Canadian Support

PHOTO: Flag Wallpapers 

So I was thinking the other day about the products I use on my hair, and I realized that none of my staple products are Canadian.

I would love to support more Canadian companies that have integrity especially when it comes to natural hair and beauty products.

I do remember trying Kynk Naturals Hair Honey, in my early transitioning days, and I loved the smell, shine and sealing properties that the product gave my hair. Yet, as everyone know, as you transition, so do the products you use… I think I will revisit some of their offerings in the future.

I also tried Curly Canadians and fell in love with Hair Love, however the company is no more. A company that is new on the scene is Queens & Kings Natural Products. I have not tried any of their products yet, but they are located in Nova Scotia and specialize in natural hair and skincare products.

So tell me where are all the Canadian natural hair products? Do you know of any you’d like to share?

Blessings and Curls,

Kim aka B-Curlie

DIY Marley Twists

So I finally did it, I installed Marley Twists in my hair on the weekend and I love them!

It was my first time doing extensions on my hair, all by myself. I have not had any extensions or weaves in my hair for more than four years, because of a bad scalp experience. I thought, I would not be able to do it again. Well I was wrong.

Me rocking my Marley Twists - I'm in love!

I did some research and found out that I could wash the extension hair in water and vinegar to remove the harsh chemicals and dirt on the hair. I did this earlier in the week. So far so good, my scalp is doing well.

I also lived on Youtube during my free time and stocked blogs, there are plenty of resources online.

So I know you are l really reading, to see how I did it, here goes:

1.       The day before, I pampered my hair with a deep conditioning treatment, a mix of protein and hydrating conditioners (Tresemme, Keratin Smooth and Salon Silk), along with coconut oil. I sat under the dryer for 30 mins. I rinsed, applied Knot Today leave-in, and Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and twisted my hair in the sections I wanted for my Marley Twists. Note: I’m not a big hair parter and I wanted them to look natural. I decided only to part the front perimeter of my hair, to ensure that my twist looked tidy.


2.   The next morning, I started my Marley Twists, using the invisible twisting method. See video by Cassandre Beccai. I love her videos: 

3.       Before adding the hair, I added a little more of the Curl Enhancer Smoothie, sealed with shea butter and a bit of Eco Styler for hold.

4.       I used two pieces of Marley hair per twist. My hair is fine, but high in density, I wanted to avoid scalpy patches and it worked. I used Freetress Marley Braid hair in colours B2 and P4/27, for a spring of colour.

5.       I ended up with 32 twists and used 4-1/2 bags of hair.

6.       When done, the next day I burned the ends and curled them in hot water, using flexirods.

What I learned

It is definitely trial and error and took me about six hours to do, not including snack and washroom breaks.

The hair will unravel at the end, so you will need to seal it in some way.

It’s important to note that, I did not grab the very front of my edges in the twists, to avoid damage. I’m fine with a few curls, I think they make the twist look more authentic as well.  

I loved having the control over the size of the sections and the tightness. For me, I’m fine will re-doing a couple twists if need be, because I know I’m not pulling my hair out and that means it is a real protective style. There is nothing worse than having extensions, and not knowing what you will end up with after the take down.

Maintenance

I will moisturize with aloe vera juice and a drop of coconut oil when needed.

I plan to wash my scalp with apple cider vinegar and water. Let’s see how that goes, or I will find a good dry shampoo. I’m open to suggestions!

Will I do it again?

Yes, without a doubt. I’m proud that I was able to do this myself, especially it never thought I would ever try this, but then again, four years ago I didn’t think I was going to be natural either. Things change and so do your capabilities, when you put your mind to it. I plan to keep these in for three to four weeks. The next time, I plan to try Senegalese twists.

Tell me what you think or if you have any tips to share.

Blessings and Curls,

Kim aka B-Curlie

   

Halloween hair & product review

  

My husband and I love Halloween, for one main reason. It’s one of the only times you can truly be silly or scary. This year we hosted a Halloween party and also went to a Halloween gathering at a friend’s home. We had fun at both events.

I thought I would show you my Halloween hair and also give you the promised review of Shea Moisture’s Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie mixed with Eco Styler Gel (the blue one) for sporty and active lifestyles.

Me being silly, twist out with Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Eco Styler Gel.

I have been using the Curl Enhancing Smoothie, for a while now and I’m currently on my second jar. I’ve always been a fan of Eco Styler Gel, but this was the first time I used the blue brand. I use them on freshly washed hair, with my leave-in and then begin twisting with the mixture.

Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie:

It smells divine like coconut and hibiscus. It has a creamy, goopy and slippery consistency, which I found worked well. The product is water based, but also contains Neem oil and silk proteins, which helps contain frizz. I’ve also used it is as a moisturizer and that works as well.

I’m a twist-out junkie, so the first time I used it alone as a styler. It left my hair really soft and defined, but I found the definition didn’t last long enough.  With that said it has become one of my new staples.

Eco Styler Gel

As I mentioned in past posts I’ve tried most of the EcoStyler brands and for the most part I’m very happy with their performance with my hair. I mix a little of it with the Curl Enhancing Smoothie on freshly washed hair and the results are stellar. I get the definition and softness from the smoothie and hold that allows the style to lasts longer with the gel. A match made in heaven. 

I hope this review helped you, let me know. This mix will stay in my play book for a while yet.

Blessings and Curls,

Kim aka B-Curlie

Craving Marley Twists

For the last couple weeks, I have been craving to have Marley Twists installed or something similar to them. I love my curls, but I’m ready for a little change and a break from having to do my hair every day. Here is a great how-to video I found for Marley Twists from My Natural Sistas – it makes me want them even more when I watch it.  

My only problem is I haven’t had extensions in about seven years or so, only because the last time I had them in, my scalp had an attack. My dermatologist friend told me, that many of the hair companies, often package the hair, even human hair with chemicals that many black women are allergic to, but don’t know it. So she wasn’t surprised when I mentioned what happened to me.

Even though my scalp went crazy that one time, it didn’t happen every time I had extensions in the past. So I set on my search for hypoallergenic extension hair. I was pleasantly surprised when I found Prota Hair. On their website they say it’s not human hair, best is made with Ultima, which is a natural hair protein, very close in structure to keratin. That other feature that they mention that really attracts me is this blurb from their website:

“Prota Hair is even better than human hair because it is hypoallergenic, less-tangling, easy to restore, and flame retardant!  For sensitive scalps, Prota Hair is the best option because it is hypoallergenic and always clean and free from harmful bacteria.  And because Prota Hair is made with Ultima Organic Protein, the hair retains moisture so that it is soft and easy to manage.”

I have not purchased the hair yet, but I plan to in the next few weeks. Before I do so, I would love to hear from you. Have any of you used this brand or type of hair?

Blessings and Curls,

Kim aka B-Curlie

I'm Back!!!

So I haven’t written in a while and I’m really sorry about that … the reason you may ask is LIFE. My life outside of my blog, really needed my attention and it was very important to me. During this time I also did some soul searching about this blog and I figured out if I wanted to continue with it. I’ve always loved writing it, but found time was an issue. I also love hearing from my readers and to be quite honest, you are the reason why I’m going to give it another shot. I'll still be really busy outside of blogging, but I will try to be more consistent.

A couple people have recently told me that my blog has given them inspiration to continue their natural journey and that it was good to see Canada represented. This warmed my heart and I knew I had to continue to write about our hair and tell our stories.

So stay tuned for more from me and I will try my best to keep the post coming.

Thanks for your support and be sure to tell me what you think and what you’d like to see on Canadian Curlies, click here to drop me a line.

Getting ready for my wedding anniversary dinner with my hubby last week. I used shea moisture
and eco styler gel for my twist-out. I promise a review with come soon!

 

Blessings and Curls,

B-Curlie

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