Holiday party hair style

 It's holiday time!!  I love up-do's for the holidays.  And sparkly stuff :-)  Here is how I wore my hair for our company holiday party.

 

It was in two flat twists in front, and on one side the twist got bigger and bigger all the way around the back.  I had combed my hair out beforehand, starting from a dry, shrunken fro to give it a little volume in the big twist.  

 

   

I wore it like this for 3 days.  And I did something dumb in that time.   My girl had left a sample size packet of "Blue Magic" at my house, which I found while cleaning up.  I kept it for a while to give it back to her, then it struck me one night that it was probably $.99 and I was keeping it more as a piece of clutter then for her.  I looked at it and then, EVEN THOUGH I know my hair hates petroleum based products, I opened it and used it on my hair on day two- to "protect" it.... Oh it lay down pretty stiffly alright.  I figured it couldn't do any bad- just perhaps  no good.

 

So thennnn. I was super curious about the take down 2 days later.

  

Looks OK here, but it was sooooooo sticky and dry!  Like parched and greasy, with all my little splits running for their lives up the strands of my hair.

  

I wore it out that night pulled back kinda like this:

 

 I did a 20 min search and destroy mission on the semi-straight hair when I got home and then put a half tub of Yes to Carrots conditioning mud deep conditioner in overnight. 

I did something completly different for my hair this week to compensate for the wrong I'd done.  It includes a lot of Knot today and liquid grease lol!  Next post.

I'm here! New job and adjusting my style.

Hey all- I'm here- I'm here. Guess what though?
I got a new job!!  I'm doing web and design work and a LARGE non-profit.  I have been working there for a full week now and I love it :-)

It hassss been an adjustment however. As confident as I like to imagine I am about my outward persona, I know that in meeting the hundreds of people who work here, I'll be making a ton of first impressions in a short amount of time.  So what do I do?  Wear my hair out and big in all it's pretty glory- and thus risk distracting the unsuspecting new co-workers with a cloud of curls on a new girl named "Niambi"? Or do I pull it back and just be the designer from upstairs?

I opted to pull it back for my first two days (I started on a Wednesday) and wear it out on Friday in a full-blown wash and go.  This week I did the same thing- sort of reversing my routine. Usually I wash my hair on the weekends and wear it out on Monday and Tuesday, maybe Wednesday and then slowly put it away.  These past two weeks I have washed my hair on Thursday night and wore it out Friday and through the weekend, putting it away on Monday. 

I did get validation that I'd made the right decision.  When I wore it out last Friday, the first thing that several people said when they saw me was "OMG- Your hair"...  They said it while smiling, and I also heard "cute" and "I could never"... So indeed, it was a little distracting at first.  Though I have strong beliefs about women accepting and loving what they were blessed with, I am also aware that our hair is "different" and that stereotypes can distract people from who we really are.  It's just hair - it's not a helmet of battle, or a crown of queendom, or a kufi of curling smoke, or a hood of rebellion.  Those facts will come to light as soon as we become truly acquainted.  But sometimes... I just don't feel like pushing through those barriers.  No, I will not make my hair like YOURS to alleviate your discomfort or curiosity.  But I can make it a little smaller, and a little less "in your face".  We can wear jeans here, so it's more a business casual environment and I know I will go back to wearing my hair out once people know WHO I am.

And here is a gratuitious shot of my hair how I like to wear it: 

Roller Set for the Week

It's getting cold outside!!  In some places, it's already snowing! Not here in DC, BUT I figured I'd better get ready with some winter styles.  When my hair was longer I loathed even thinking about attempting straight or stretched styles- all the rolling and drying time = blegh.  So I figured on my shorter hair I'd be more free again...  NOT.  I guess too much time has passed and I'd forgotten what the real deal is, but it took FOREVER and a day for my hair to dry in this darn roller set.  Maybe I was feeling too ambitious using the large rollers, or maybe my hooded dryer from last Christmas is underpowered (but I dunno- that sucker gets hot!)

I used Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Smooth-n-Hold Pudding to try something different.  I smoothed freshly washed hair with that and my Denman brush.  Then I sat.  FOR THREE HOURS under my dryer.  Mind you I had two false starts when I told myself "there is no way on earth its still damp now..." and it was damp.  Maybe it was the smooth and hold pudding...  I dunno.

One thing is certain.  I won't use it again (maybe do a roller set at all again!).  I had flakes when it dried :-(

  

 

 

 

  

Since it was late at night by now, and I wasn't sure if I could wrap it and sit under the dryer again, I decided instead to set it on the largest rollers I had for bed.

 

And ta-da!  The next day was a good day. I used my dry denman to brush the flakes out and used a silicone hair polisher serum for shine and some castor oil on my fingers while I pulled curls apart and shaped it:

 

 

 

 

And here it is at the end of the week.  It had gotten frizzy, I had never wrapped it, and the perfumey banana smell of the pudding had morphed into a greasy dirty hair smell.  So it was over.  4 days out of it. This is a flat twist on the side with a half out huge bang and a bun in back. The following day I gathered the bang into a swoosh, then I washed it the next.  Love my curls!  Natural curl pattern takes the win on this whole experiment.

 

 

Now I just need to figure out how too keep this dash of red in my hair for the winter.  Now I love it!

My friend is a braid/twist n curl Master! Instructions!

Meet again one of my best friends, Jemima- whom I've known for 10 years. Let me first show you some pictures of her flyness before I get into her style instructions here:

I had her on here before because of another dope Braid and curl she had, but almost every time I see her she is rocking a very nice, defined set and I always ask her how she did it, (one time she even set mine for me but my hair is just so darn frizzy).  But this time I'm sharing with everybody-  She sent me instructions!

Steps to this braid and curl:

1) Mane and Tail Shampoo- Wash Hair

2) Deep Conditioning Treatment- Olive Cholesterol - Leave in hair while showering

3) Rinse out deep conditioner treatment

4) Towel dry hair, but keep it damp

5) Sprayed hair with Infusium 23 Treatment/Water in spray bottle half/half

6) Part hair in circular rows-it results in a fuller look

7) Apply 100% Pure Shea Butter to each section

8) Brush with Denman brush for even distribution of the Shea Butter

9) Braid sections...really tight, especially tighter at the roots

10) Plastic rods on the ends of each braid

11)  IC Fantasia Styling gel on the ends

12) Air dry or for best results sit under the dryer for about 20 min

13) Make sure hair is COMPLETELY dry before taking down the braids

Results:

She also does a twist and curl in a similar way with great results ANNNNDDDD check out her bantu Knot out below as well.  

A little more information: I'd guess she has "4b" type hair if you forced me, and it's SUPER thick and shiny. She's repping Haiti all day every day and she's been natural for over 5 years now I think 6 years. I'm just going to fill the rest of this post up with pictures. 

 Twist and curl:

 Pin curls on pressed hair.

 Bantu knot out:

 

If you have questions for her let us know in the comments!

Halloween! I was sexy Dora...

A few stolen FB shots of my Halloween costume>  (I'll edit this post with more once I get them.  I know I was in more!)

I rolled my bang under and pinned it to make a sharp Dora bang and I used a stretching technique on the top layer of my hair to create the sharp bob shape.  People knew who I was so I suppose I was successful :-) 

Curly twists on my bob

The last time I twisted my hair, I'd done it after I blew it out, and the ends would not hold!!  They were too blunt, unraveling and fuzzing out.  I was so disappointed!  So this time I did smaller twists on freshly washed and air dried hair.  I used Yes to Cucumbers conditioner as my leave in, sealed with castor oil.  I wore my hair out like that for a day- and twisted it dry the next day with no additional product.  It looked kinda icky... UNTIL I decided to roller set it on my small blue flexy rods.  I used Curls Goddess Curl Gel from Target to "wet" the ends of about 6 twists at a time, which I then coiled together to smooth before putting on the rollers.  This fixed the whole style!  Here it is the next day:

And a few pictures from the few days after:

 

I re-set it on the curlers quickly each night and got 6 days out of the twists before my twist out:

The red highlights.  Fading nicely!

 

See how my ends begin to revert back to my small curls once outside of the curlers for even a day.

So thennnnnn I went to a birthday party on the weekend and needed an up-do to show off some huge, fabulous earrings I got.  Me and my girls = All NATURAL.  Pressed, locked, twisted - Sexy ladies!