My Mini-Twists

So I’ve just returned from a wonderful holiday in Jamaica. There is so much to say, before I even talk about hair. Ironically enough, one of my blogging idols, was staying at the same resort. It was the first time for us to meet face-to-face, since all of our contact has been through email and Twitter. She is the one and only Accidental Natural I also featured her a while back, check it out here.

After I booked my ticket and knew I was going for sure, I then started to scourer the internet looking for ideas to style me hair will I was on vacation. I intended on swimming as much as possible and I needs a style that would allow me to do that and deal with tropical humidity and dryness. I also knew that I didn’t want to spend my vacation washing and twisting my hair for twist-outs each day. I decided to try my hand at mini-twists.

I put them in myself on freshly washed, deep-conditioned and blow-dried hair. The entire process took me about 5.5 – 6 hours to complete. Here are my pros and cons and if I will do mini-twists again.

Me rocking my mini-twists in Jamaica.

Pros:

• Your hair will swing again (depending on your length).

• They are easy to wash and moisturize.

• A good test, if you are considering to loc your hair in the future. You will get a feeling of what your hair will look like.

• If you twist on stretched hair, you will see your true length, at least until it gets wet and shrinks.

• They are very versatile and fun to style

Cons:

• Depending on your hair texture and your activities, re-twisting after a week, may be needed.

• My twist started to matte after only two weeks, even though I moisturized every day.

• There will probably be a lot of knots when you take them down, even if you use conditioner like I did.
• The twists will shrink when we, but that comes with the territory.

• Can take a long time to do, depended on the size and length of your hair.

Will I do it again?

I have mixed feeling to be honest. I loved the low maintain factor and the look of the twists, but take them out and the finger detangling with tons of conditioner was not fun. I think I will try it again when I go away, but I won’t keep them in that long and perhaps moisturize them even more that I did on this trip.  

Have you done mini-twists, what was your technique?

Blessings and Curls,

B-Curlie

Pressed and Impressed

So a couple weeks ago I decided to go to the salon, because my hair was in serious need of a trim. I was going to a stylist that I trusted, so I decided to let her press my hair.

Me pressed and going out.

Keep in mind a flat iron has not touched my hair in almost three years, since I stopped using mine from the moment I started transitioning. So I was freaking out, to put it mildly. The last thing I wanted was heat damage.

I washed my hair and deep conditioned with a mix of Tresemme Keratin Smooth Infusing Conditioner, Pantene Moisture Renewal Conditioner and coconut oil. I then lightly blow dried my hair after applying my Kinky Curly Not Today leave-in and Fantasia IC Heat Protector. Then I headed to the salon. I sorta of fibbed to my stylist and told her I did not add a heat protector, just because I wanted her to add more…hehehe.  

My ends were in horrible shape. I’ve done mini-trims on my twists, but this was my first professional trim since my chop and there is nothing like it.

Back view - it's getting long. :-)



My stylist did an amazing job and I was really happy with the results. My hair has really grown and to be honest it’s the longest it has ever been in my LIFE! I can personally attest that the length and health of my hair is due to the fact that I no longer, use flatirons or curling irons on my hair anymore. For me it is ammunition as to why going natural was the best decision for the well-being of my hair.   

On a side note, I missed my curls hours after it was pressed. I didn’t recognize myself and because my hair is so fine, it was super flat. I liked the new look, but I love the volume the curls give my hair. I could not relax my hair again. I will probably press it, once a year if that. With that said this was a great experience and I’m proud of the progress of my hair and to know that I can have the versatility with natural hair to be curly or straight.

Maintenance:

Through the week I wrapped my hair at night and slept with a silk scarf. By day three I craved waves and did a braid-out for some volume. I applied a bit of coconut oil in the morning to style. I did not use heat on my hair at all during the week.

Wash day:

I actually needed to use a sulfate shampoo because of the build up of silicones on my hair.  I tried to use my TheraNeem shampoo, but it was not penetrating ... at any rate I deep conditioned with the same mixture I mentioned above and I experience no heat damage. THANK GOD!

Have you pressed your hair? How did it turn out?

 

Blessings and Curls,

B-Curlie

 

My Staple Products

So as I mentioned in my previous post, my hair officially turned two years old. I thought I should mention a few of my staple products that have never failed me.

I’m not a hair-typer, but for those who do, I believe I have two textures in my hair. The back is 4A and the rest of it for the most part is 4B. I know these producs won't work for everyone, but hopefully some of them will.

Let’s get to it:

My go to shampoo is Scalp TherapeShampoo Organix South I buy it from well.ca (free shipping in Canada). I know some of you are avid cowashers, but I need to wash my hair every week with shampoo. It’s a natural product that does not give me a lot of lather. The scent is not amazing, but I love how it washes all of the residue from my hair and scalp, without irritation which is important for me.

My go to conditioner and deep conditioner is Tresemme Naturals. It’s just magical. I get great slip from this product and I find it makes my hair easier to finger detangle while in the shower. When using as a deep conditioner, I any natural oil on hand.

My go to leave-in is still the Kimmaytube Leave-in with Kinky Curly Knot Today. I know Kim Love now has her own  product line, that I’ m sure it is wonderful, but I haven’t tried it yet and as of right now this leave-in mixture has been great for my hair. I’ve loved the Knot Today, ever since I began transitioning and it has done nothing but good things for my hair.

My go to styler is Jane Carter's Curl Defining Cream. I came across this product by chance at an iHeartmyHair event. I’ve experimented with others and they have been OK, but I always end up re-purchasing the Curl Defining Cream.

My go to gel is EcoStyler – Morrocan Argan Oil. I love this stuff.  It slicks my hair back like no nobody’s business, especially after a misting of water. I often end up wearing a puff or updo, a few days before wash day, since my hair is not interested in doing anything else at that point.

My go to oil is Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. First of all I love the smell of coconut and the way it just melts in my hands. I use it to seal moisture in my hair and to even style flat twists when it’s too early in the week to use gel.

My go to butter is my Shea Butter mixture. There is something about making something nourishing for your tress. My hair loves it and I use it for everything from styling, sealing or even as a body cream. I will say, that I do not use it all the time, it really depends on how I feel and what my hair needs.

I'm looking for great protein conditioner. I need something mild. So if you have any suggestions, send them my way.

 

Blessings and Curls,

B-Curlie 

Two Years Natural

So its official I’ve been natural for two whole years. It feel like yesterday when I just decided to transition and grow my relaxed hair out. Sometimes the transition was tough, especially on those days when the roller set just didn’t look super cute or when I flattened my hair while sleeping on it. As much as I love my hair to look good, I will not sacrifice my rest for it!

My big chop after nine months of transitioning.

I also went through a traumatic, bout of seborrheic dermatitis last year that resulted in hair loss in the front of my head because I tried to treat it myself. The good news on that front is that my hair is resilient and is not holding any grudges. ;-) It’s growing back and I can’t even tell where the loss happened, except for the shorter hairs.

Today - two years of curliness, rocking a stretched twistout.

Now I’m looking forward to many years of natural glory and springy curls with personality. I guess what I’ve learned so far is that you have to take care of yourself, pay attention to the needs of your body and hair and most of all be proud of everything that makes you unique.

Where are you at in your journey? What has it been like for you?

 

Blessings and Curls,

B-Curlie

 

 

 

Salon Nightmare – Lesson Learned

Over the holidays, I was in one of my very good friend’s wedding. It was a beautiful day and I’m overjoyed for them.

During the preparations for the wedding, I actually decided not to do my own hair and have my friend’s stylist do it. As a bridesmaid, I wanted to participate in all the pampering including getting my hair done. Well, let me tell you that it was one of the biggest mistakes ever.

Although the stylists were black, they had no idea how to take care of natural hair, except to press or relax the hell out of it. I wanted a simple cornrow style in the front of my head and either twist or roller set on the rest. As some of you know, I’ve had trauma on my scalp from my dermatitis, but my hair is in a much better place now and can definitely withstand cornrows as long as they aren’t too tight.

After washing my hair, my hair was pulled and tugged in horrible directions with sometimes a small tooth comb. Let me tell you my hair is not used to being treated like that. No gentleness or care was applied.

When it was time to do the cornrows I was told, that extension hair was needed for a fuller braid. Needless to say I had cornrows in for Halloween and they were fine with only my hair.

Me as a leopard for Halloween - loving my cornrows :-)

I am allergic to extension hair and I would not let them use it. They didn’t like that. I ended up sitting in the chair for count’em FIVE hours only to have flat twists in my hair and bantu knots in the back. Throughout the nightmare, I got comments from the stylists like, “I can’t do it, because I only braid tight – I’m confused”, “since your hair is SO NATURAL, we can’t do this or that” and “because you have a curl pattern this it taking me longer to do” the best one was “if your hair was relaxed, I would be done by now”. CRAZY right. They made me feel like my hair was a nuisance for them and that is not how you should feel when your are paying customer and when they are providing a service. That was the hair prep day.

Needless to say, I finished my hair myself the next day and tried to put as much love as possible into it. I was not happy, especially since I know I could have done a better job myself, instead of paying someone to treat my hair like crap.

My wedding hair - not my favourite, definitely could have been better.

This experience made me realize that doing your research about a stylist is very important. You can’t just let any “black” person touch your hair. You cannot assume that because they look like you that they know how to respect your precious curls.

Lastly, even though the experience was traumatic, it made me realize how proud I am be natural and that it’s important for more black women to let their curls be free. We need to put the pressure on our people who are stylists to learn the proper way how to take care of the natural hair that grows out of our scalps, instead of focusing on learning ways to manipulate our natural hair.  

Have you had a similar experience? Share your story ...

Blessings and Curls, 
B-Curlie

New Year of Curls

PHOTO: www.business2community.com

First of all, Happy New Year Everyone!

I took an extended blogging break, just to get my thoughts in order and to think about Canadian Curlie’s future. I realized that I still really enjoy writing and posting, but I will do so when I get the itch.

I am committed to this blog and speaking the truth about my personal natural hair experience along with others who want to share, but I am not going to post just for the sake of it. I want all my posts to mean something, interest others and hopefully help others, if it comes to that. So that is my outlook for 2013.

I’m really looking forward to sharing with you and as always please send me your feedback and let me know what’s up!

Blessings and Curls,
B-Curlie

Black Canadian Dolls - available

I am so happy and proud of this news.

Some of you may remember one my posts Dolls Like Us.  I talked about a letter I sent to Maplelea Girls about creating a doll that represented black girls. We know that growing up most of us did not have a doll that looked like us or that we could relate to. I know I would have loved to have a doll that looked like me when I was young.

I did a survey asking all of you what you thought a black doll should look like for skin tone to hair type. I submitted your opinions to Maplelea Girls and guess what … they listened and took your comments into consideration when creating the dolls.

The two black dolls from Maplelea Girls. Photo: www.maplelea.com

Here is what Kathryn Morton, President of Maplelea Girls said, “We have two black dolls available now. We did the curly hair, as your readers suggested, but we also wanted to offer an alternative so we also did one with “textured” hair. They are part of the Maplelea Friends collection where girls get to make up their own name and character for their doll, using the journal that comes with it. Thanks so much for your help with this.”

WHAT A VICTORY! Thanks so much for being wonderful readers and for helping to make a difference. I’m really PROUD -  you should be too!!

Blessing and Curls,

B-Curlie