My hair since my last post

This is my actual curl pattern :)

Heyo!

So, yeah, I have done quite a bit with my hair since my last blog post.

By the way, from the picture above, do you think my hair's a type 4a or 4b? I have a few actual spirals, but not as big as someone who has type 3 hair.

• Okay! So, I've pretty much had my hair stretching since my last post. However, on New Year's eve at around 4pm, I took my hair out of it's stretching state in African threading and bantu knotted it because I had a party starting at 9pm and I pretty much didn't want to be at it with my hair in African threads.
• At around 9pm, I took out the bantu knots and lifted my roots a bit with a comb. I didn't fully comb out my hair neither did I separate it. I decided to wear a bantu knot out because my hair was pretty much straight from the African threading and I love big, curly hair and I prefer to wear my hair curly than straight.
• So, after the party (at like 3am on New Year's day), I finger combed and braided my hair in for sections and went to bed like that.
• Later on New Year's day, I African threaded my hair again 'cause I wanted to ensure it was stretched for my cousin's birthday party the next day as my roots had reverted a bit from working out. However, I African threaded my braided hair as I couldn't be bothered to rethread my hair in smaller sections or loose like I had done before.
• The next day, honestly, I couldn't really be bothered to take out my hair so and my cousin is family isn't he? Also, I'm cool with everyone who was going to be at his house so....yes, you guessed it, I went to his house with my hair in African threaded braids and people actually like it :) Haha :)
• The next day, after working out, I prepooed (with extra virgin olive oil), washed, conditioned and deep conditioned my hair with it still being in braids because I knew my scalp was what mainly needed the cleaning and I knew my hair would be fine washing it and conditioning it that way.
• After I got out of the shower, I took down each section and worked on them one after each other.
• First, I worked some aloe very gel into it (fresh out of the leaf). Unfortunately, my hair felt horrifyingly dry after this so I got out my spray bottle, spritz my hair, worked some of my BeeMine BeeLovely Daily Moisturising Conditioner into it followed by some extra virgin olive oil, spritzed my hair again and followed with some shea butter.
• Next, I African threaded my hair. I didn't take down and redo the African threading like I did in my last post because I didn't really care if my hair was straight-ish.
• The next morning, I combed my hair out just to ensure it was still fully detangled (which it was) and held it up in a puff with some bangs on the side and I went to church like that.
• After church, I went to my aunt's house where I.....wait for it......wait for iiiiit.....CUT MY HAIR! Yes! I cut about an inch of my hair off! (So, it's back at APL). Why? Well, I did want to trim or cut my hair during the summer however I was too nervous to and went back in a protective style, but this time, I felt like I just had to do it because my ends were starting to look weirdish, my hair was already past a good landmark, I had a few single strand knots and although I didn't really notice any this time, during the summer, I noticed a few split ends. Also, I thought losing my ends will make my hair look better. So, yeah, I did it!
• Still at my aunt's house, I got my hair braided and went along to reinstall my crochet braids, but with a different type of extensions as my signature ones (my usuals) were unfortunately, out of stock. My new extensions look almost dreadlock-y and will take some time to get used to as they're very very different, but I'm sure I can keep these in for as long as I keep in my....usuals ;)

And that's pretty much it! I've just had my crochet braids held up in a gigantic messy bun all day and I sleep with them in a pineapple.

See y'all later!

~Samantha

p.s I'm heading back to school on Wednesday so, new posts are going to be pretty much going to be inexistent till around mid-February when you should expect one or two new posts (I doubt you'll get more than that as I'll be really busy).

Summer Look Book

Hola chicas y chicos!

So, here's my summer look book with stuff I'm considering doing this summer!
So not gon' do all though!
Ain't nobody got time for that!

Faux locs

Marley Twists

Havana Twists

Stretched (NOT STRAIGHTENED) Hair

African Threading (Ghana Plaits)

Bantu Knot Outs

Three strand twist out

And that's a wrap!

What would you consider doing this summer?

~Sammy

Considerations....

 

I'm considering a couple of things....

1. Changing my regimen (tweaking it a bit)
2. African Threading (ghana plaiting) for at least two weeks (I would've flat braided part of my hair, though)
3. Keeping in styles longer and learning to wash better with braids or twists in.
4. Flat braiding only up to the middle of my head ('cause the back feels a bit thinner than everywhere else so, I want to give it some rest and let it thicken up and grow out)
5. Going back to being a mixtress - partially
6. Creating a new signature style
7. Getting some 'certain' hair things
8. Creating a hair shopping list for myself so I have everything set for Sept. when I won't be living with my fam anymore.

Keeping styles longer and the African threading are at the top of my last. I guess they'll help me with my growth challenge.

It's My Birthday Again

.

So, it's my birthday again and I'm um...teen years old. I'm OLD! GAAAH! Haha :)

So.... my dad forgot it's my birthday. Here, it's already 6:59pm and he still hasn't remembered.

Anyways, my hair is in it's usual flat braids, but I'm going to give a nice co-wash today (still in the braids) and work some BeeMine Moisturiser into it. I'm going to pamper my hair today.

I guess I need to co-wash twice a week now, cause it's really dusty outside and it's been like that for some time now. Dry, hot and dusty. When it's not like that, it's really humid, but still dusty. My hair needs some TLC if I'm going to reach my goal.

Anyways, I'll talk to you guys later.

Love,
~Sammy

p.s I want to do some African Threading in my hair :)

Shrinkage & Stretching (REVIEW!!!! = various stretching methods)

Gaah! January's already almost over? Just 1 day to go till February? Wow!

Anyways, hey everyone!
Today (well, yesterday), I decided to talk to you guys about stretching, stretching your hair/curls (not the err...exercise stretching thingy). Okay! so,  so far, I've tried stretching my hair by doing two strand twists (and three-strand twists), African threading (aka Ghana Plaits), basic braids (box braids), bantu knots, scarf&ponytail holder and setting rollers (there's another name for those, but I can seem to remember it right now.

My hair shrinks like A LOT! There have been some days that I go out rocking a beautiful afro, but by the next few hours, my hair's a frizzy mess or should I just say a shrunken frizzy mess. Someone once asked me, "did you cut your hair?" and I was like, "no." The same person then asked, "then why does it look way shorter," and I was like, "because it shrunk." I then held part of my hair and pulled it downwards to show it's actual length and that I didn't cut it and the person I was talking to was like, "oh, wow!" Some people just kept staring at my hair for a while after that. The person I was talking to has natural curls too, but a different curl type/pattern, plus, she doesn't have to deal with so much shrinkage (it's hard to notice if she even gets shrinkage). Anyways, so this led me to start trying to stretch out my curls. Here's a brief review on the following methods I tried:

• Two-strand (and 3 strand) twists: I did this while my hair was damp (you can find vids on how to two-strand twist and three-strand twist on YouTube). When it was dry and I had to leave the house, I took the twists down. I have to say, I liked the twist-out look it gave, but like when it comes to stretching and shrinkage, after a couple of hours, my hair shrunk. On a different day, I was bored so I decided to two-strand twist my hair. I didn't wet my hair before doing this because I felt kind of lazy and well, I wasn't planning on combing my hair (it was already detangled). When I needed to take out the twists, I took them out (obviously) and like it gave me that twist out look too, and my hair did seem a bit more stretched than when I did the twists with damp hair. Unfortunately, after a few hours, my hair shrunk (but not so much). When it comes to stretching my hair, I don't think twists would be my go-to method. They are good, but it takes quite some time for me to two-strand twist my whole hair.
• African Threading (aka Ghana Plaits): I have tried African Threading my hair with both wool and weave thread (not at the same time!). You can find vids on how to African Thread hair on YouTube (I recommend checking out the one on youtube.com/GirlsLoveYourCurls). I have to say that this is one of my go-to styles when it comes to stretching my hair. I love the soft waves/look it gives my hair, I like how my hair feels when I take them out, there are various ways to African thread and like some times, people think I have extensions in or I have some sort of weave when I do certain forms of African threading (with weave thread). When I African Thread my hair, it stays stretched way longer than when I two-strand twist my hair. The last time I African threaded my hair, I had it like that for a week before I took it out and I did it on damp (almost dry though, but still damp) hair.
• Basic Braids (box braids): I love the braid out look when I take basic/box braids down :) I always braid my hair wet and then let it air dry/dry naturally. Basic braids have helped stretch my curls and kinks each time I've done them, but, well, after some time (hours), my hair shrinks. I must say, I think basic braiding stretches my hair to about the same length two-strand twists do or sometimes, it stretched my hair more than twists. You can find vids on how to basic braid on YouTube (check out the one on youtube.com/GirlsLoveYourCurls)
• Bantu Knots: I'm not a huge fan of bantu knots and bantu knot outs, but I can do them. Bantu knots do stretch my hair, but my hair still shrinks after some time. At some point, bantu knots gave me sort of a curled-relaxed hair look. I didn't really like it, but it wasn't so bad. I have tried a combination of two-strand twists and bantu knots (twisted my hair then bantu knotted that twisted hair). The -out look it gave looked kinda nice, but it's not a look that'll be like my go-to style. Also, bantu knots are not my go-to method for stretching my hair, but it works wonders for some people.
• Scarf&Ponytail Holder: First, I'll explain how this is done. You hold your hair up with a ponytail holder while still damp (or wet, it's your choice) and if you get worried about your frontal hair/frontal edges, you leave out a bit of the hair there and flat twist of flat braid it. Next, you tie a scarf over the hair that's held up my the ponytail holder (make sure you don't get the scarf over the flat twist/braid). Do whatever you need to do till you need to take this down (your hair has to be fully dry when taking it down, by the way). This method was my go-to style at some point last year. I don't do it anymore because right now, I'm not a fan of holding my hair up (edges...plus, I want to grow out my hair a bit more before I hold it up like that again.
• Setting Rollers: Tried this method out yesterday when my mum found her rollers from the 90s :) (oh! and I soaked, washed and so on, the rollers before I used them on my hair because they hadn't been used in about a decade). So, how I did it: I got random bits of my hair and got some of my moisturising conditioner mix (made up of John Frieda Friss-Ease: Curl Activating Daily Conditioner, some rosemary oil, some canola oil, a bit of my pH balanced leave in condition mix and a tad bit of water. I eyeballed all the ingredients. I love how this makes my hair feel! :) ). So, after I got the conditioner mix onto my hair, I finger combed a bit then slid a Denman Brush through (to make sure I had no tangles) then I hand stretched my hair (pulling) and wrapped the ends round the roller then I rolled it up holding my hair so it's stretched then pinned it up. I did this to every bit of hair on my head and I had my hair like that for...hours (I was moving house so, I just tied a scarf over it while shuffling between houses and moving). When I took the rollers down, my hair felt so good (from my mix :)), smelt so good (mix too!), it had that professional salon-set hair look that can be combed out into a bob or something, but what I was looking for was what I found - stretched hair! This is a go-to method for stretching my hair now! :)

Okay! so, I'm planning on trying out 'banding' as a new method for stretching my hair. I believe it might work, but well, let's wait and see! :)

Thanks for reading! :)

~Sam

My go-to stretching methods: African threading and, setting rollers.