Revamping braids

Posted in protective styling, styling, Tips by Jen

Hey guys,

You know how you spend some good money on buying braiding hair/attachment/extensions and on paying the hair stylist to make it for you? Then you spend a good amount of time sitting down to get the hair braided and by the time you’re done, you can barely feel your butt? Then 4 weeks down the line the hair starts looking old in your eyes and you’re tired of it?

Girrrrl, been there, done that!

I’m going to share with you 3 easy ways to revamp your braids/twists and give them a new look so you can enjoy every single kobo you spent!

Continue reading →

1Sep2014

When are you making your hair?

Posted in Random by Jen

Hello people, welcome to the ’ember months’ as my fellow Nigerians like to call the last quarter of the year.
It just dawned on me that the year is well spent and will soon be over and I was reminded that I set out some goals at the beginning of the year that I would still like to accomplish. If you are like me and you like to procrastinate and do things at the last minute, this is the time to start working on said goals.
In order to achieve my hair goal length wise, I think I will be putting my hair in protective styles till the year runs out.
So about today’s post, without getting into the nitty gritty, it’s simply a short piece I wrote about an issue that has been on my mind for years. I wrote it for something I was doing and I thought I’d share it with you guys. Enjoy!
**********************************************
This morning I spent a little more time than usual painstakingly brushing my hair, pinning and tucking it to perfection. I stepped out the door feeling like a million bucks and skipped happily all the way to work. As I stepped into the office, the first thing my colleague said to me was “when are you making your hair?”. The way I stared at her; if only I could karate-kick her out the window.
Whenever I leave my house without a weave, a wig or braids, at least one person will ask, “when are you making your hair”. As a matter of fact, someone in the house with me may say, “are you going out with your hair like that?”
It has got me thinking: What’s wrong with my real hair? Do I need to have a weave or braids on before people think I look good?
We’ve learnt to rely so heavily on hair extensions that being without them makes us feel incomplete, makes us look incomplete. When did this begin? Did it just become so over time?
I know people whose real hair I’ve never ever seen! They go into the salon with a weave and come out with another. If all the hair extension companies in the world shut down today, I’m sure some people will never be seen in public again.
Personally, I love the look and drama of long, wavy hair extensions that blow in the wind as much as the next girl; but I’m also very comfortable with my real hair and I think everyone should be. You have to learn to love and be content with what you were born with; it’s yours and no matter how much you cover it up, it’s still there. Maybe if we all did this, no one would ask that question because seeing real hair would be normal.
So this is I, speaking on behalf of the hair that is crying to see the daylight and feel the wind; please let it out and be okay with it every now and then.

7Feb2014

My first go at yarn braids

Posted in protective styling by Jen

Hey guys, this is a super late post because it’s been 4 weeks since I’ve had these wool/yarn braids.

I absolutely love them! I’ve even inspired a couple of people to get them, yay me!
I think they might be my new favorite style.
One reason why I like them is that the more my real hair sticks out, the more the braids look like locs. If it were normal extensions I used, it’d look like utter crap by now but wool blends okay with my hair that’s sticking out.
My only complaint is that the ends are burnt(makes them look unnatural to me and makes it harder to style); next time I’ll ask the stylist to tie them instead.
Other than that, I’m absolutely loving having faux locs!

What I did before getting the braids done
Before doing them, I washed my hair, did a protein treatment, deep conditioned and put my hair in cornrows to stretch it(I learnt from the mistake I made of not stretching my hair when I got the full sew in).
When it was time to start braiding I took the cornrows down.

Here’s the mistake I made. I took down all the cornrows before the stylist started braiding. I should have taken them down in sections so that when she braids that section, I’ll take down another section for her to braid. That way my hair would have stayed more stretched and softer. Since I took all of them down before she started braiding, by the time she was braiding the front, my hair wasn’t as soft or stretched. It wasn’t so bad though but I will make sure to take down my cornrows in sections next time.

How I’m caring for my hair in my yarn braids
I spray them up to where my real hair stops with water, olive oil, peppermint oil and glycerin in a spray bottle. I do this every few days.
I also oil my scalp with castor oil. I was using my Shea butter mix before I got castor oil.
Now that my hair sticks out of the braids, I rub my Shea butter mix on the braids up to where my hair stops after spraying them.

I tie a scarf(it’s polyester I believe) to bed sometimes. Other times I don’t bother. My satin bonnet doesn’t fit over the braids and I don’t have a satin pillowcase or scarf.

I cowashed at the end of week 2 but I couldn’t find anyone to hold the braids up for me so I could wash only the roots and avoid getting the whole thing wet. I ended up wetting the whole thing and it was soooo freaking heavvyyy! Omg! No jokes! I felt like someone was pulling me by the hair. I thought the ones around my edges would rip out my hair and fall off. And it took forever to dry! I think I’ll just use Apple Cider Vinegar to clean it from now on or I’ll only wash if someone is there to hold the braids out of the way.

I used 12 rolls of wool and a little from the 13th roll. One roll cost N100.

Now, pictures!

This is the wool I used. I used 98% of the Babby one though. Only used the other one when the Babby ran out

Getting older and fuzzier

I’m not really a styling guru so I wear it in only one or two ways everyday.
I redid a couple of them that I felt were pulling too much on my edges and nape.

This year I plan to grow and retain 6 inches so I’m all about low manipulation therefore protective styles will play a big role this year.
I hope to get 2-4 weeks more out of these braids. Then I’ll give my hair some resting time before I move to my next protective style. I’m thinking crotchet braids but lets wait and see.

What do you think of yarn braids? Will you try this style?
Till next time,
Growth, growth, growth!