Oldie But Goodie!

 
A friend of mine tried out naptural85’s Summer Fun Curly Fro tutorial and hers turned out so well that I decided to try it too. Of course I had to modify it a bit bc I usually just have a day to do my hair & I can’t get away with a scarf at work in the office too well soooo I had to try & speed up my drying time. Because my hair is so thick, air drying doesn’t always work too well unless I have at least a full day & night to allow it to dry. So, I may use a diffuser or sit under the hooded dryer to speed up the drying time.

My sis-in-law made me some flax seed gel to use & I really liked it! It goes on smoother than the Fantasia IC gel that I usually use. The only challenge is that I didn’t get to use it all before I think it went bad (it smelled funny in the fridge…lol).

So, I used flax seed gel on freshly washed hair, followed the tutorial video below & sat w/it under the hooded dryer for about an hour, and slept in a scarf overnight. In the morning….it was still a little wet so I diffused it some to wear it like this:

P.S. My FAV part of the tutorial was something that I had never even thought of doing before but will do all the time now, she put a scarf around the front of her hair to hold it down while she manipulated the rest of her hair & that worked wonders because the front of my hair doesn’t always do what the rest of my hair does and I end up pinning the front back later, so why not start with it that way?! Genius!

     

I tried it again the next week but did more of a bantu knot than the pin curl & it turned out like this:

I think if I were to let it fully dry & did the pin curls it’d turn out similar to hers but it still will just define whatever your natural curl pattern is.

Check out her tutorial video here:

 

Enjoy!

 

© Ashley Brown and 24sevencurls, 2011. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, documents, and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ashley Brown and 24sevencurls with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 

2 Strand Twists w/a TWIST!

Heyyyy 24sevencurls  world!  I have been working and relaxing, waiting patiently for this baby to come! I did get a chance to do my hair on Sunday though and wanted to share what I did!

Of course it’s 2 strand twists (I do them a lot because they can last me for a while, at least a week or sometimes two!).  So here’s what I did:

1. On freshly washed, & conditioned hair (I’m still contemplating doing the curly girl method and not using shampoo any longer…doing my research still…) I parted my hair in 3 sections vertically.
2. I knew I wanted a mo-hawk type of effect so on the sides I did 4, 2 strand flat twists & did a bantu knot on the ends (I re-wet the section I was twisting w/a spray bottle of water & EVOO, added a little shea butter & Fantasia IC Gel for hold on the edges) (Next time I might make thinner sections for the flat twists to make it look a little neater…)
3. For the middle I did semi-mini 2 strand twists (re-wet section w/water/EVOO, shea butter & a little Fantasia IC Gel for hold). When I do 2 strand twists, I always have to use a clip to hold the start of the twist together so that it will stay (the  part that is closest to my scalp is where I’ll put the flat clip so the hair doesn’t get poofy at the beginning of the twist). 
4. I put the twists on medium rollers & sat under a hooded dryer on low for about an hour, then put my scarf over my head to let it dry more overnight (you know my hair takes FOR LIFE to fully dry!)

Here is how it turned out!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Today I twisted some of the mini twists from the middle section together and made a few messy buns because a few of the rollers didn’t hold last night BUT it’s all good, still looks nice to me AND my hair is off of my neck today which is always a good thing. Anyhoo, hope you like it and will try the style for yourself!

 

© Ashley Brown and 24sevencurls, 2011. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, documents, and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ashley Brown and 24sevencurls with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 

The BIG Twist OUT…

THE BIG TWIST OUT!

AND

THE BIG PAY BACK!

This was my theme music when I took the twists out because I think I left them in too long and it was all rainy…my hair decided to pay me back for leaving ’em in for so long and it just wanted to be puffy!

“gotta deal with you, gotta deal wit ya!” (p.s. I love old soul music if you didn’t know) “I don’t know karate but I know ka-razy!” -King of Soul James Brown

Puffy twist out (it wasn’t so bad, just not what I usually want it to look like):

    

Sooooo, since I wasn’t too thrilled w/all this puffy hair, I decided to do more sections (8 in the back instead of 4) and flat twist them. I also used the same product again:

So here’s what I did and here’s what I came out with…

            

So, the key to getting the twist out that I like on my hair is to do more sections, use enough product (something with decent hold), don’t wet the hair too much when twisting, make sure it’s fully dry before I take the twists out or that it hasn’t gotten “wet/humid” again since the original twists and as always… “if at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again!” 🙂

Related articles

• Rain, Rain, Go Away! (24sevencurls.wordpress.com)
• The Versatility of Natural Hair (Part 1) (naturalfantastic.wordpress.com)
• Mini twists: Part 1 (thecaribbeancurly.wordpress.com)

Using Samples AGAIN!

I washed my hair on Tuesday morning using the samples from before and I had forgotten that I was amazed at the thickness & consistency of the Design Essentials Sulfate free shampoo.

It’s a light honey color & about the consistency of honey but not sticky. This shampoo I feel did pretty well in my hair, I’d actual buy this (once I run out of what I already have, no PJ over here!).
I used loads of the conditioner this time & a ton of the Cashmere Curls (somebody tell me what is in that stuff anyway…?!)

For ALL CURLY HAIR TYPES – creates shiny, soft curls

Every curly dreams of healthy, defined, soft, manageable curls…Cashmere Curls is your dream come true! Formulated with pure Cashmere Extract, Certified Organic Aloe Leaf and Coconut Milk, Cashmere Curls softens, strengthens, repairs, defines, and moisturizes damaged tresses leaving them bouncy, shiny and silky smooth. By bonding to the hair shaft, Cashmere Curls strengthens 3 layers of the hair thus enhancing the curl pattern.

How To Use:

• Use alone as a curl defining, sheen enhancing, softening, and strengthening styler (fine-medium textured curls).
• Use under your favorite CURLS styler to soften, hydrate, enhance curl definition (thick, kinky textured curls).
• Mixed with your favorite CURLS conditioner to deep treat your tresses.

Ingredients:

Botanically Infused H2o, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Keratin – Cashmere Extract, Certified Organic Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Certified Organic Anthemis Nobilis (Flower) Extract, Certified Organic Coconut Extract, Bean Tree, Lactamide MEA, Acetamide MEA, Polyquaternium-7, Polysorbate 80,Hydrolyzed Corn Starch, Lactic Acid, Diisopropyl Adipate, Polyquaternium-10, Phenoxyethanol, Natural Fragrance.

(to the point where my hair was white) just to get a better idea of the type of hold/defined curls I could get with these and I was pleasantly surprised. I used my diffuser because I didn’t have time to air dry but these are my mid day results (I should have taken some pics right after use but I will next time).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

© Ashley Brown and 24sevencurls, 2011. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, documents, and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ashley Brown and 24sevencurls with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Related articles

• Samples galore! (24sevencurls.wordpress.com)