21 Months Post BC: Mini Twists on Thin Natural Hair

Hello World and Naturalistas !

Today I'm going to talk about how to achieve cute Mini Twists on Thin/Fine Natural Hair.

I'm not sure how many people have fine/thin natural hair and whether it's genetic, due to age or disease but I know that when I see other people with such thick luscious hair I wish it were me. If you are that person, I hope this post can inspire you to accept and love your hair for what it is, no matter how it is.

I tried this style previously back in February and this is how it looked. 

As you can see the parts were very spaced out. At the time, a coworker of mine with natural hair had done the twists on herself. It was full and they were juicy/chunky/luscious. When I did mine I wanted my actual twists to look just as hers did. At the time what I failed to realize was that we had different types of her and what worked for her in doing mini twists would not work for me.

I kept that style just how it's styled in the photo for one week. To be honest I was self-conscious about how I looked in it.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS:

Any who I took to YouTube for new hairstyles, Hairstyles that would keep me out of my hair for long periods of time. I also wanted to step away from hairstyles that would damaging to my hair, ends, or edges. I came across mini twists, again! This time I refined the YouTube search to Fine/Thin hair. I watched a couple of videos and decided to try them again.

THROW BACK:

When I did them in February I used freshly blow dried hair and Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing smoothie. This time I did it on 3 day old blow dried twist out hair. So my hair already had product

sitting in it and was stretched from two days of previous styling. 

STYLING:

I separated my hair in three sections. one ponytail on the left and two on the right. I started in the right back bottom section first. I find it easier this way because then I always see what I'm doing. If I start at the top of the section the hair tends to fall and get in the way. 

The difference between this time and last time: I did not use a comb to part. Because I have fine/thin using a comb to part creates deep parts that give me obvious spacing between my twists, which I don't need so I used my fingers to part instead. I judged the amount of hair I was using to make sure that I wasn't using too much or too little. In February, I used too much hair. I moisturized each section with Cantu Shea Butter Argan Leave-In (that's it) because that's all I brought with me on vacation. It took me 2 hours to complete, an hour on each side.

FINAL PRODUCT:

Here's some photos

21 Months Post BC: Dry Twistout Results

Hey World and Naturalistas!

Two Days ago I  took out my three week old Crochet Senegalese twists install. I decided to wear my natural hair out for a few weeks to give it the time to breathe. I wanted to do a dry twist out because I have thin natural hair and it makes my hair look thicker. If you're interested in the process, keep reading.

 First I wash my hair with Head and Shoulders Almond Milk Shampoo. Then I rinsed with warm water. I followed that with Vo5 conditioner. I generously distributed the conditioner through my hair, left it in and added olive oil. I put a plastic grocery bag over my head for about 10 minutes. Then rinsed with cool water. 

I separated in four sections and I blow dried my hair out one section at a time.

(I took the ponytail holders out)

Then I separated one side from the next. Usually when I do dry twist outs, I like to have a middle part but I always get a deep part right down the center of my entire head that's difficult to hide. so this time I tried a different technique. 

  Before I twisted I added these two products

- Cantu Shea Butter Argan Oil Leave-In Conditioner

- Shea Moisture Curling Gel Souffle'

I added the Cantu sparingly to the ends of my hair and the gel souffle sparingly to each section. The point is to add just enough moisture to create definition but not too much that will create shrinkage. I used the gel souffle to get a bit of a hold. 

S.B. The Argan Oil Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioner purchase was actually an accident! I meant to purchase the original one instead. If you are interested in a review of the Argan Oil stay tuned, I will post one shortly.

If you have thin hair like me and want your twist outs to look full my advice is, create bigger sections. To avoid the big part down the middle of my hair I did flat twist on the top half and single twists underneath them.

 (Pictured below)

When I was all done twisting I spritz my hair with water from my spray bottle, again, just enough to create definition but not so much that it creates shrinkage. I pinned down the twists so that they wouldn't get displaced from sleeping. (this is to prevent a stubborn piece of hair from sticking out in the morning)

I went to sleep with a satin bonnet. In the morning I carefully took down the twists. I did not use any additional oil on my hands/fingers during the take-down as most Youtube tutorials advise. I separated the twists where they separated naturally and where I needed to separate to create extra volume.  I also used a wide tooth comb in place of hairpick to get rid of any parts.

(Here is the final result)

(Definition Shot)

Looking at how raggedy my ends are. Its definitely time for a trim! I know a lot of people care more about length than health and sometimes wonder if they really need to trim their hair.

If you're interested look out for post that I will write titled

 "When you know its time to trim your hair" .

16 Months Post BC: Flat Iron on Natural Hair

Hey World and Naturalistas !

Sidebar: Some of these are post back because when I did the styles I did not have time to put up a blog post about it.

 In this post I will be showing what i did and explaining what I used in my hair and what I did to complete this style. To warn you it did not turn out as it would if done professionally but it was my BEST attempt to date.

To start off I just want to say that there are a lot of things people say you should or should not do when straightening Natural Hair.

You may hear:
*Condition your hair well so that the flat iron doesn't burn your dry hair
*Don't put oils in your hair because the it will create extra heat
* Do not put any heavy products that could weigh down your hair before you flat iron
*Use a serum heat protecting agent /Use a liquid heat protecting agent / Use a heat protecting agent

And for this style I didn't do any of those things.

As I mentioned in my >>CLAY REVIEW<< post I have/had problems with my hair being weighed down and clay rinsing helps take everything that's weighing my hair down away.

After clay rinsing I added a bit of lightest conditioner I have, leave in Cantu Shea butter, detangled with my Denman brush, and created four separate sections.

To straighten m hair I took VERY small sections. I did this when I had a lot of patience, the process took 7 hours... no LIE, I obviously didn't have much homework to do either.

Anyway, when going through each section I used a very fine tooth comb to go back through the section after the Denman brush to make sure I detangled all of my strands. Then I did "comb-chase method"to straighten each piece.

This was one section of my hair after I complete. I was so excited at how straight it came out and how I long my hair actually was!!!

Here are some pics from when I was all finished:
Can you tell I was feeling myself a bit? yea LOLOL

This style only lasted me a week but I enjoyed having it straight for as long as it lasted. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to make my hair last longer? Please leave me comments!

21 Months Post BC: Updated Natural Hair Regimen!

Hello World and Naturalistas!

It is important that we take the time to cater to the needs of our hair.

I will admit that in the beginning it can be hard to find things that work for you when there are so many different options out there and there is no one size fits all. Finding what works for you is one of the biggest struggles of returning natural.

Being 21 months natural I've learned a lot about my hair with that being said here is my updated Natural Hair regimen:

Lately I've been doing a ton of protective styling for a couple reasons:
1. To grow out my hair
2. For a change
3. So I can be LAZY.... pheww

Protective Styling:

My favorite protective style to do are crochet braids. I've done so many different techniques and so many different styles. It's quick and versatile and I'm able to do them on my own. 

Interested in seeing the style(s) I've done?  

>>CHECK IT OUT HERE<<

I usually do a protective style for 3-4 weeks depending ... usually I wanna switch up but then decide NOT to because I don't feel like doing my hair or don't feel like dealing with my real hair. YEAH I SAID IT! It's very time consuming and sometimes I feel like ...

Knowing what your hair needs:

When I take my hair out I pay attention to how it feels. If it's extra dry I do a moisture pre-poo and wash with sulfate-free shampoos.

If my hair feels soft I do a protein treatment.

If it's stiff I use a clarifying shampoo, silicon conditioner and then proceed to styling.

Also, recently I've been suffering from really bad dry scalp. So I decided to start using head and shoulders.

Products used:

Shampoos I use and their purposes:
Head and Shoulders with Almond Milk 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner (7.26 +Walmart) - For when I have really dry scalp
Organix Argan Oil Shampoo ($5.74 +Walmart) - For when I need moisture
Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus ($9.99 +Walgreens) - For when I need protein

Conditioners I use & their purposes:

Traders Joe's Pepper Tea Tree Tingle ($3.99 +Trader Joe's )- Regular Use
Organix Argan Oil Shampoo ($5.74 +Walmart)- For when I need moisture
Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus ($9.99 +Walgreens)- For when I need protein

Deep Conditioners I use & their purposes:
Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque ($10.99 +Walgreens) - Regular Use
Homemade Mixture for Moisture - Giovanni Leave In conditioner, water, honey, olive oil
Homemade mixture for Protein - egg or banana or yogurt, mayo, coconut oil, water

Products for styling & their purposes:
Coconut & Hibiscus Curl enhancing smoothie ($11.99 +Walgreens) - When I do dry twist outs
Dark N Lovely Non Shrinkage Souffle ($9.99 +Walgreens)- Wet Twist outs
Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel ($2.00+ in local hair stores) - For my puffs
Creme of Nature Edge Control - ($4.56 +Walmart) To sLAY my edges


Products for daily moisture:
Water
Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In ($5.97 +Walmart)
Olive Oil ($5.46 +Walmart)

Interested in seeing how my regimen has changed? 

>>CHECK OUT MY OLD HAIR REGIMEN<<

(You might find something here that can work for you!)

21 Months Post BC: I LOVE CROCHET BRAIDS!

Hey World and Naturalistas!!

So everyone has been raving about these wonderful crochet braids. Little do some people know back in 90's this style was very popular. At the time they only made pre-braided hair that looked like micro braids. As time progressed, so did the minds of others, we have become more creative and innovative. Now almost 15 years later there are now a bunch of different types of hair, hairstyles and techniques to try.

I myself have done them a lot myself here's a sneak peak at them:

Attempt #1

Hair Used:Femi Collection
# of Packs: 5
Styling Method: Two Strand Twist and Hot Water (after installation)
Interested in seeing how my first attempt went? CHECK IT OUT

Attempt #2
Brand of Hair: Femi Collection
# of Packs: 3.5
Styling Method: Orange Perm Rods with Hot Water (after installation)

Attempt #3:
Brand of Hair: Masterpiece
 # of packs: 3
Styling Method: White Perm Rods with Hot Water (before installation)

Attempt #4
Brand of Hair: Masterpiece
# of Packs: 3
Styling Method: Braid Out with Hot Water (after installation)

Attempt #5
Brand of Hair:Unknown
# of Packs: 4 Jumbo Packs
Styling Method: Purple and White Perm Rods with Hot Water (after installation)

Attempt #6

Brand of Hair: Freetress Senegalese Twists Mini and Janet Collection Marley Hair
# Of packs: Freetress: 5 Janet: 1/2
Styling Method: Crochet and Individual Twists

Hopefully you can tell that I got better at installing in general, curling the Marley Hair, and being versatile with the help of Youtube and A LOT of practice.