey twists to work. I decided to put them into an updo.  I used pins and just made circles all over my head.  The front two twists were dry so I took those apart and looped them backwards... like so... (I wish you could hear how I just said that in my head lol)
So then I took them apart that evening and I was a bit disappointed.  They were super tight and the ends were not uniform.
SO I took them apart very carefully and didn't separate them many times, trying to keep the frizz down, since then ends weren't coming apart cleanly.
So still meh... It was unwieldy and the shape wasn't quite right. I decided to use my blow dryer to streatch it out and I used gel on the worst of the ends to get them back under control.
So I kinda fixed it :-) I was able to enjoy it for a few days. But ultimately the inconsistency of the pattern and the ends took over. By day 3 it was pretty done for :-(

I'd have to make the twists smaller, and I have to re-examine the KMF gel for twists.  It really takes the volume out of them by removing most of the frizz factor, then the frizz that does exists looks inconsistent.

All said, I prefer my wash and go coils better, and its much faster to set it with gel and just let my pattern do what it does.  However I do want to maintain my ends this summer to keep some length for once.  I'll have to figure out some more styling options like this one.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Garnier Fructis Style Clean Stick Power Gel 24H Maximum Control

I had one of those 18 hour days last month, and was wearing my hair in a top-knot.  Early in the day it was fine, but as life happened the back began to fuzz and stick out.  I didn't have a brush, or gel so I stopped at Walgreens for a quick fix.  They had this brand new gel on sale, and being a fan of their puttys and long hold glues, I picked it up.

It worked fine for the day, though I do still prefer their glue for long strong hold for slick buns.  But  I loved the shine this gel provided. I noted that I should re-visit it for a wash and go, as the hold didn't seem overpowering...

I finally did a wash and go using it this weekend. You know by now I have learned to waste nothing, being a reformed product junkie and all....

Guess what?

I like it!!  I got a softer hold than I get with my KMF gel, but a stronger hold than I'd get with any of the other Fructise gels I'd tried and passed on in the past.  Plus the shine is lovely.  I got no flakes and it seems lightly moisturizing. It doesn't seem to build up either, as I have retouched a few pieces and it all blended back in.

So let's talk about why I had to retouch some of it though...

Unlike the KMF gel, the day two and 3 hair has been more than willing to revert to frizz, particularly in places that get the rubbing, like my temples and collar area.  It's in the neighborhood of our old standby Ecostyler gel in that sense, but it has more shine, and a lighter feel than that.

I mixed it with some old Garnier sleek and shine leave in I still had, to give it a fair brand shot I thought lol.  I also layered it with some castor oil, though not a fraction of the amount I mix with the KMF gel.  More like one palm-full distributed all over. Their leave ins are generally not moisturizing enough - my hair sucks them down like nothing ever happened. Like there is no slip because its GONE before I can work it through.  So I do NOT co-sign the leave in.  It did seem to give enough (mixed with the castor oil) to make it to day two with only a light re-pat down to re-moisturize.  I'm on day 3 and it still feels soft and light.

So the final verdict... I like it.  Not better than KMF gel.  no.  never that.  But if I need a gel to be close at hand for dry hair corrections, ie retwist some coily ends or re slick my bang, I may grab this BEFORE I'd grab Ecostyler. It has that "get under control right now" factor that eco styler has, and that KMF gel can lack a bit when used on dry hair.

4 out of 5!




Picts:


Monday, March 4, 2013

Multiple textures

I took this first picture below in January as part of a little self indulgent photo shoot in my house on a sunny day. That one was my fav of the bunch so I only posted that one flick on instagram. BUT I was looking through them again today because every time I press my hair I'm on the hunt for evidence of heat damage. I have this one section of my hair that is perpetually straighter than the rest. It grows out of my head like that and resists curling, product, conformity... lol. The left, top side Arrrgggg! Sometimes I forget how unwieldy it is, so I was looking to remind myself what it looked like before this last press.  These pictures make it super clear that, yes, that part of my head is just like that. Multiple texture gals Unite!

My hair is shingled in a wash and go with KMF mixed with who knows what... and it is uniformly heat stretched on medium using the tension method.

Also I had no makeup on so in the ones that are not overexposed you can see how my acne battle is going. I'm winning the battles, but not yet the war.
 
 
 
  
 
 

Amazon Store