How to || Heatless Blowout on 4B/4C Natural Hair

Watch Nyla's tutorial for a heatless blow out on thick 4B/4C hair.

Description: overnight braid out on damp hair followed by threading (worn for only a few hours).
Tools: thread, brush (or wide-tooth comb)

Absolutely NO HEAT! :o)

Winter Healthy Hair Tip || Retaining Moisture During Washes

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Switch out every other shampoo for a co-wash.  Doing this will help to remove some of the gunk without stripping your hair dry.

Don't like to co-wash?  Here are some other options:

• Use a cleansing conditioner, which is designed to clean the hair better than a regular conditioner.
• Apply conditioner to your strands and only shampoo your scalp.  This way your ends are protected from moisture loss.
• Pre-poo with an oil and/conditioner.
• Use a mud wash or clay. 

Hair Diary || Back to Protective Styling ... But With Heat and Jumbo Twists?

So, after another summer of going wild (hair-wise, that is), it is time to get back into protective style mode.  However, there will be some changes from my usual small/medium twists on air dried hair.  Why?

1. I want to see my length more.  My twists shrink a lot, if you haven't noticed already.
2. I want to be able to switch from a protective style to a loose style and back in one day.  After spending hours to twist my hair, undo-ing those babies prior to 3-4 weeks is seemingly wasteful.
3. I want shorter detangling sessions.  Long-term protective styles equate to hours of detangling while short-term protective styles can mean 45 minutes or less.  However, the trade-off is more manipulation (re-styling) per month.

More details on these changes will be posted once I finalize them.  In the mean time, here are some hair pics:

From "purple haze" back to ...

Copper.  Semi-flat ironed hair.

Old braid out.

Twist out and pinkish (accidentally via "purple haze"
mixed with conditioner as a toner) hair.

Mixology || Orange and Vanilla Honey Shampoo

Do you want softer, easier to detangle hair after a wash?  Then check out this honey-based recipe.

Recipe Source

Ingredients:
1/2 cup castile soap
3/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup African black soap (or just more castile soap)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sweet orange essential oil
1 tsp vanilla essential oil

Instructions:
Mix together thoroughly, wet hair, massage mixture into hair, then rinse out completely.

Protective Style Lookbook || Glammed-Up Plaits on Locs OR Twists/Braids

By popular demand, this is a series showcasing various protective hair styles.  Protective styling does not have to be boring. :o)

Model: Jungle Barbie

Difficulty level: 3/5

Description: Updo created from plaited locs. (Can be modified for you twist and braid wearers.)

Product Review || As I Am Cleansing Pudding

NOTE:  This product was purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply.

Purpose: Sulfate-free moisturizing cleanser.

Product description: Cleanse the hair of residue and product buildup.  Rid the scalp of excess sebum, environmental impurities and shedding scale debris.  At the same time, help promote a healthy environment for the growth and restoration of your hair.

Ingredients: Aqueous (Water, Aqua Purificada, Purified) Extracts: Citrus Reticulata (Tangerine)¹, Cetrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol², C12-15 Alkyl Lactate, Cetearyl Alcohol², Polyquaternium-37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, Glycerin¹, Phytosterols¹, Serenoa Serrulata Fruit Extract¹, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice ¹, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil¹, Poyquaternium-10, Piroctone Olamine, Potassium Sorbate, Methylisothiazolinone, Fragrance/Parfum, Limonene. Source: 1-Natural, 2-Coconut.

Number of trials: several over the course of the spring and summer months

How I used it:

Wet hair thoroughly. Rub a liberal amount within palms and distribute throughout hair. Lather product through hair and massage into scalp. Leave on for 3-5 minutes in order to eliminate shedding scalp debris. Rinse well.

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THE REVIEW:
It has the consistency of a super thick, creamy conditioner but it is also very cleansing without the dryness or buildup. I like using it whenever my hair feels too dry to wash with my usual shampoo but too dirty to co-wash with a regular conditioner. In fact, this product boasts the ability to “remove excess sebum, environmental impurities and shedding scalp debris”, and my hair and scalp seem to believe it.

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PROS: pleasant light smell, non-drying, a little goes a looong way, no residue or buildup from continued use

CONS: none

RATING: Overall, I give the As I Am Cleansing Pudding 5 out of 5 stars.  

This product is ideal for those who:

- get dryness from regular shampooing AND buildup from regular cowashing

Hair Diary || Working on a Non-Protective Style Regimen

If you've been following my hair diary, then you probably already saw this coming.  After years of protective styling in twists and a couple summers of experimenting with loose hair styles, the day has come.  I'm ready for a drastic regimen change.  The details are still being worked out, but for the last couple of months I've successfully been doing the following:

WEEKLY:

- Wash (As I Am Cleansing Conditioner or homemade honey shampoo) and condition (Tresemme Naturals followed by Aphogee 2-Minute Keratin Reconstructor or ORS Replenishing Conditioner) hair

- Finger detangle conditioner-soaked hair (~30-40 minutes)

- Rinse then seal 

- Plop hair for 20-45 minutes

- Braid hair into 8-10 sections for a braid-out the following day

DAILY:

- Wear satin bonnet or loose satin scarf to protect braid-out

- Fluff the next morning

MONTHLY:

- Switch finger detangling for comb detangling

- Deep cleanse my hair (Shea Moisture African Purification Masque or Dessert Essence Shampoo)

Stay tuned ...