DIY Senegalese Twists Take 3

      The twists are back again. It's going to be a busy rest of the month and I don't need to worry about my hair. Heading to New York this weekend and from there straight to Georgia early July. 

        Lots of packing and reading for school going on over here. So you remember last weeks wash day, right? Clarified and detangled then flat ironed? Well this weekend I decided I didn't want to go though it again, so I installed the twists on week old hair. I must say, I thought the idea was great and next week before I head to New York, I'll wash my hair with the twists in.

     This time around I didn't sit on my butt for more than four hours, so it took three days to complete. I must say I liked my hair better the second time around. But I am still content with the results. 

Peace and Love Everyone!

Please, wish me luck on my drive to New York!

Wash Day- Ponytail Roller Set- Flat Iron

I've really neglected my hair. For two weeks I kept it in two up-do's, different variations of a goddess twist. But I really should get back to taking care of whatever hair I have left so recently I...

• Woke up and started detangling with my oil mix. I had no idea it would take me two hours, but I did go two weeks without really touching my hair.

• In the shower I clarified using ORS Creamy Aloe shampoo.

• Hopped out and toweled dried my hair for ten minutes or so and applied my Kanechom Ceramidas deep Conditioner.

• Deep conditioned with heat for a half hour and hopped back in the shower to rinse off.

• T-shirt dried for a little and decided to go to Panera Bread with a wet bun.

• When I got home, I began to detangle with my leave-in mix (hello hydration, aloe vera juice and water) and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum.

• This took forever. FOREVER. I did my first ponytail roller set I believe. Moisturized, detangled, ponytail and rollers. I even had help detangling because my arms were shot.

• I decided to let my hair air dry. Some of the rubber bands snapped, so I just re-rolled the hair. The take down wasn't as glorious as my old roller sets. I cross-wrapped before bed.

• It was heat-less for that day however the next day I took to straightening my 20 weeks post roots. One pass, no more than two with my StyleHouse Ceramic Flat Iron and CHI 44 Iron Guard Thermal Protection Spray.

     So five months post, I've never done that before. I haven't found it too hard. It's actually easy to not put a relaxer in. I'm itching to cut but I'm waiting for the right time. I want to rock a TWA and I'm afraid at 6 months post maybe I'll be in the  awkward stage. Not sure.

     I see DYI twists in my future for the rest of the year. If only I could find the time. This weekend I really wanted to straighten my hair. Kind of curious. Next weekend...I have no idea.

Left: That ponytail was super thick at the base. Top Right: :( I can't recall a
time my flat ironed hair looked so terrible. Bottom Right: The nape is a jungle.

Loved this bun (nape was struggling though) I feel like I have my natural
color back.

One Love

Aku

Strawberry Infused Water

I still hate drinking water but throw some lime juice and strawberries in it and I'm down. I continually search for ways to get myself to drink water and I think this is the winner for now. Starting off with my 22oz a day.

As I got to the bottom of the water bottle,
 the water was flipping delicious. 

Drink up people!
Peace and Love Aku

Banana Pre-poo/Deep Condition

So I got rid of my iPhone (but I still have it) anyways I usually write my posts on my phone and Blogger syncs it. With my new phone, the post never sync. EVER. I'm working on it.

I planned on installing twists this week, honest I did. But things didn't go accordingly, so I opted for a hair meltdown and the next day tension blew my hair with a little heat. I started flat ironing it but I had to stop so I could learn to drive stick shift.

• Wet my hair and proceeded to blend two bananas, teaspoon of honey (honey was running low) and a half cup (a little less than half) of water. I managed not to spill the concoction this time.

• Applied my banana mix, placed a plastic cap over it and waited a half hour.

This week at Trader Joe's I picked up their Spa Shampoo only because it said moisturizing and they ran out of the tea tree shampoo. I also picked up the Tea Tree Conditioner. So far I like one over the other. More on that in a future post.

• Rinsed the banana out with the shampoo and proceeded to Tea Tree Condition. Rinsed and poured cold Aloe Vera Juice on my hair and sealed it with oil.

• I wrapped my hair in a T-shirt for an hour as I feathered the hair extensions. Some how some way I nixed the plan after I felt my hair wasn't fully cleansed. I'm not sure if it was banana remnants or henidgo but I didn't want to twist my hair after that.

Moped around and detangled a little bit. I was having a bad hair day.

The next day I sprayed water, aloe vera and Hello Hydration mix on it and tension blew it semi straight. All the textures are hard to work with. I attempted to straighten it to no avail.

I haven't had my hair straight for about four months now. I really want to master straightening natural hair without heat damage (moknowshair) for my future endeavors. 

Peace and Love

Aku

First Henna + Indigo Treatment (LATE LATE LATE)

         At my wits end with my hair. I'm sure it's not going to stop breaking until it gets my whole head, hopefully this hendigo can help.
         Due to the severity of my breakage, I decided what's the worst that can happen if I use henna? Red hair, that is probably the worst for me personally. I love my natural color so I tested my strands before the big application, and red, red, red. The first clump of hair I let sit over night and a second clump, I did another one for two hours, both were similar red colors. Ugh I'd have to incorporate the indigo.

3 parts henna 150 g

•      2 cups of water
•      Tablespoon of EVOO and Avocado Oil
•      Kanechom Ceramides conditioner
•      Some lemon juice

1 part indigo 50 g

     I let the henna sit overnight. Added the indigo right before I applied it to my head. I believe I left the hendigo on for at least 3 hours. I was terrified about the color change.

Henna Treatment

Getting ready

Pre-hendigo

Not too drastic, but I don't like

 

    The back of my hair can not reach the ponytail, so I take mini butterfly clips and gather two sections and clip them up. Either this or a faux bun.

     Henna + Indigo, I could have done without it perhaps...I don't know. I really didn't care for the treatment and the application process. I think the breakage has stopped because my hair is probably like "I guess we destroyed her whole back of the head, let's leave her alone." However, I do think my hair will slowly continue to break everywhere, it seems to be moving to the front left side, lots of mid-shaft splits. My curl pattern...didn't notice much of a change expect maybe it is easier to detangle? Overall, I think that was the first and last of the henna and indigo.

    I believe I am 16 weeks post. Hoping I have time to install twists next week. Two more weeks of classes, I'm trying to finish strong.

Peace and Love

Finale Post by Miriam!

Hey guys! This will be my last post! I wanted to make it special and different. I'm so sorry i'm late, school work literally has taken over this year for me. It's hard to keep a balance with everything. I first want to say that this experience was awesome and a great experience! I'm glad I got the chance to post my personal hair regime, share tips and products, and also share certain things that were not based on just hair. The hair community is great, and the atmosphere is very friendly. You guys are willing to help each other out,share ideas, and even give tips on certain aspects. I learned that this truly is a great way to stay on track with what ever goal we have. I also want to give a big thanks to my sister Aku, for letting me take over for April. Life is so much more than hair, and this blog is a perfect example of that! I hope I can do this again! Maybe in a year?! Hmm, that would be cool to see the transition and change of one year. Anyway I will definitely check back on this blog for updates! I wish you guys the best of luck with what ever goal you have! You can achieve anything with hard work and dedication! ]

And now i'll leave you guys with motivational quotes!

"Aku, Where Have You Been?!" I'm Here!

Hi Readers!

     I'm still at a slight loss about my hair. I used to have poppin hair man! It was great, I digress. First I want to thank my sister Miriam for holding down my blog while I took a break. I enjoyed reading her posts since I am so far away from her. Big THANKS! Don't fret she has a farewell post coming.
     
        So, for the past 4 weeks I have kept my hair in DIY Senegalese twists. I switched the extension brand, I now am using Expressions. The really really long hair, I ended up cutting the hair in half. 

April 2nd
^_^ Can you see my curlies?

     The first time I twisted my hair, my scalp was like please wash me properly. So I removed the twists ASAP. This time around I washed my hair in the extensions once and the rest of the times, I apple cidered my scalp. I moisturized my hair everyday with aloe vera juice, avocado oil and water in a spray bottle. My hair really held up. I think the switch in hair brands really helped. I am now missing my hair hair. Yes it was a nice nice break, but I'm ready to remove these twists and see my hair. I am about 14 weeks post. I have about two inches of new growth (I don't really measure). 

     

0_0 My hair is damaged

Finished product April 3rdish

    What's New?

     

Moving     

     I'm moving back to the east coast! Not back to New York but the south. I love hot temperature and my boyfriend and I hate hate snow. I'm really hoping the water is soft since I'll be near the coast. I think hard water really took a toll on me even with the filter. THE BEACH WILL BE AN HOUR AWAY!! There are no beaches in the Midwest. 

 Working Out

     I've been doing Pilates, following Cassey Ho's beginner calendar. I'm on Day 18. I usually like her workouts and she has a crap load of them, so finding the right one is hard. With the calendar she has them picked out already and each day it's a different focus. Core workout vs Abs workout and so on. 

 Mini Vaca 

     It's almost time for me to visit Florida, 9 more days. I'm going to grab my boyfriend after his TACP graduation and say "hey time to come back home!" It's been about 4 months since I got to annoy him in person. 

        I have a hair packing list in my head. I know I know I want to keep it simple since I will be removing my extensions this upcoming week. I plan on wearing Bantu knots on the plane, going to the beach in French braids and wearing a Bantu knot-out for the graduation ceremony.

Henna and a big chop? 

     I'm planning on doing a henna treatment. I have been reading and researching. The henna dye part really grinds my gears because I love my hair color, so I picked up indigo as well. Still researching. In my head I think I'll big chop my hair right before I move in July, but I'll probably punk out. But if I do big chop, all the potential red hair will be gone!!! I think I could rock a fierce TWA! 

Laid my edges with aloe vera gel

My triple knot updo!

April 25th

What's Next? 

     After I let my hair breathe for two -three weeks, I want to use the rest of my Expressions hair and do medium-jumbo sized braids. Keep them in for a month and after that...I have no idea. This spring/summer is going to be crazy. I'm excited and nervous. New home, perhaps a puppy, Master's degree in August, a big chop maybe!? I really want to do a 5k. The season has begun. 

What is your spring and summer looking like? 

Any Henna/Indigo tips?

Peace and Love everyone! 

Aku