Update on My Hair and Crochet Braids and Plans for my hair

Hi! Privet! Pryvit! Salut! Hallo! Vahām̐! Hola!

In case you didn't know, I love languages! Whether spoken or signed (I sign in ASL).

Anyways, here's just an update on my hair:

So....I cut my hair. I just trimmed off about an inch of my hair, don't worry :) and I believe I've grown all that I cut off back. I haven't taken down my latest crochet braids yet because I have a ball to attend in early July and I plan on reinstalling my crochet braids so....since I'm going to be back home in May, I decided to wait till then so my crochet braids are at their neatest during the ball and so it's easier to manipulate it if I need to. I miss my hair, I should add.

When it comes to washing my hair, I water-only wash most of the time, and usually just my edges (which have been growing pretty well and becoming thicker). When I use shampoo (sulphate-free), I prefer to dilute it a bit and I keep washing until the water runs really really clear and my scalp feels awesome. I don't wash my hair as often as I should because of the drying time and because the weather just mere weeks ago was still on the cold-side. Also, I just didn't have the time to wash my hair often. Anyways, I condition my hair afterwards, but I don't care that much about rinsing out all the conditioner.

To keep my crochet braids looking good, I cut out the tangles daily (not daily when I'm at home and not leaving the house, though). Cutting out the tangles retains that fresh/near-fresh look and it lets you wear your crochet braids for as long as you wish to.

My plans when I take this protective style down is to give my hair a lovely treatment/treatment. Wash it out thoroughly, detangle and wear a wash and go if my hair hangs long enough (and my curls are defined without the need of a gel) for about a day and then stretch out my hair using African threading for a few days before letting it out and just retaining a stretched look (I will wear a puff or bantu knot out/twist out/braid out at times, though). I probably will condition my hair more often or just leave in some conditioner whenever I'm refreshing my hair, but that's pretty much going to be it. I AM GOING TO DO A LENGTH CHECK TOO!!!! :)

I hope that this year, I am as close to waist length as possible. Like, I want to be below bra-strap length before the end of this year! :)

~Sammy

p.s I'm looking into new DIY protein treatments as I'm not keen on putting eggs in my hair anymore and in case you didn't know, mayonnaise contains 0% protein (check the back of your jar/bottle).

DIY Whipped Shea Butter for Natural Hair + Skin

Written by CristinaC

Here's a simple, easy-to-follow DIY whipped shea butter recipe created by NaturallyCurly.com's Social Media and Community Manager, Evelyn, that even the most novice of Curly Mixologists could make at home. With a few drops of your favourite essential oils and a little bit of shea butter you can whip up a super creamy mix that's  great for sealing moisture into your skin or hair! 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• 8 oz raw unrefined Shea Butter
• 1 Tbsp Jojoba Oil 
• Spearmint Essential Oil
• Lemongrass Essential Oil 
• Electric Beater 
• Ziploc bag

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine the shea butter and jojoba oil in a bowl
2. Boil a pot of water and place your bowl inside the pot to create a double boiler, stir until soft
3. Add less than 10 drops each of spearmint and lemongrass essential oils
4. Whip the mixture with a handheld mixer 
5. Create a piping bag by placing a ziploc bag inside a large cup
6. Scoop the whipped mixture into a ziploc bag
7. Cut a hole in one of the corners of the ziploc and squeeze the mixture into a container

Watch the Video

Hair Crush: Donedo

Is that hair beautiful or what? Okay! So, how do we get this gorgeous hair style?

• Wash, condition, detangle, moisturise and stretch out your hair (doesn't have to be 100% stretched)
• (On slightly damp to dry hair using product, if you wish) Put your hair in medium to large twists and either roll the ends up in perm rods or make cocoons at the ends by pulling down the twist gently, placing your index or index and middle finger about an inch above the hand being used to stretch the hair, folding your hair over your finger(s) once and rolling it round above your fingers, taking your fingers out, passing the excess hair through the hole and pushing downy he top of what you've created to temporarily hold it in place.
• Take down the perm rods, cocoons and twists and separate them then fluff them out (you could using an afro pick to pick them out).
• Get a head band or scarf around your head and move it up till all your hair is at the crown of your head. Fluff out your hair a bit more if you wish for it to look fuller.
• Lay down your edges with some product and/or brushing them down. And, voila!

You've got the look! You've got the look!

I love this undo! :)

Get the Look: Mindy McKnight

This is Mindy McKnight of Cute Girls Hairstyles. Now, I'm sure most of you have noticed that her hair's not curly. So, let me explain, I saw this do and I loved it and I know many naturally curly girls out there put their hair up buns so I thought that this would be an interesting twist instead of the regular bun.

• Start by sectioning your hair in two by parting your hair from ear to ear.
• Using sectioning clips, an ouchless band or something else, hold away the front section.
• (It may be easier to flip your hair over to do this bit) French-braid your hair from the nape of your neck up to the where you sectioned your hair and braid a few inches up (off the scalp) securing the french braid with an ouchless band.
• Untie the front section, smooth it down using a seamless comb or brush and gather the hair back and to the end of the French-braid holding it with that part in a ponytail using an ouchless band then take out the ouchless band used to secure the end of the french braid and run a comb, brush or your fingers through your pony tail.
• Put your hair up in a bun securing it with bobby pins
• For an even cuter twist, you could add a bow like Mindy did.

Voila! You have the look (.....only with curly hair......unless you straightened or blew it out, that is)
To spice this up a bit, a ribbon could have been added to the hair when making the french braid. For me, a shiny/glittery black or dark red ribbon would be perfect :)

My Mini Twists so far. Take-down in a few days.

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Hola!

So, my mini twists are still in, but they're coming down on Saturday. This means that I'll have had them in for about two and a half weeks. Not bad, not bad, longest I've kept mini twists with just my hair in. I guess if they were a bit smaller, I'll have kept them in longer.

Okay! So, I've been spraying my hair with lavender water and lavender oil (in a spray bottle) daily. I hand picked the lavender leaves from the garden. After that, I seal in the moisture with my lovely new product (did I mention that it's pH balanced?). I dusted all my twists some days ago, can't remember when exactly. The ends of my twists are like popping with defined curls and I didn't twirl them neither where they twirled when they were done. They're just popping and looking gorg'.

Okay! So, my plans are.....I'm going to wash my hair with the twists in on Friday, stretch out the twists overnight and take them down on Saturday. I actually just wash my scalp and condition my hair, not wash my hair. I never work shampoo into the hair strands. I don't even work amla into my hair strands. I focus on my scalp and the hair's cleansed when I rinse out what I washed my scalp with. So, I guess I'm going to braid the twists in sections or just hold them off with ouchless bands and work section by section washing my scalp and working conditioner in my hair then I'm going to seal in the moisture (after rinsing the conditioner, of course, with my new product) then hold my hair up to stretch as it dries. On Saturday, after a nice, warm shower, I'll take down the twists quickly and.....I'm not sure about a twist out so, I guess I'm going to fake a blow out and then curl my ends a bit with my flexi rods or fake a blow out and do a braid 'n' curl on it. Whatever works.

After that, I need to figure out what I'll do with my hair daily till October and then till December. I guess I'll switch it up with a tuck 'n' pin, puff and some other simple style (I might make two flat braids some time) and then in October, I might get mini twists done again. I'm not sure about mini-braids 'cause I'm more likely to loose hair at my ends with that and I'm trying to avoid that, plus, it'll take longer to take down. If I could get some Marley or Havana hair, don't know where to get those in England, I'll install big twists in my hair and keep them in till January when I'm getting my first weave in the past almost 6 years (Heat-Free Hair Movement).

Anyways, that's all for now.

Interview with the beautiful, Daniele Watts (from Django) coming up soon, look out for it! :)

~Sammy