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.

Easter Hurr!!

So sorry for the lack of posts, I've been adjusting to working full-time and going back to school full time as well. Anywho, I enjoy blogging and I hope to start posting more and more!

We took the mini twists down about two weeks ago, so we kept them for a total of 7 weeks (I think) and they looked like they'd been in for about 3 months, lol. After the mini twists, I put in some flat twists in the front with medium sized twists in the back, and that lasted for about two weeks. I really love the protective styles and we will probably do another one before she gets out of school for the summer. On to the Easter hurr...

I ended up doing a fairly simple style. I removed the medium twists, flat-ironed her hair (a little!) and trimmed her ends, then I put in the flexirod rollers. They make the prettiest little curls! I redid the flat twists in the front so they looked fresh, and used rubberbands to hold them in place. Skye really loved the way her hair turned out!

It's getting pretty tough dealing with the two textures now that she has soooo much new growth. We may consider doing the BIG CHOP in a few months! But then again, as long as I take my time and keep it moisturized maybe I can continue transitioning without the BC. I will definitely keep you guys posted!

Mini Twists Two Week Update!!

Hi guys, just doing a quick update to let you know how Skye's mini twists are holding up. This time around, I am only washing them every two weeks instead of every week like I did before.  I also put them into five big braids before the shampoo, which I think helped keep them from unravelling.  After I washed with the Creme of Nature Argan Oil Shampoo on Sunday, I used a little Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut Conditioner and rinsed it out after about five minutes.  After lightly drying with a towel, I unbraided/rebraided the twists while applying plenty of Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer to each section.  I let the braids stay in overnight, and when I took them out this morning we ended up with a really nice, moisturized Braid Out on the Mini Twists!! More pics below, thanks so much for reading!

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)!

Style for the Week of 1/8/12!!

After about two or three weeks of wearing her hair out, Skye has finally gone back to a protective style! After I washed her hair, I used Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut conditioner mixed with Jojoba oil and Castor Oil as a leave in...and I didn't love it. I moisturize her hair daily and it still seems much drier than it was with the Kinky Curly Knot Today. So when we wash this week, I'll have to try something different. I bought a few new products yesterday so I'll let you guys know how that works out. Anywho, for this week's style I just put some flat twists with rubberbands in the front and added some medium sized two-strand twists in the back. Well, my goal was to make medium sized twists but some of them still came out pretty small. In fact, I'm pretty sure every twist on her head came out a different size, lol. Hopefully I'll do a much neater job this weekend, but this will do for now! I've added some pics below, and they all include Skye's "Mommy please leave me alone so I can go to school" face! Thanks for reading and I hope you all have an awesome week:)

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!!

Mini Twists

Hi all! Just wanted to update you on how Skye's teeny, tiny mini twists came out. I made them a bit smaller than I usually do in hopes that they will last at least six weeks. As you may know from Friday's post, I washed and banded her hair on Thursday and put in a leave-in conditioner (Kimmaytube's recipe). I started on Friday night, using a little Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Style Conditioning Milk on each twist. It took about two hours on Friday, then four hours on Saturday, and five more on Sunday...with long breaks here and there of course. Her ends were a little scraggly and frizzy so I had to spray them with water to get them to curl up some. Usually her hair curls up a lot more after the first shampoo with the twists in, so the ends will probably look curlier after I wash her hair on Saturday. I think I'll look into some deep conditioners or protein treatments or something to help her ends because they always tend to look kind of frizzy and dry. Anywho, I posted pictures below of the twists and some close-ups of her ends after I clipped them. Thanks for reading!!

Protective Styling

Okay, so since we are transitioning Skye's hair from texturized to natural, I like to do a lot of protective styles. Protective styles are generally low-maintenance and low-manipulation, which helps to protect the hair from breakage. These styles include box braids, cornrows, bantu knots, buns, and twists. My favorite style right now for Skye is mini twists. They always last for at least six weeks, and I can still wash her hair once a week. I usually do the mini twists all over, but this time I switched things up by putting flat twists in the front of her hair. This picture is from Week One of the mini twists:

I have been re-doing the flat twists each week when I wash and style her hair, but the mini twists have held up pretty nicely. They could probably last for another couple of weeks or so, but I will do a new style this weekend because we are taking family pictures on Saturday! Here are a couple of pictures from this past Saturday at the Halloween Festival! Week Four of the mini twists:

I'll be sure to include styling instructions and some of the products we use in my next post!