Puff and bang. Fall styling?

This past week was, for all practical purposes, the last week of summer :-(

Labor day weekend eeked by me with nary a fun thing to report, though I did get to see Sheila E perform live at the Howard Theater on Thursday.  It went to prove that I am still a little young, compared to those in attendance who remembered not only all of her songs, but all the songs by the opening act, formerly known as "The Family" o_O  Booties were shaking lol.

But that was it for my weekend. I mowed my front and back lawns, tended my gardens, and painted my dining room a shade of periwinkle. By myself. (forever alone? lol) I spackled the holes and pits, and sanded and blue-taped and everything :-) I was afraid to replace the furniture quite yet but I will post a pic when the now-floating table can go back where it belongs.

Sooo my hair didn't really need to be done this weekend since I went nowhere.  But I guess some sort of "hope" of a fun time lurking behind the next circuit of the hour hand kept me from totally protective styling it away.  I wore my hair as seen below on Friday and just pinappled it most of the weekend.  I co-washed it late Saturday, but essentially styled it right back to how it was.

Then I got paint in my hair Monday.

Just a lil bit lol. I finger smoothed most of it out, only to find more every time I looked in the mirror.

I'm thinking, however, that when I finally do co-wash again that I want to put it in a braid and curl or twist and curl set.  I want to begin doing those for the fall and winter to retain some length.  I've been trimming my hair often to offset the SSKs resulting from my wash&go habit. I prefer it a little shorter for many reasons but I realized that if I were to press my hair right now that it would look much as it did a year ago.  I guess after several years of medium length hair I might be ready for longer hair again.  You never know when that time may come.  Or when it may go :-)  After 11-12 years with no relaxer, length goals are not so much a factor as is diversity of styles.

Wash and goes, going, going

 It's almost the end of August!! O__O

September is coming!

I have been a wash-n-going fool this summer.  Mostly that and top-Buffs™ (top-knots) and high buns or puffs with bangs.  I am still in love with Kiss My Face Upper Management Gel (I recently went HAM on Vitacost and got 5 bottles on sale... smh). I use that and cold pressed castor oil.  I have been throwing a little shea butter in the mix with my conditioner in the shower, and though my hair is responding well, my skin is not, so I'll have to stop that.  Maybe I'll switch to grapeseed or more castor oil. I like the feel of that final rinse when there is some oil to prevent it from rinsing totally "clean." i don't like to leave any conditioner in though, it seems to make my hair dull.

Anywhoo- here are some picts of my most recent and fresh wash and goes, most of which have popped up on my Instagram (@niathebee) over the weeks.

Me and my mom on her recent visit to DC :-)

In the sun. Still loving my color!

Me and Jemima. Yes you see her twist out yet again! My wash and go is gathered to the side in back with a generous side bang left out in front.

And here is a shot of my other homegirl's hair after I braided it up for her.  It's braided up in cornrows to a semi mohawk in back and its in singles in the front.  If only I could sit and do my own hair...  But at least my braiding skills have not languished too much over the years!!

Protective styles for summer

It's HOT outside.

I don't think I need to expand on that. lol.

I have worn my hair up for up to a week in the two styles below.  Both use two strand twists (vs braids) on wet hair.  Both took 30 min to do or less.

Style One is just a single two strand twist, flat twisted around my whole head. Quickly and without a mirror before traveling. A variation of the princess braid. One day I tucked the end in, the next few I took the end out and put it in a low pony.

Style Two is composed of mega big (unparted) double stands- with 7 flat twists in front- the 2 on each side go backwards and the 3 in the middle go forward and are then looped back to make a hump.  The loose twists in back are cornrowed together upwards and then the end of the "cornrow of twists" is tucked under and pinned.  These picts are of day 3! I added the headband to disguise some of the fuzzys. Hope it makes sense in the picts!

Style 1

Alas- I was on Amtrak and bored so my photoshoot for the blog became this lol

 Style 2

I sleep on a silk pillow case (love!! get you one!) and have done little else to preserve it- hence the fuzzies!

Happy 4th of July!

There are a few memories from my early childhood that have been etched into the hardwood of my life.
Those memories include strawberry ice cream by the scoop, watching ET at the movies from the front row, eating fast food in (a very strategically parked in) parking lot, and fireworks!

I think that I was so young that I really didn't understand what I was experiencing, thus in my child mind I interpreted these things to be very special, if not magical. The fireworks, which I remember watching from a few vantage points including through the sunroof of my moms car, were so close and big it seemed that I was inside the sky with them. The perspective and 3D effect enhanced by the night sky. It was fantastic.  Even today when I get to see a great firework display I am transfixed and transported to happy, magical times. 

It's hard, however, to find adults, particularly unmarried adults without children, who want to chase down a good show with me.  Sometimes I go alone, but experiencing it with loved ones just puts that extra glow on my face.

Today is also Fros for the Fourth! But alas I am traveling and my true "fro" would take a licking on these seats lol. 

But I did manage a pretty magnificent puff last week, so I'll share that instead :-)

100 Deg hair. Hot!

It's 100 deg in DC today! How I wore my hair...

I need a trim!

It's funny- the little knots seem to crop up exactly after 8 weeks.  It's been almost 12. I used to ignore them and try to prevent them but ever since I have been trimming often- since last fall- they are gone, until they are back. I don't just live with them any more as in long hair days past.

I have to decide if I want to press to trim.  I really only want to take 1/4 inch off, and my shape is good, so cutting wet may not work any more. BUT I just colored a few weeks ago so I dunno how I feel about pressing, even though the last two times I escaped unscathed.  You never know with pressing! My confidence has increased due to my new iron that has a heat setting I can see and set to 320. And my discovery of beeswax as my pressing and maintenance aid has been priceless. If I do press it will be in the next few days.  If I trim curly I'll wait until the weekend.

Meanwhile I went camping last weekend and had a great time with some friends and my brother. I just wore a head wrap the whole time to keep any of the various (and numerous!) bugs from making a new home on my head.  I got bit up on my hands and one leg though :-(

  I also went out a few times over the past few weeks.  Here's what I wore one day. I thought I was so very clever. It's a skirt from H&M and a shirt from JCPenny  :-)

Little Circle Coils

I love it when my hair coils! Sometimes my hair forms little circle shaped coils on the ends after I have had it shingled and stretched for a few days.  I also notice that the Kiss My Face Gel seems to encourage this behavior more so than the other staple gels I like (eco styler and Fantasia). KMF is fast solidifying its place as the front runner.

Personally, I really love the way the little coils look.  I'm not sure if other people "get" it but I feel like it's really pretty lol.  I try to wear it out and show them off when I get the little circles.  Here are some pictures of them- they are pretty easy to see in the picts.  perfect little circles at the ends of most of my hair:

So me and my little circles were going out to a birthday party last night.  And here is the easter egg in this post for my regular readers- Goku is gone.  So aside from having more free time, when I go out I put on make up and stuff now lol.  Sooo here I was for the night.  I had a red stain lip and a red flowy shirt with a short and tight black&white striped skirt. I stretched my hair out a bit more with my small blow dryer and wore it big and proud :-)

Had such a great night I didn't get any more pictures lol

bang bang bang

You all know how I am about wearing my curly bang, like, almost all the time :-D

Most of this summer I have been wash and going, or shingle and going, and wearing my hair for 3 or 4 days before co-washing and starting over. Nothing spectacular. I am experimenting with beeswax as a sealant, and I am working on some product reviews that I have tried on my wash and goes. Have to give it a few tries before I can speak on it lol.

Anyway- I have trimmed my hair again about .5 inches and cut the bang a bit shorter.  My goal is just to kept my shag shape as exaggerated as I can as the back grows out. My only caveat is that it all still has to fit into one ponytail. But meanwhile I am loving my bang, especially now that it's shorter. So much so that I wore just the bang and a "bun" yesterday. I co-washed and left in some Kiss My Face Organic Miss Treated Conditioner for Damaged Hair (♥♥♥♥♥- reviewing soon)and put some aloe vera gel and castor oil over that.  That's it.  (the beeswax from daaaaays ago is definitely a player here- more on that when I can assess the risks more thoroughly)

Picts!