Doing Hair - Kids Edition

Last week we were on the beach, enjoying the clearwater and white sand.

This week, we're battling the tangles.

Tangled left side. One big matted ponytail

It's my fault. I wanted to enjoy my vacay and not fight a toddler who didn't want to get her hair done. So for one whole week, I didn't touch her hair. Through the salt water and sand, through bedtime with no bonnet and baths where every single strand of hair got soaked. I knew I was going to have a disaster on my hands at the end of our vacation, but I figured I'd worry about it later.

Well, later was today when I had a marathon session with my baby girl. It took me about an hour and a half to dentangle her hair. I worked in small sections, drenching her hair with a mixture of conditioner and water. I used my fingers to detangle because the mattes were so bad. I'm ashamed of myself. After her hair was detangled, I saturated her hair with a deep conditioner and covered with a cap. 

I used this to deep condition with. It's my first time using this so after I use it for awhile longer, I'll post about how I like it (or don't like it).

I washed her hair with Hello Hydration Shampoo, which is my go to. The slip on that stuff is amazing. Ahh, freshly washed hair. 

It's almost impossible to get a good picture of a moving toddler

After too many breaks to count, I finished her hair. It's not my best work but both of us were happy to be done.

Gotta unpack that suitcase...

I learned a valuable lesson this past week. I can't ignore my girl's hair. With my relaxed hair, it's easy to go a few days without doing anything major to it, but natural hair is a whole other story. I'm still learning.

I wanted to relax and enjoy my vacation, but my baby girl's hair suffered for it. I put twists in my older girls hair so they could enjoy swimming and playing without getting their hair done every day. Maybe it's time to give baby girl some twists. 

How do you handle your kids hair on vacation?

Bunning It

I've spent the last two weeks bunning it. I'm six months post and go in for my relaxer and trim tomorrow. How I manage my hair this late in the game with all my new growth and relaxed hair fighting each other is lots of moisture. One thing I was reminded of when I had some crazy tangling was not to forget the protein. It's super important to add that strength to your hair when you're stretching for a long period of time. It's all about the balance. 

More Twistout Pics

9:00a

Yesterday I mentioned that I have been wearing twistouts to get me through my stretch. Twistouts are the only thing that allows me to stretch as long as I have been. It's low maintenance and it allows me to airdry with no frizz and it's easy.

Here are a slew of pictures that I have taken over the last few weeks.

Pinned up twistout

Twistout with head band

Clipped back twistout

The Twistout

11:57a

I will be 11 weeks post this weekend and this is how I am surviving my stretch:

The Twistout

Honestly, this style has been a lifesaver for me. It blends much easier with my new growth and the effort is minimal. I've been using my aloe vera juice and EVOO spritz daily and my LTR as a leave-in with coconut oil to seal.

My ends are in need of a major trim so that may happen after I relax my hair this weekend. I haven't been able to access the damage from the heat mishap a few weeks ago, but I hope that it's minimal at best. I'll be able to tell once I relax my hair.

I have avoided heat since the mishap and have only air dried since then. I guess I'll know for sure this weekend.

Hair Today: Twist out Bun

4:56p

I'm loving the twist outs. They are super easy and it doesn't require any heat because I twist on partially air dried hair. I forgot to use a cream based leave-in for more twist definition (I only used EQP H2 Leave in). I love the texture and the immediate interest and volume it adds to my hair. I haven't perfected my method by any means and my ends don't come out the best, which is why I wear it pinned up most of the time. Which I don't really see as a problem because it is a protective style.

Hair pulled back into a low pony and secured into a bun

Top view of the bun

Hair Today: My Southern Tease

4:48p

This was Day 5 for my flat twist out. It was getting a little loose because I wasn't retwisting everynight. This day I decided to wear it pulled back into a southern tease bun (my own version)

side view

back view

Hair Today: Flat Twist Day 3

4:19p

Top shot - looks a little lumpy here

pinned up in the back

I spent the night watching The Princess and the Frog with my two princesses so I was too tired to retwist my hair last night. I divided it in half and pin curled the ends and covered with a scarf. For styling this morning, I finger combed and added some LTR to my edges and finished my whole head off with coconut oil. I pinned it up in the back and was on my way. I do plan on retwisting tonight.

Picture: Hair Today

10:57a

Pinned up flat twist out

side view

close up of flat twist texture

view of the back

For some reason I'm loving the center part. I've never been able to wear one, but with my hair like this it looks pretty good. I think I'll keep redoing the flat twists every night this week. It's pretty fast and simple. And the more I do it, the better and tighter my twists get which equals a better twist out!

Protective Styles on Texlaxed Head

12:05pm

When my hair was a longer length, I found it super easy to do protective styles that looked nice and didn't take much effort. Now that my hair is shorter {shoulder length} it's harder for me to achieve styles that look great and don't require alot of time.

I've been extremely bad this winter with blow drying and flat ironing every other week. I have been deep conditioning, but not the way I should and I have noticed that my hair is dry, brittle and I have seen breakage. I freaked out.

So, for the rest of the winter {which here in Philly may very well last into April or May}, I'm going to wash weekly, deep condition weekly and incorporate air drying protective styles as much as possible. I still want to flat iron, but I will see how this goes first.

Most Worn Protective Styles

8:51a

I was once against protective styles. I thought they were all boring and I would want to wear my hair out more than put it up.

Thanks to some research, I was able to find out that protective styling didn't just mean buns. Buns are a great way to protect the ends and keep hair moisturized. I found that I need change in order to not get bored with my hair.

One of my favorite protective styles is wearing rods. I love curly hair. This allows me to curl hair when wet and eliminate the need for a blow dryer and a curling iron {which is the way I used to spiral curl my hair}
The good ol' bun. This is my standby. If I feel my ends need protection or I'm just too lazy to do anything else, the bun is always there to give me a low maintenance style that is still presentable.

I have an assortment of "up and out of the way" protective styles. I usually never know how they look in the back until I take a picture. I always carry some sort of clip with me. Just in case.

I do a lot of twist outs and because of the cut of my hair {or should I call it what it is...damage}, I am not able to wear it down all the time. Thus, the twist out gets swept back into a ponytail. Either I pin it up or let it hang, depending on my mood.

All these styles are protective, as I'm not adding any heat to the hair or manipulating much. I pretty much wear a protective style every day. Hopefully I'll see some results from my dedication to keeping the heat out and the protective in!

I have to say...

2:48p

...my hair feels and appears much thicker than it did a few weeks ago. It may be that it's thicker because of my new growth, but it could also be that moisturized hair is just...thicker.

I recurled my hair last night in the curlers. I wanted to wear it out, but decided to clip it up instead. You cant tell from the picture, but a claw clip is holding up the curls. They came out really well.

Tomorrow is my wash day and I almost feel like my hair is still moisturized and fresh. I may be able to skip this wash and go until this weekend. I'll have to make that decision tomorrow.

I'm still working on my texlax process. I wanted to get it ironed out before I actually have to do it. I've learned so much in the 8 weeks since my last texlax and I want to make sure I take everything I've learned and incorporate it.

Luscious hair is my goal.

Right on Schedule

11:30a

So I washed and deep conditioned yesterday. I used a new mix, that was pure luxury for my hair.

I used 2 parts Elasta QP DPR-11, 2 parts EVOO, and 1 part ORS Replenishing Pack. So far, this was the best mix I have ever used. I'm 8 weeks post my last texlax and it felt like a brand new relaxer when I washed it out!

I mixed it up in my bowl and brought it with me into the shower. First, I clarified and let that sit for a few minutes to make sure all the old product was broken down. Then after rinsing, I applied my deep condition mix. I parted my hair down the middle and parted the halves into four sections, making sure to saturate the new growth. I made sure to get the ends really well. I made a good amount of the mix so I had some leftover after I coated all my hair. At the end, I just added all the rest to my ends. More couldn't hurt right?

I pinned my hair up and put on my plastic cap and turned the water as hot as I could stand it to get the steam really going. I rinsed after about 15 minutes and it was so soft, silky and moisturized. I wonder what it would have been like if I had left it on for 30-45 minutes, had I not been being lazy.

I let my hair dry {t-shirt method} until it was about 75% dry, added my leave in and moisturized and sealed, then put one roller on the ends and wrapped my scarf around, then off to bed.

It was exactly what I needed. And when I woke up this morning, my hair was happy and smiling.