Pressed hair and beeswax pomade

I made myself wait over 6 months since the last time I used direct heat on my hair and I was happily surprised to see the growth I achieved!

I pressed my hair by roller setting it first using Nubian Heritage Honey & Blackseed Heat Protect Keratin Wrap Hair Mousse.

Then as I took each roller out I pressed it using my Remington Wet 2 Straight 2" Wide Plate Wet/Dry Ceramic Hair Straightening Iron with Tourmaline and then did a painful search and destroy session to get rid of single strand knots. Section by section.  So like... 35 times for each curler.  It took for-ev-er. 5 hours from wash to wrap.

But my results are solid straight, and today is day 9 and I'm certain I can make it a full 2 weeks this time.

The key once again, I believe, is this beeswax pomade I made a while back.  I need to make another batch!

I took about 1.5 tablespoons of organic beeswax pellets and melted them in refined castor oil with some rosemary essential oil. It made a thick pomade, similar to Dax but without the petroleum.  I used a dab of that on each section as I pressed and then every day or two I use about .5 teaspoon throughout my hair, but mostly focusing on the ends. It really keeps it smooth and shiny and its surprisingly not-that-greasy.  I also brought some Advocado oil and I use that at night when I wrap my hair.

So on to the pictures.
Freshly done:

Not much of the curl was left after the press and trim so I put some flexi rods in over night and I got this:

And this is day 7 hair after sleeping in rollers again on day 5...

It's BSL in the longest parts, definitely growing! I'll probably press it again for my birthday in February.

Holiday Gift Ideas

Happy Holidays!  Hope everyone had a fantastic Turkey day.
I spent my first one with the BF's family and had a nice time, but I missed my family a lot.

I personally don't include Black Friday or cyber weekend antics as a concious part of my Thanksgiving holiday, but once I get into that first week in December I start figuring out my gift giving plan.

I have Amazon Prime, and an Amazon Store that others can shop in :)
That makes it super easy to either get the things I want locally or ship them straight to my family.

But what do I buy?  I like to put packages together- hair kits, cooking packets, food bundles.

This keeps costs down, is practical and useful for the recipient and I think it's more thoughtful than just buying typical "things" that fill shelves or function only for the season.

• A hair kit can have products and tools for general hair care.  In my store you can buy pure silk pillowcases for $25, products and a few tools like the wet to straight flat iron or the plastic hair ties. Bundle them all up, with a XL shower cap, some bobby pins… Can't go wrong.  Who doesn't need that stuff, all the time. lol. 
• A food kit can have the items needed to try a low carb or gluten free diet.  It can have a new spice palate, or even fresh dried herbs.  I have a garden and can pull in rosemary and parsley all winter. I like to anchor it with a nice non-stick pan, insulated lunch bag, shopping tote, thermos... etc. 
• DIY food and goods are always fun to make and give.  Think outside of the fruitcake though lol.  I have a dehydrator for instance, so I can make dried fruit tins, or herb packets.  Hot peppers and dried, seasoned tomatoes work well too.  Other things that are easy to make include candles, pot holders, seasoned/infused oils, vinegars and honey, and bake (or pasta) kits that include all the dry ingredients, and of coarse, cookies and breads. 

I hope those were helpful!  I also shopped Small Business Saturday (at Glut and Nicey's boutique), and definitely recommend supporting small and black owned business over typical commercial goods.

Here are two online shops I love:

• http://www.zuresh.com/zuresh2012/
• http://www.abikenatural.com

And don't forget to check out my store as well (also in the sidebar). 

What do you ladies and gents do to tackle your holiday gift giving lists?  I don't have many children in my life so that makes things a bit easy for me I'm sure :)

My day at Hair Rules Salon in NYC!

 As part of my new job I travel to NY and a few other places to help put on conferences.  I manage registrations and such.  A few days of hard work with a little downtime depending on how I book my tickets.  This past trip in October I had 4 hours to kill on the last day before heading home to DC.

I decided to just walk around at first.  I put my bag in the holding room and began to roam.  I even kind of knew where I was in Manhattan because it was close to where we set up last time.  I then got this pang of selfish-spend-money-I-earned-itness and decided to buy something.  I walked into a huge Zara and the clothes were blah. everything was blah. I walked back out thinking about a blog post I'd seen recently where a girl went to see Dicky at Hair rules and he showed her how to do a wash & go his way.  I thought about going to a Deva salon...  or hell... how far away was Hair Rules?  My phone said 15 blocks.  Adventure time.

I simply walked there to see what would happen.

If you don't know about Dickey and his knowledge and ability to convert curl disbelievers into believers then please, please Google him. If, like me though, you've been natural for a while and have a pronounced natural curl pattern, you probably have a routine similar to his, but using your own products.  I'm def the latter. I can create a variety of wash and go looks by varying the products, method or application or way of allowing it to dry.  I had never used Hair Rules products before though, and I had not been to an actual salon in.... well over a year! Sheesh.  So I literally just wanted to pamper myself and do  little test of the products.  I figured maybe I'd even meet Dickey and he could give me some advice or tips for my hair type.

I walked and walked. Found the place. walked up. and BAM.  Dickey was at the front desk. lol.  It was a nice clean shop with a big window and lots of chairs. and he greated me, as did the receptionist and after a cup of water and some back story on why I was there we decided to have Dickey himself give me a teaching lesson. I think they called it a curly lesson.  Basically a wash and then "set" of the natural pattern using the Hair rules line.

I loved the experience but not the products, so I won't go into too much detail.  You guys know I am a gel girl and the Hair rules line doesn't have anything to give me the hold I'd need to get more than 3 days out of it.  My hair FELT fabulous. and looked great on day 1. but by day 2 I could tell I'd need to detangle in another day, as the frizz had set in. The girl who washed and conditioned and then detangled my hair (all thoroughly and gently) professed that she used an entire bottle of conditioner on my head.  I exclaimed WOW and she said yeah it happens, no biggie... But my wow came more from my knowledge that those products aren't cheap! lol

Anyways, not for me and my routine and hair length.  But if you like your hair to feel nice and have the time to re-cowash every 3 days or so then try out the line!  I also can't speak on the color, presses, or cuts there but they were quick and everyone who left looked great.

Here are some picts :-) He totally could be related to me. a lot.

 on the train home lol.  I was smelling myself.  New product always smells great!

 The next day :)

Back from vacation in Mexico!

I finally made it down to Cancun! The place of spring break lore and girl trip infamy. It was just me and my guy however, and we had a great time! 

The trip came close on the heals of a crazy Halloween party we had at the house a week earlier, so it was literally 2 days before takeoff when I realized I hadn't yet considered what to do with my hair!  I frantically called my home girl Jemima who gave me a few great ideas, one of which I half implemented. LOL I got lazy and tired halfway through.  The idea was to cornrow the sides and single braid a bunch of the front, then create some sort of twisted updo in back. I got through the cornrows and the first row of braids, but then all the rest became twists.  The back just became 8 big twists lol.  It still worked out because i didn't have to worry about a messy hairline or using elastics or anything to keep my hair out of my face, and I was still able to create a small variety of styles.  I had even decided to leave the back kind of free so I cuold do the whole sexy "getting out of the water" thing ;-* heheh.

But anyway- here was the front before leaving and a few days after. The individual twists and braids in front are just pined into a hump or swept to the side.

 

 

Inevitably I ended up in the pool and sweating and just wholly ignoring my hair for a few days but it held up! We actually went to the local Walmart on the bus one day. (hey you have to go to Walmart to see what's up for real, for real). I bought a big bottle of random conditioner and used that to co-wash the chlorine out.  Then I used shea butter and my Wetline gel - which is Mexican coincidentally, and they had a purple "lady" one there - and shingled/wash & go(ed?) the back of my hair for the next few days.

and here a few more of the trip over all: 

ok, fine- here's the boo too :)

and what was I for Halloween this year? A frog. lol

Twist and Go?

I've been doing my hair at night lately and calling it a "wash and go" even though I do all sorts of extra stuff to it. lol.  Not just the "dingle coils" but like big huge twists left to begin drying overnight. Most of the time they don't come anywhere close to drying, but sometimes... sometimes they semi dry at the root and ends.  And I get this twistout/wash & go hybrid.

 

But this is how it starts. Ha. My soaking wet, sectioned, freshly washed and detangled hair.  I use a light leave in, lately just some Infusium to coat my hair thoroughly, and then I go through each section with a small palmful of castor oil.

THEN here is the fun part.  I open each twist back up and work in a generous amount of WetLine extreme gel, using my fingers to smooth it through.  I then retwist and move on to the next section.  I don't really consider it a twist out because the twists are so monstrously huge, and only dry about 30%.  When I take them out, it's very much like shaking out a wash & go, but the roots are a little dry, so the direction the hair falls is set.

The pictures below are from the end of the next day.  When i first take the twists apart, I just kind of shake them loose.  They are wet enough that my hair still has a lot of movement and thus a lot of shrinking to do.  A LOT of shrinking :)

 

I'm happy to report that with the hold of the gel, this set lasts a week solid with little tangling. I just sleep on my silk pillow case, and sometimes put it in a ponytail.