*My* Perfect Roller-set

Don't you hate when people always say: "I roller-set and flat-iron the roots ONLY!"; when you've tried countless times to do the same and failed miserably? No matter how many hours you've spent watching tutorials and breaking your arms, back, neck to get the stupid rollers in, your set ends up being a big load of craptastic -Do. Not. Want-. Makes you wanna slap someone and their mama!

This is the best roller-set I've done to date since my relaxer days (**though I haven't done that many**).   So here yet another Roller-set pictorial with EVERY little detail I could think of! Yes, this is another one of my looong drawn out posts again so if you are not having any of that at least skim over the pics  :)


**WARNING:- PIC SPAM!!**

Live In Color!

Wow am I the worst blogger, or what?! I have a million and one excuses (all true BTW, lol) as to why I haven't updated in so long but honestly the no. 1 being that I got sucked into Sims 3 again so most of my free time was spent on that. Lol I suck at juggling hobbies so when I get bored I just drop them for a few months and move on. Sounds bad I know but anyways I'm back into hair forums and such so here I am! :P.

So what have I been up to?! As you can see by the pics; no good! I've been wanting to do something crazy with my hair for a while now but couldn't decided between colour or cut. I finally went for colour as a V-day gift to myself and I plan to chop some layers in later on. I spent a whole year chopping my hair off to get it ALL ONE LENGTH, only to chop back layers in less than a year later. Crazy I know, but that has been the theme with me lately. Must be some kind of quarter-life crisis or something.

Anyways I'm loving my new turquoise and pink do and even thought I mostly do wash-n-go's and twist-outs I'm still having lots of fun with my hair. After-all that's what my blog is all about ;) Tons of pics and updates to come soon, I will tell you more about the color and show pics of how it looks blended with my normal everyday styles. Let me now what you guys think of the colour. It might help (or not) to know that I mostly listen to Alt.rock and metal so I tend to like stuff most "normal" folks don't, so you get a pass if you're not feeling it. But just this once!

~*BW*~

Regimen Updates

 Just a few tweaks here and there to help simplify things even further. For the last couple months that I've been away some things that I changed/tried:

Oils for sealing in conditioner and smoothing hair instead of gels:I really liked the results of this and my dependence on hair gels have significantly been reduced from twice a week to once in a blue moon when I use just a tiny bit to 'tame' my edges (once in the last 2 months). I like that my hair comes out super soft and touchable without being  frizzy. I also get a good amount of poof that I love. Also means one less step and product to use. H-mm maybe that's two less steps since I also don't have to oil my ends the next day. I've tried both Coconut and Extra-Virgin Olive Oils. I like both but mostly use EVOO now. Some observations: when using the Coconut oil my hair came out softer and the strands felt smoother; stronger even (and the smell is great!). But it gets dried out by the next morning and I have to scrunch more in. With EVOO I didn't have to do anything to my hair until next wash (2-3 days) and I still got soft defined hair. Which all makes sense since coconut oil penetrates the hair strands while EVOO coats. But you probably already knew that :p. One last thing; since I haven't been using gel I haven't felt a need to clarify all but once in 8 weeks.

 

Somebody Slap Me Please!

Baking Soda & Acidic Rinses

So I'm back to Baking Soda/ ACV Rinses and I feel like kicking myself for even thinking about shampoos!! Not only was my sclap so dry and itchy but it felt sore in the crown where I still have issues from last relaxer damage even though it's been 4+ years.

Before: 3 day old blow-out bun. Super dry and dull hair!

• I used my old mix of 2 tbsp Baking Soda to 3oz warm water and a squirt of my fav moisturizing conditioner just to thicken it up a bit. I mixed everything together in an applicator bottle and after wetting my hair apply the mix to my SCALP. Massage to remove build-up from scalp then rinse. This gets my hair completely clean without stripping or drying. It also helped to kill my dandruff andd that's not an issue for me anymore.

• I applied  Aussie Moist 3 Minute Miracle (mostly on the ends) and let sit for 3-5 mins then de-tangled and rinse. (LOVE)

• I didn't have apple cider vinegar on hand so I used half of a squeezed lemon for my acidic rinse added to about 4 oz of water. I usually let this sit for a min or 2 then rinse with cool/cold water (closes the cuticles of the strands resulting in smoother hair as well as restores the hair normal PH levels).

The total process took me about 10 mins and my hair was so soft, moisturized, shiny and super lightweight. So yes this method works in removing build-up from heavier products as well I would say. I added just a dab of Suave Natural Tropical Coconut to each section as I twisted and nothing else. Do I really need a whole week and a half to decide??

                                                                                                                                              ~*BW*~
                   

A 4th Degree No-Pooer's Penitence

Four years ago when I started my healthy hair journey I decided to give up shampoos and rely on more natural/organic means to cleanse my hair and scalp.  Now this was pretty easy to do seeing as I was almost always in protective styles and didn't use a lot of products that causes build-up.  Now that I wear my hair out most of the time and use gels 1-2 times a week, I decide adding shampoo back into my regi would be best to strip cones.

It's been only four months since I've been back on poos and well... now I'm not so sure this was a wise decision. I was looking through all my pics; old and new; for more posts on colour; one thing I noticed is that when I was avoiding shampoo like the plague, my hair had more "life". Not only was it shinner, softer and  less dryness to ends; but from the pics looks like I had more bounce and the strands tend  to shoot upward more than hang. *Remember how much I love big hair?* IDK, maybe I'm seeing things. I've even tried sulfate-free poos which seems to give me worst results even. How is that possible?

*Now that I think more about it, I didn't even give my old cleansing methods a chance with the new regi, wow what was I thinking?!  x_x*

 Either way... I'm going back to Apple Cider Vinegar Rinses and Baking Soda Washes for the next week and a half and see how it goes with gel  and other cone-filled products added to my regi.

                                                                                                                                    ~*BW*~

Ask BW: Blow-Drying Wash-N-Gos

This question was asked by my baby sis (20 yrs old but always a the baby) the other day as she watched me go through my "Wash-Stretch-N-Go"  routine. I thought this was a good question to use to talk about my "frequent"  use of the blow-dryer (that-which-must-not-be-named! lmao). There are more than one reason behind it:


Q. "Why do u blow-dry your Wash-N-Gos; doesn't that just makes you hair... 'poof'?"

• My main reason is my hair is tightly coiled towards the ends: Even though I love the way it looks in it's natural shrunken state and have worn it like that for years; as my hair got longer the more knots I had to battle with on wash days. Both on big chunks of sections and worst; single strands ones! This caused me quite a few setbacks, it's not a good fell running your strands between your fingers only to find 1-3 little knots from middle to ends. Now that I use the blow-dryer to enlogate my curls/kinks when I want to wear my hair out, I haven't had any problems with knots.  

• My hair takes a long time to dry (longer than I like at least). It takes about twice as long with products added. It's no fun sitting around all day waiting for your hair to dry or leaving the house with wet hair... so I like to blow-dry.

• I LOVE BIG HAIR!: Yes, sometimes my hair has some poof to it; that's because I want it to. The degree of poof/frizz  from this technique can easily be controlled by you. 

Tips to prevent poof/frizz: 

1. Choosing products that give my hair the best definition and also add a little weight/hold
2. And this is probably the most important: USING A NOZZLE ATTACHMENT TO BLOW-DRY 
3. Keeping the dryer going in one direction (downward) on my strands
4. KEEPING MY HANDS OUT OF MY HAIR! no fluffing or shaking.

I tend to break the above rules *shrugs* because as I said before: I LOVE BIG HAIR! My hair is 'normal' in density (I suppose); and I envy those with super thick hair. Blow-drying helps to create the illusion of a lot more hair than I actually have. So the bigger the better as far as I'm concerned! 

And just so this post in not so worthless... I'VE GOT COMPARISON PICS! Pics on left are of my hair when I Wash-Stretch-N-Go (in natural sunlight so true color), on the right is my completely dry hair without products and un-manipulated.

<--Adds about 3 inches in length

 <--Adds twice the volume

*Disclaimer (because I feel one is needed): I am in no way telling anyone to go out and fry their hair with a blow-dryer. This is just what works for ME personally.

My Hair Regimen (07/2010)

...Of sorts

Form 2006-2009 I focused mainly on wearing protective styles (braids, wigs, weaves) and keeping my ends tucked away almost all the time. And while they do serve their purpose (got me to Mid-back length), I never got to enjoy my hair much... usually for about 1 week or less in between styles I would wear my hair out. I was in protective styles for weeks, even months at a time. Every part of my regi was scheduled (moisturizing, pre-pooing, trimming). It became a chore of sorts and even when I got bored and frustrated I would muddle through for the sake of whatever hair board challenges I was participating in at the time. In the end I had longer hair but the braids, weaves and even the constant friction of my scarf on my edges; reeked havoc on my hair. I was always trimming to even-out and thicken my ends. So for 2010 and onwards, I decided I wanted a "do-over"and did a major cut from mid-back length to between arm-pit length and below shoulder blades. I will be implementing most of the healthy hair practices that I've picked up over the years. But  most importantly; I vowed to ALWAYS ENJOY MY HAIR at each and every stage throughout my journey as that is the only regret I have of the first 4 years.

So enough of this gibber jabber!...