Take down from Yesterday's Braid-out

Light and fluffy curls. Loved the smell! 

Product recap 

ORS replenishing conditioner 

Kinky Curly Knot Today detangler

Coconut oil 

Deva Curl Super Cream 

Casual Braid out On TRANSITIONING Hair

Yeah so I'm getting the hang of this transitioning journey. A lot of it consists of just sticking to the basics of what works and improving from there. 

Even with basic tools, co-conditioner, wide tooth comb, spray leave in and some oil, I can pull off a work-with-able look. A lot of women have demonstrated how difficult it is to transition by growing your hair out. But I'm loving the results. I love the fact that my relaxed hair had its own look, and so does my transition hair. I find it's best to enjoy and embrace the whole journey! 

Everytime I ace a hair look I'm itching to do videos. But, I'll wait and organize. As well as buy some new makeup! Yay 

New year! New HAIR GOALS!

 I just did a stretch for 16 weeks and will be relaxing/texlaxing this weekend. What I learned about my hair during this long stretch is essential and i feel that I am ready to transition to natural. however, I am going to take the whole year to prep for transitioning. I want to take my time and  revamp my whole routine so that my knowledge about my hair expands and I am prepped with the right products, hairstyles and routines. 

I found some serious problems during this last stretch. Problems that if I don't solve, my hair will lose the health that I've worked so hard for. Honestly, some days turned into weeks of me not even touching my hair because I was overwhelmed by the two different textures. I love my relaxed hair, and I am falling in love with my natural hair! So I want to use 2015 to merge myself into my natural hair, while paying homage to my relaxed strands. Also, it will be easier to learn in sections. This is what i learned about my hair during this last stretch and some areas that I will need to revisit in order to have an even better experience with my stretch in the summer. 

What I learned about my natural hair this stretch: 

1. The hair by the crown of my head grows faster than any other part of my head. 

2. I need to revamp my leave-in, something more watery, and moisturizing. Maybe i'll make it at home

3. My hair does not take any of my favorite styles after 13 weeks  (braidouts and twists are dull looking)

4.  My ends are the hardest to gain curl during transitioning, they stick straight out even with curly styles

5. Flexirods was my most successful hairstyle! maybe because of the stretching that they do at the root.

6. I need to re-learn moisture and protein balance for my kinky curlier hair.

7. I love the curls growing out of my head! They are bouncy and cute. Can't wait to see my whole head natural in one year!

8. Coconut oil is fantastic on my relaxed strands, but doesn't seem to be as effective when transiting..?

9. Plagued by the fear that I can't wear my hair straight as much as i'd like when natural, i'm on a mission to find a straight hair routine that is not damaging so I can enjoy straight hair too when natural. 

10. Ends ends ends! my ends are too straight and fine and i don't know how to treat them during transitioning, they are extremely different than the rest of the strand. How do I make my hairstyles look banging during the transition? 

If you have any product, or routine suggestions, i'd gladly take them as I experiment and find the right methods. I might even consider creating some videos with your suggestions. i'm really happy that I always have this platform to share my hair concerns, fears, and challenges. blessings. 

Re-cap on the Braidout challenge

I've learned so much by putting myself trough this challenge. I've learned how to 

1. use the products better to get the Braidout curl that I desire. 

2. Predict how long my hair needs to dry to maintain the curl. Atleast 3-4 hours of air drying to hold curl pattern

3. Use different amounts of braids to manipulate a bigger waiver curl or smaller more defined curls. 

This Braidout challenge has really bumped up my skills. I feel more confident about my hair. This is just the beginning of my mastery of braidouts as I work to perfect even more my looks. However I found this challenge to be a lot of fun... And through it I've gained more knowledge about my hair. I'm ready to move on but happy about the outcome. 

Braidout style #9

I recently purchased the goddess curls gel and I've been trying it out in my last few braidouts. I think its all about knowing how much to use in my te laced hair. But it is overall a pretty good curling aid especially on 9 week post hair. This current hair style is with my herbal essence long term relationship, coconut oil and the curls gel. It was a second day Braidout so my hair is not even fresh off of a wash. I think it came out pretty awesome. I mean braidouts are like my signature look now. :) 

Braid-out style #8

Again I love the soft curls look. Here it is again. I think I did 5 braids. Air dried 50% the braided. Using mango butter and coconut oil. I ran out of my he ltr. I gotta re-up on that. But my hair is entering stretch season so I'm going to figure out which products I will use to help with this stretch. 

Braid-out style #7

I've been living this softer Braidout look. I do 4-braids. The method is to wash and then let hair air dry up to 50%. Then braid. I use mango butter and olive oil combination. 

Braid out style #6

Method: Nina Pruitt but with eight braids. 

Products: he long term relationship and coconut oil

Now this is a real Braidout !! 

I did a frenchbraid technique and loving the results of this! It looks like a Spanish wave weave lol 

Braid outs style #5

Method: bronzeg method with five plaits 

Products : mango butter and coconut oil 

I'm at THE Five mark  and I'm focused on honing in on my techniques in the methods. I like the five plait cause it comes out neater and more refined. The braids are thicker and makes the hair fluffy and more body in the waves. The six plait braid out leaves for skinnier waves which makes the hairstyle messier. Which gives me choices when deciding five or six, refined or more messier. With six plaits the messier look needs curls on the end. That's my preference so I want to take my techniques to another level. Cleaning up my braiding and teying different ways to braid to mani hairstyle. 

One thing I've learned with the oils. Coconut oil gives shine and more definition. Olive oil gives more conditioning  so the hair is dense and shows more length. It's also softer and fluffier. 

Braid out style #4

Method : Nina pruitt 

PRODUCts : mango butter and olive oil(I think) 

It's either coconut oil or olive oili can't remember but I forgot how I like the two braids on the side with curly ends gives a warmer look. 

Braid out style #3

My hair is one week post.
Damp after a wash and spritz.
Then I used my mango butter and olive oil to seal.
I did five braids two on each side and one on top. Similar to bronzeg method.

I found the mango butter to give incredible fluff and curl definition. STAPLE??

Braid-out style #2

This is style #2:

Bronzeg method: 

I used he long term relationship leave-in - 

And sealed with olive oil -

Results: 

The results were great. My hair seemed to actually dry faster. The drying time was less than with style 1 but this one dried faster. Less shine but more supple ness. It's really not that big of a difference curled were less crunchy. It's a less fluffy swinging look, more tamed. I love both coconut oil and olive oil. 

Braid out style #1

Method used: bronzeg on damp hair

 

Products: herbal essence long term relationship leave in and coconut oil 

Results: I really love this combination of products. The coconut oil just does it right the curls are we'll defined and shiny defined and the shine is so beautiful. The hair is a tad cruncy probably from the oil. But by far this is a great product combination that is a staple in my book. 

My hair was in braids for about five hours. It was about eighty percent dry. So there is a lot of frizz. But this style had a lot of body and swing. 

Braid-out methods

For my Braid-outs challenge I will be experimenting with different methods.. here are the ones I will choose from. 

BRONZEG BRAID-OUT METHOD







THE 6 PLAIT BRAID OUT BY NINA PRUITT






SYLVER2 'S BRAID OUT METHOD (GREAT FOR STRETCHED HAIR)




OTHER BRAIDOUT METHODS:

A) 2 PLAITS ON ONE SIDE, AND 4 ON THE OTHER

10 Braidouts in a row challenge. (ON STRETCHED HAIR)

So I'm starting a ten day braid-out challenge! I am doing it to play with my eight weeks post hair! I'm aiming to make it to ten weeks while maintaining a cute style. I've made it to ten weeks before but my hair was not cute the whole way through. Lol I'd say because of dryness and moisture and protein balance. So ill be very focused on these areas. As we'll as playing with different products AND braiding techniques to see what gives best results! 

Yesterday's braid out was okay . I cowashed and used my herbal essence  leave in. Then sealed with olive oil. I did the bronzeg method for the braid out. I had very fluffy curls but it frizzed and turned dry. Maybe from not having my head covered overnight.