A little tip

I know I am wearing kinky twists now but that doesn't stop me from sharing experiences I've had just before I put them on (can you say "put them on" for braids? the French in me wonders...) I saw this video on YouTube a couple of years ago. I can't remember how I ended up watching this. You know? Like when you start looking for something specific and you end up watching videos of funny little cats doing silly things? (I know you've all done it at least once...probably more!)

Back to the video though: in this video, this girl explains how to refresh flat ironed hair after a workout and towards the end ( from 5:35) she shows how she uses baby powder to remove excess oil from her hair.

I can confirm that it works! I had pre-pooed overnight with Amla oil and although I rinsed it out, when my hair was completely dry, it was still oily. That's when I remembered this video. Now, I do not have a baby but as I use baby powder for my jewellery making, I had a bottle handy. I put it in my hands (NOT directly on my hair as advised in the video), and then in my hair. Afterwards I brushed my hair to get rid off the powder. I repeated this three times and indeed, the hair was not as oily as it was. Of course, all the oil wasn't gone, but most of it did. It did the job until the next wash :-)

On est jamais mieux servi que par soi-même

I needed a new protective style: starting a contract next Monday and as I will have quite some travelling to do, I won't really have that much time in the morning (or evening) to style my hair properly.

My hair is still in the need of a break too so I thought about Senegalese twists as it is what I normally do if I decide to braid my hair with extensions. While looking for styles I came across this video from Jobabylive on YouTube and really liked her haircut.

I tried to have kinky twists done once before a few years ago in London: a colleague of mine had some cute ones and recommended her aunt. £40 or £60 later...I hated it and only kept them on for about 4 days I think. They were so huge on my head, I had the feeling everyone was staring at me and felt super uncomfortable with them. Think it was also the last time I let someone else braid my hair (I taught myself how to twist straight after that lol)

So! Went out on Tuesday morning, bought some hair, came back and got started at around 3.30pm.
I can basically resume this in 3 steps:

 

I have such a migraine! I had forgotten how painful it was to have braids. My head has been extensions free for so long now. It hurts!

But I am very pleased with the result though and glad I tried to do it myself. Like we say in French "on est jamais mieux servi que par soi-même" (i.e. "You are never as well served as when you serve yourself" or "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself"). Took me about 16 hours to complete this so it is definitely quicker than Senegalese twists.

I intend on keeping this on for a couple of months hopefully. But as I am not the best at braiding, they are usually loose after a week or so, which is a good thing. Then I will do them again for another couple of months, and that should be the summer done (that is if it ever starts here: it's been raining non stop since last week and we are still wearing our winter clothes...yes! that includes scarves!) with protective styles only :-)

It is my second attempt at braids with extensions while on my HJ. First time was a huge fail and I had a lot of breakage and it turned into a major setback. I am doing research this time and will try to do better to protect my hair and NG.

Will you be using protective styles during the summer?

Protective Styling

Here are the pics of the look(s) I had this week.

On Saturday last week I braided my hair (without extensions as I didn't want any). It took me about six hours for those box braids. But my hair is so thin that the result wasn't great. But after six hours, there was no way I would have undone that! plus, I wanted to give my hair a break for a few days.

Of course, I could not do much so I wore it like that Sunday through Wednesday: 

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Then like that Thursday through Saturday:

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I actually really love the texture in my hair once the box braids were undone. I couldn't have kept them much longer anyway as the ends were starting to get tangled up. I hope that one day I will be able to rock nice box braids or even better...TWISTS! But with my own hair. Now I need to think about my next protective style for the upcoming week...

Going Natural: an unconscious wish?

Today I was checking out my YouTube history out of curiosity and realised one common thing about the videos I've been watching: they were all about girls who were either natural or transitioning.

Same when it came to my Internet browsing history.

This made me ask myself one question: "Girl, are you REALLY thinking about going natural?!"

I am still not sure about what to answer to that question to be honest. It would be a lie to say that I have never considered it since the start of my hair journey. Actually, I think I have tried (without really knowing or realising it) twice during the last year or so. I have tried to stretch my relaxer for longer than my usual 8 weeks. I went as far as 12 and gave up as I just couldn't handle the amount of new growth. And again, for those of you who have read my posts on K.I.S.S, stretching contributed to my bold spot.

October 2013 will mark my three year hair anniversary and if you had told me in 2010 or even 2012 about going natural, I would have laughed real loud! But in the last year I have caught myself wondering. Not considering it but....I've been growing more and more curious about what my natural hair texture looks like. Especially when I have new growth; I catch myself just touching it constantly, playing with the curls and wondering what it would look like if it was longer.

I do not remember what my hair was like when I was younger. I remember the haircuts and have some photos, but I honestly can't remember what it felt like.

I have also realised that I have been "finding" more and more reasons to stop relaxing lately. Just when I do something to my hair, I hear a voice inside my hair saying "wouldn't it be better to have fuller, stronger hair? Wouldn't you like to finally make some proper, fuller braids/twists? Aren't you tired of relaxing and burning your scalp?"

My hair is thin. Fuller than it was at the start of my hair journey, but still too thin to my liking.

So anyway, I was wondering: is it a common thing when on a hair journey and relaxed? Do you automatically, at one point, think about going natural? Or at least consider it? It's like my mind has been obsessed with that for the last few months. I have witnessed quite a few relaxed ladies on YouTube or hair websites that I was following who decided to go natural. I also follow a lot of natural women too. But then I try to also be realistic: would I do more harm than good to my hair if I ever decided to go natural? Can I handle my thick 4b/c hair once passed 12 weeks? I cannot do braided hairstyles with my thin relaxed hair, so how will I manage to style my coily/kinky hair? I am not sure I am ready yet to go down that route. I've been reading so many blogs, articles, watching so many videos...a hair journey is not easy lol

What about you ladies? What do you think each time you're about to touch up your hair? Or when you look at your NG? Have you had those thoughts? Would you go natural?