Beautiful Braidouts

I've finally figured how to do the perfect braidouts on my hair texture !! I'll keep this blog short and sweet :)

1. I section the hair off, or just keep an idea of how many braids I want and finger comb them as I go through the hair.

2. I spritz my hair lightly with water and apply some shea butter,like I normally do when I moisturize.

3. I seal the section of hair with Eco Styler Olive Oil gel, using the rake and smooth method.

4. I immediately braid the hair after applying gel, either loosely or in a cornrow. I use in between 5 and 8 braids. Here are typical braid patterns I use :







5. The result is nicely shaped hair that I can wear down, in a 'fro, in a puff, or any other style you like to do !!

Here are various braidout results I've gotten using this method..Try it and tell me if it works for you !!! I will post a Youtube video on this as soon as I get a new camera ( my camera broke, so I'm limited to my phone for pics now).

Braidout on Stretched Hair

I did a braidout on my previously blow dried hair !!



I only used some of my leftover Mango Butter by Elasta QP to do it =). I did a side to side cornrow pattern in the back of my head, and in the front I used some straight back cornrows. I was pleased with my results ! The youtube videos I made do this style better justice than what you see in this video though. I am on the hunt for some more curling products to experiment with over time. For now I'm still in love with my vanilla mint serum & green tea shea butter combo for great braidouts that are very moisturized !!

Here are some pics of it :





Here is the braid pattern that I did and the link to the youtube video on it :




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzIZlvtVdJM

Thank you so much for reading ladies !!!

I Wore My Real Hair Out Yesterday....

...for the first time. I LOVED IT !

I made a youtube video about how I wanted to do it, and I expressed that I was nervous to see if I got any rude comments or stares. Noone payed me any attention, LOL... if they said anything good or bad, they didn't do or say it to my face. That's a good thing! I am very sensitive, sometimes =)

I took a few pics of how my hair looked. It was just a big huge 2 week old braidout I guess you could say, because I had worn my wig for 2 weeks straight and just took the cornrows out the night before. I can't wait to start wearing my hair out even more =) I don't know why I was shy !!! I guess I just had to feel comfortable, and now that I have enough hair on my neck I don't feel as bothered by the length ! I'm excited to wear my real hair to work too so that my coworkers can actually see that I'm growing it out. I will play it subtle at first and stick to my ponytail, but after they get used to that I'm rocking all sorts of rollersets, afro puffs, flexirod sets, twist outs, perm rod sets, braidouts, bantu knot outs, ALL THAT JAZZ !!! LOL

thank you for reading everyone !!

18 Months Since My Last Relaxer !!

Yesterday completed a full 18 months ( a full year and a half) since my last relaxer !!! My last relaxer was December 15th 2008. I still can't believe how far I've come. It's like a dream !!

Anyways, I'm VERRRRRY close to wearing my natural hair out without a headband or any other kind of accessory. My fro is getting larger !!! It's not much of a TWA anymore. As you can see in the first picture, my shrinkage is around 50%. I can't wait to straighten it out and be amazed, LOL.. In these pictures, I just got off of work and took my cornrows down and this was the result ! I'm going to start doing more braidouts on dry hair to continue and give my hair that "hang".

Thank you for reading everyone !!! Hang in there transitioners !!

No Natural Hair on the Job...Not Yet !!

Well, as I just wrote in my previous blog, I have my career finally !!! I wore a synthetic lace front the first couple of days, but the lace was bothering me way too much, it irritated to the point I broke out on my hairline and scalp! That bothered me, not to mention the fakeness of it. I hate how synthetic hair looks like Barbie Doll hair !! Ughhh. I cracked and bought myself a human hair lace front and I will never buy synthetic again !! LOL...I bought this wig off of the mannequin head for a 20% discount so I don't have all of the info on it's name but if anyone wants to know I'll go back to my BSS to find out for you =)

Here is how it looks on the mannequin...







.... and this is my work look ! I love it. I can't wait until my hair is this long. Hopefully after a year and a half I'll be close..



I plan on wearing my real hair to work as soon as it is long enough to put in a ponytail/cute updo. For now it's still too short, but hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be able to =)

I Know How to Cornrow Now !!!

Guess who did her first head full of cornrows ?!?! Yours truly !!! I couldn't believe how nice they came out! I have to work on getting them even and uniform, but honestly they came out really nice for my first try on my natural hair.

I did them a few times on my relaxed hair, but it was so much harder !! My hair would tangle so much for some reason. It's so much easier for me to do them on my kinky hair !! I'm not sure why. But I'm loving how easy it was !!! Check out the pictures. I tried doing a sew-in, but I didn't have enough packs of hair lol... so I left the cornrows in and just oiled my scalp. I had a professional meeting to go to a few days later, so I took them out and rollerset my hair. I can't wait to braid my hair up again !

Here are some pics :







I think I did well considering I have 2 left hands, hehehehehehehe !!!