Protective Style Challenge Week 1: Mini Twists!

Okay, so I told you guys that we're participating in the Beads, Braids and Beyond Protective Style Challenge and this post is about how I styled her hair this time around. I washed and detangled her hair on Thursday night (4/26), banded the roots, and twisted the rest. This is what her hair looked like when I started styling it on Saturday (4/27):

Here's a closer look at the two different textures that I'm dealing with. I am so proud of all of the new growth coming in and I really can't wait until she's 100% natural!

I initially planned on doing box braids, to try something new...but I didn't like how they were coming out. See below how they're bending and being weird:

 So I started over, and still wanting to try something new, I braided her hair about a half inch down then I started twisting. The result is below:

 I finished the twists on the Sunday night, finally, and I think that since I braided the roots they will last a little longer so we'll leave them in for about 6 weeks! These pics are from Monday, after school:

I've just been using African Royale Braid Spray (same as I use on my hair) to moisturize daily. And I also use a little Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and coconut oil on her ends every few days, depending on how dry they look/feel.

After Easter style!!

Two posts in one night, this never happens right? Lol, I'm trying to make up for lost time here so I can suck a little less at blogging:)

Since I didn't wash Skye's hair this past weekend, it ended up being really greasy and suffering from a major product overload! I let her wear her Easter style on Monday and then washed it out Monday evening. I used Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curling Control Shampoo to wash and then Tresemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner as a co-wash. I used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and sealed with jojoba oil as a leave in conditioner. I detangled her hair, banding the roots and twisting the rest down to the ends; then I let it air dry overnight. To style this morning, I just made two ponytails in the front and took the twists out and I left the back twisted. It came out pretty cute and it should last for the whole week!

 

 

Mini Twists 2012:)

Hello all! Since Skye had a four day weekend, I decided to do our first set of mini twists for 2012. On Friday, I washed her hair using Creme of Nature Argan Oil Shampoo. Then I used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer as a leave in and banded her hair overnight. Saturday morning I started the mini twists, using Shea Moisture Curl and Style Milk. We took a few breaks throughout the day, and to my surprise we finished Saturday night. Usually it takes a couple of days, but she was a little trooper! I plan to add some coconut oil to the ends to make them curl up a bit more, but I am happy with how it turned out. We'll probably leave them in for at least 4-6 weeks and I will probably wash her hair every two weeks instead of weekly. More photos below, and some close-ups to see how much it has grown! Yay:) Hope you all have a lovely week!

Compare the above photos with the ones below (from 11/26/11) and you can really see the growth (see new growth, where the hair is thicker/healthier)!

Valentine's Hurr:)

Ignore the huge mess in the background...this was the only pic that showed off her new Skechers!!

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day! Here's a quick post on how Miss Skye wore her hair for her Kindergarten Valentine's Day Party (and for the rest of the week so far)...including a link to where I stole/borrowed the hairstyle from! This style was really easy to do and I think it turned out pretty well. I plan on trying some other 'heart' styles in the near future. Anywho, I rounded up the usual suspects...Bee Mine Curly Butter and Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer. I added a twist/bang to the front and did a twist-out in the back...and here's how it all turned out:

You can really see the new growth vs. texturized hair in the close-ups...can't wait til she's 100% natural, she's at about 30% right now!

Mini Twists - Two Week Update!

Hi all, I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving week! Just a quick update on Skye's mini twists. They have now been in for two weeks and even though they are still holding up pretty well, I have noticed a difference in her hair since she has more new growth. As you may know, since April we've been transitioning from a texturizer to natural hair. Now that her natural hair is longer I find that after her weekly shampoo, the texturized ends seem to be unraveling more than they had previously with mini twists. I do plan to continue washing her hair weekly while the mini twists are in so this is just something we'll have to deal with. Luckily, only a small few of the twists in the front are having this issue so I just retwisted them and everything was fine. Below are some close up pictures of the twists that unraveled a bit, and you can also see her new growth:

 

I am going to start measuring her new growth so I can see how much progress we're making! So on the next post I will include some measurements and continue to measure each month. I also need to post our routine, I've been meaning to do that! Here are a couple of pictures of what I'm calling her Thanksgiving style (lol):

After shampoo/leave-in, I put the mini twists into four big twists and left them in for a few days which made the ends a lot curlier. I achieved the look above by twisting two sections in the front and connecting them in the back with a cute bow. I'm saving up for a new camera so I promise the pictures will get better:) Thanks for reading!!