Wash Day after Protective Styling.

Hiya!! as usual, I forgot to post that I added a video up.

This is (another) wash day video. I thought it would be fun to record one after a semi longterm protective style.
I was sent some activated charcoal shampoo and conditioner and it came at the right time as I wanted to get my hair and scalp squeaky clean after my ps.









I'd love to hear what you do to treat your hair after a protectve style.

Thanks for watching xxx

Protective Styling : Braids/Plaits

Hiya!! The sun has finally come to play here in London. It's been teasing us with guest appearences only to hide away again. On some days we've had 3 to 4 seasons worth of weather with hailstones, wind, sun and chill!
The weather has been playing games with my hair and as I may have said a few times, It was time for a protective style.
I was waiting for the 90 Day Hair Growth Challenge to end before putting my hair away and felt like some plaits or twists.

I started to notice some breakage at my crown area, where my parting is..... not just uneven hair but actual small hairs!! humph!! I do think it's because I part my hair in the same way when styling and washing. That was the final push for me to plait up my hair and I decided to crochet the plaits because that would be less time installing and removing and also the least amount of pulling on my hair while I wore them. I plaited the perimeter in single/box plaits/ braids

Plaiting/Braiding hair and Pre-Plaited/Braided packs

I have to say I love the ease of day-to-day styling that comes with plaits, no faffing about, I normally just pull the top half up into a ponytail and have half up, half down... It's soooo much quicker in the mornings for school runs.

I have had them in for around two weeks now and plan to keep them for another two at least  maybe even push to six weeks in total. I re-did the front perimeter last Saturday as they were looking quite fuzzy and yesterday I re-did the back on Thursday just gone.

It's been a while since I last had a longer term protective style, I forgot how my scalp cries for water when wash day comes and goes without me washing it.

Loving my Plaits!!

Lost week - protective styling.

Somewhere along the way I have missed a week where I put my hair on a protective style for the week... I don't know how but I thought I'd post about it as I like to have a record of what works (or doesn't as the case may be) on my hair.

As an avid blog reader and YouTube stalker... erm I mean viewer, I'm always on the look out for new tips, tricks and b/vloggers over the past few weeks I've come across a few ladies with super long hair who have their hair in protective styles for the majority of the time and a couple of them have a weekly routine/regime{n} of washing their hair then putting it into a protective style for the whole week. 

I've been wanting to keep my hair as free from as much manipulation as possible but as I'm not ready for my next long protective style stint I decided to give the week one a try.


Preperation:
 

After the whole washing and deep conditioning process, I reached for some smoothing leave ins (Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Cream (I'm down to the bottom of my last bottle *sob* when it's finished I wont be able to get it again) and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum) as I wanted my hair to air dry as smooth and stretched as possible.

Working in four sections I took out my wide toothed comb and soft bristle denman- it felt so weird using these in my hair as I've been only finger detangling for so long.
I parted my hair down the middle, put my hair in two ponytails winding the hair round itself and left it to dry. 
My hair was soooooo smooth, it reminded me of very early in my HJ when I wanted my hair as straight and smooth as possible to emulate my relaxed hair (what a change!)

Style:

I opted for some cameroes/cornrows (around 7/8 in total) and added a little extension hair in an ombré type effect. 

I smoothed the front down with some CURLS Passion Fruit Curl Control Paste and tied my scarf on.
In the morning I just took my scarf down and I was good to go!!

I pulled all the plaits/braids into a side ponytail. Some days I wound the braids round into a side bun.

Protective styling: Cameroes/Cornrows/Canerows

Maintenance: 
 
I enjoyed the freedom the plaits/braids gave me and I loved that it shaved so much time in the morning. I just used a little gel and paste each night and let it set overnight.
When my hair started to get messier, I had to gel in the morning instead but it was still so much quicker than styling my hair from scratch each day.

I oiled my scalp every night with my hairlicious and moisturised with the
Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Cream when needed, I wanted a light moisturiser that wouldn't be too heavy nor cause excess build up.



I enjoyed wearing my hair in plaits/braids but may well leave out the extension hair next time round.

Catch Up - Playing with Layers.

Last week, I knew that I would be taking my hair out and washing it before starting out with my second stint of my Protective Styling Challenge so I decided to have a play with layering my extensions.
I put my hair in sections and started with the top two on either side of my face, I started cutting lower than I wanted the layers to be just in case - you can cut more if needs be but you can't add the hair once it's cut lol- I checked the length every time I cut until it was were I wanted it.
I moved to the bottom layers and split them into two more sections, the first sections I lared with the top ones and the second sections I just trimmed down so the length wouldn't be too long and look odd with the layers. I tried to feather the ends rather than bluntly cut.

I was happy with the results, not 100% perfect but nice enough to walk around with lol I tried to find some pictures of the hair before I cut it but I could only find some blurry ones:

Before - Hair in it's "natural" state

Before - Hair Straightenend/ flat ironed

Here's the hair after layering, I loved the way it framed my face and will deffo layer again when I do another protective style.

After - hair layered

I did enjoy wearing the Janet Collection hair, the tangling was a lot but I was really happy with the look of the hair once I detangled it. Setting the hair on flexi-rods was great and when I didn't use them I made sure I plaited/braided the hair up at night and it was good in the morning.

Yayy!! I finally found pre-twisted hair!!!

Whoooohoooooo!!! I am soooooo happy that I found pre-twisted hair. I have been searching high and low for either pre-twisted or pre-plaited/braided hair for my crochet braids. I wanted to plait my hair up again but sheeesh!! It took aaaaages before and I wasn't looking forward to it at all. The only place I could find them was online from America and the shipping was not worth it at all..... I thought I may as well get my act together and twist or plait some hair in advance but where would I find a spare moment lolol...... I thought I found some plaited hair but it was so fine, I'd need trillions of packs and I wasn't sure how it would fall on the cornrows/camerows/canerows.

Then Sunday gone, I had a kind of feeling to go to a certain shop to see if they had any {{nice price}} hair for the next stint in my Protective Styling Challenge. I saw some good packs but decided to have a look at the plaiting hair... I don't even know why as I was planning on making a sew in unit ...... I came across the packs of dreaded/loced hair and was huomming because every shop gave me false hope with dreaded hair but everytine I asked, they didn't have plaited hair - or even know what I was on about lol - then my eye caught one pack of twisted hair.... but it wasn't roght and I tried to find someone to ask if they had any others..... no one was about... then I turned my head and aaawwwwwwwwww *harps playing* I saw a whole drop filled with packs of TWISTED HAIR!! Whoooooppppp they even had a reddish colour. I hadn't budgeted much for the shop so could only pick up 4 packs (2 each of brown and burgundy) and a pack of plaiting hair to twist my perimeter. I'm thinking I can always go back this week if I need more and use this weeks budget.

I can't wait to try them out and am airdrying my hair as I type(wash day post to come)

Protective styling refresh

I am in the middle of a protective style jaunt and am missing my hair already. It's about 2 and 1/2 weeks. I am aiming on leaving my hair in for 4 weeks, then taking it out and washingmy hair then putting it away for another 4 weeks.... phewww not sure if I can do it.

The front of my hair was looking a little messy and I noticed I had to use a lot of the edge control to smooth it down. The closure also looked like it needed "tightening" so last night I took the hair down, re plaited the perimeter canerows/cornrows/camroes moisturising  with Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Hold and Shine and Curl Enhancing Smoothie and sealing with Enriched Grapeseed Oil as I went. I also oiled my scalp with Hairlicious.
I was amazed at how soft and well moisturised my hair was when I un-did the plaits. That SMC&H stuff is fab!!

I sewed the unit back on and set the hair on flexirods for church the next morning.... well it ended up being very late so more like for later *blush*
I have to say I am impressed with the look of the hair. Being synthetic I was sceptical of how long it would last but I do remember using synthetic hair alot back in the day as a teen when I couldn't afford more with my pocket money lol.



Here's the packs of hair. The bundle pack was on special offer whoooop. I thought it wouldn't be enough so I picked up a pack with two coloured bundles they didn't have the exact same texture but it was close enough:

Janet Natural Brazillian Bundle and Weaving Net

I decided to try a weaving net instead of a dome cap as it was quite hot last time. I don't know which one I prefer to be honest. I did like the dome cap with holes before but the nets are thinner so look flatter but then they don't last as long.


I love the colour and it reminds me of the natural colour you get from using henna:

lovely colour!

The top and closure are 1b and the bottom is the lovely red colour so it has a kind of ombre effect.


When I first made the unit the hair was a tangled mess and I didn't even want to put it anywhere near me but I threw leave in and Silicon Moisturiser at it and it tamed it right down lol.

I do like the hair but it gets tangled very easily and sheds like crazy but I did expect that, with it being synthetic and all. I just set it up at night and keep it moving.


I'm thinking about getting a curly style for the next round after I wash my hair..... hmm not sure though.

Wash Day - Spontaneous Cowash and Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie first impression.

{{Woaaaaa Lonnnng title alert}}

Wash Day
When I went to bed last night and started my Nightly Routine, I took my hair down from it's bun and planned on combing my hair all the way through rather than maintaining the curls as I had been doing for the past few days, however felt knotty, coated and my scalp had that kind of *covered* feeling.

It was late - like 2am - and I contemplated moving wash day to today and pre-pooing overnight but I knew I wouldn't have time today to do it all. Sooooo I decided to cowash my hair- yes at 2am!! - and do the curl setting thing with Bantu Knots that I'd been doing for the past week but it would be more like a wash and go - although I used to think wash and go was literally well...wash and go, not wash, set, rake, dry and go lol.
I did a pre-cowash of sorts. I knew I wasn't going to do a deep condish treatment and wanted to nourish my hair a little so I slathered Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Beach Mate through my hair and put some Meridian Grapeseed Oil over it, left it on for around 1/2 hour and then cowashed with Pantene Truly Natural Hair Co-Wash Cleansing Conditoiner.
I blotted with a towel and let it air dry for a short while.
I put my hair in sections and sprayed the first one with Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea Restructurizer as I wanted to add a little strength. That;s when I realised I didn't detangle my hair! Not before I washed, Not during my wash, nothing. I don't know if it was because I was tired or if it's just another thing my stressed brain forgot about but I just clean forgot! I sealed the moisture with Grapeseed Oil, tried to detangle but was put off by the dry ripping feeling, grabbed my Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie, stroked the tub, smiled, opened said tub and sniffed... mmmmmm, smiled some more then told myself to get a grip and smoothed it through my hair.... LOVE!!
I detangled my hair and can I say LOVE again? I put a little Eco Styler Krystal Styling Gel from root to tip, brushed with my denman and bantu knotted. I repeated until all 8 sections were done, smotthed the front sections with a little more gel, put on my scarf and bonnet and that was a wrap.

This morning my hair hadn't dried through (not surprising given the time I went to bed...ahem)
So I dried it a little with my dryer on cool air.
My hair was fluffy and soft, and sooooo shiny. whooohooooo. I styled it into a loose high puff smoothing the front with some Eco Krystal and Creme of Nature Argan Oil Perfect Edges I put my scarf on to set and left it till I had to go out.


{{I'll insert a photo soon as my phone is crying}}
**Edited to add pics**

Items used to style hair

Trusty scarf (looove this scarf)

All set

Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie - First Impression

I really wanted to like this product - I wanted it to live up to all the hype and be worth the wait and yet a secret part of me hoped I didn't as it's sooooo expensive.
My goodness I LOVE IT!!! like straight up, first crush, LOVE.
I know I shouldn't get all ahead of myself and wait for at least a week to see how my hair likes it but Goody Goody Gumdrops I LOVE IT!!

I love the Smell - A sweet but not sickening creamy smell of tropical islands and triffle.
I love the Consistency -Thick, rich and creamy without being gloopy.
I love the Feel - Smooth and slightly blancmange like. I can feel oils but it doesn't feel greasy.
I love the *slip*
I love the way it makes my hair shine
I love the way it springs the curls I'm finding out I have.
I LOVE IT lol
The only thing I don't love is the PRICE - why Shea Moisture? WHY??

I am very tempted to try another product in this line and that was what I was dreading!! I will see how this one works out for me first though. I always need leave in spray/conditioner so If there's one is this line I may try it. I did see the much talked about Jamaican Black Castor Oil line at the shop I went to and it was a toss up between the JBCO leave in conditioner and the CAH curling smoothie.
I'm wondering how the CAHCES works like as just a moisturiser? I often use my Aunt Jackies Curl La La Defining Curl Custard as a moisturiser and it's great and has great slip so can't imagine CAHCES to be anything but great to.

More Bantu Knots and I caved.

I decided to keep my bantu knots in yeaterday instead of taking them down and styling my hair. Truth be told I'm in a Blah mood at the moment and I didn't want to bother with my hair.
I wasn't going anywhere anyway so I oiled my scalp and tied a pretty scarf into a baduesque wrap.

When I got ready for bed, I lightly spritzed my hair with Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Moisture Mist and oiled the parts with Hairlicious (whoooop challenge going strong) Put my scarf and bonnet on and wow, shortest hair night routine in ages.

This morning I took the Bantu Knots out and my hair was lovely, soft and the curls were springy. Leaving the Bantu's in for a day had allowed my hair to completely dry and the results were fab.

I tried to take photos but they didn't come out that well as the day was somewhat overcast and the flash just made the pics black (why does that happen anyway?)
Here they are anyway:

Biiiigggg curly fro

Close up

I loved the way the front curls looked so I decided to leave two at the front and put the rest into a tight top puff. Wowwww I LOVED the curly puff. I gently scrunched the puff with some Aunt Jackies Don't Shrink Flaxseed Elongating Curling Gel {love this stuff}

So although I would rather be in a better mood the I am glad I left the bantu's to do their thing.


Ok so let's address the caving issue. I made a scheduling mistake and thought something that is actually next week was taking place today. I was already at the meeting point when I phoned my friend and she told me of my mistake - oh how we laughed *blush* - I had some time to kill while I waited for hubby to come back on his way home and decided to have a little browse in the hair shop in the area.
I forgot how BIG and how much STUFF they have. I had a good look at the hair and saw somw with a big *special offer* sign so will revisit to buy some for my next protective styling challenge (yes I love challenges, don't judge me lol).
I then went to look at the hair products and was like a kid in a candy factory!! My three fave edge tamers/controlers have finished and my Aunt Jackies will soon be finished so I decided to buy an Eco Styler gel and Curls Pasionfruit Control Paste to replace the ones that have gone walkies. They didn't have the Control Paste but I managed to pick up the Eco, I got a small tub of the clear one to have a try. I didn't want to buy the argon one as that's the missing one and I'm half hoping it will turn up soon.
Then I had the bright idea to have a look at the Shea Moisture goodies. You have to understand that anytime I'm in the hair shop I drool over the Shea Moisture products, looking, awwing and walking by so it wasn't strange for me to do it this time... and whooooopppp there was a *special Offer* sign on there too!! £3 cheaper than anywhere I've seen. Still alot pricier than my regular products but much more attainable.... the Coconut and Hibiscus Curling Enhancing Smoothie hop, skipped and jumped into my hands and before I knew it I was sitting in the car opening the jar and smilling!!

 

Yep I caved and I can't wait to try it. I don't know whether to wait till I wash my hair or dive in tonight... I do like to wait till wash day to try out new products so my hair is fresh and like a clean canvass IYSWIM hmmmmmm I don't know if I can wait, maybe I'll bring wash day forward??

Past Couple of Nights Routine - Bantu Knots Revisited.

I have been feeling quite lazy when it comes to African Threading my hair at night. I do like the stretched results but some nights I just cant face the threading routine.

I put my hair in two cameroes/cornrows a couple nights and that was ok. I liked the results the next mornings but the ends of my hair didn't look quite right.

I have been thinking more and more about the manipulation my hair is getting and although I have been thinking about my next protective style I have been literally staring at the wash and go results I've seen on blogs,youtube and instagram. I want to give it a try but am in two minds.

I decided to do a "Moisturise, seal and go" instead. I sprayed my hair with Herbal Essences Bee Strong Spray, and oiled my scalp with Hairlicious. I was given some samples of Mixed Roots Curly Kinky Curl Control Leave In Lotion and used that to moisturise and *curlarise* my hair . I used Aunt Jackies Don't Shrink Flaxseed Elongating Curling Gel for hold.
I worked in sections and when my hair was all curly I didn't want to twist it for the night so I opted for bantu knots, I kept with the 8 sections I had been working with and put them in the knots, covered with my silk scarf and put on my satin bonnet.

The next morning my hair was slightly damp but as I was having it curly I didn't mind and I separated and scrunched.
I played around with the curly fro and flung on a silver headband, tied twice and formed a curly puff.
Please excuse the photo's, I was playing around with them for insta and I accidently saved them into black and white lololol:

Loving the curly fro

My Best Puff ever lolol

          

I loved the results from the bantu knots so much that I did them again for church the next day, This time I put my hair into a tight high puff:























I allowed my hair to set in the car and took the scarf off when we were 2mins away from church.... I must remember that scarves leave lines ......ahem.


Last night I thought I'd bantu knot again but wouldn't comb out the curls and re set them, but instead lightly ran my fingers through to distribute the products. I changed the moisturiser and used Organix Curling Perfection Defining Cream and Organix Renewing Argan Oil Of Morocco Penetrating Oil{what a loooong name} to seal before adding the Aunt Jackies gel.

The curly puff today was even better than Sunday's!! I will be doing it again tonight but will change it up tomorrow night as my hair starts to get knotty if not combed through to the ends after 2 or 3 days.
I don't know how people leave their hair in buns for days without their hair getting messy, I sleep so bad my hair looks like wuzzle gummage styled it if left in a bun overnight much less days. It's always been like that from a child to now.

hmmmmmm still not sure which protective style to go for.

Catch Up - Bye Bye Plaits, Hello Puff.

Whoah!!! where did all the time go? I've been caught up in a packing-cleaning-moving-unpacking-cleaning frenzy.
Its been hectic as we have all our "normal" stuff to do at the same time. Blogging unfortunately has taken a waaayyy back seat.

In the midst of the mayhem I had to take the plaits out, I could not take the itchy, tight and sore feeling any longer. I was more than a little apprehensive about the state my hair would be but had a good feeling that all would be well.

I notice that there's no pictures of me wearing the plaits so will post one now, please excuse messy background as we were knee deep in sorting and packing and my tired self lol:

 Taking the plaits out went much smoother than I anticipated although I wasn't as bothered about taking them out as I would have been had they been all box braids instead of just the perimeter. The  crochet braids/plaits were a dream to remove - just cut them just above the knots and pull the knot and "bobs your uncle" (did I just say that?) they're out. Then you just have to take the cameroe/canerow/cornrow out. If I get over the mammoth plaiting saga I may well do it again. I do actually miss the plaits and deffo miss the *get up and go* styling.

Here's the plaits cut from above the knots, you can see that there's none of the fuzziness you get when your own hair is plaited with the extension hair, that's another thing I love  about crochet braids, they look smooth untill they're removed.

When I removed the plaits I was sooooo happy to feel my own hair and of course to scratch my scalp unhindered lololol

I was excited to wash my hair as it's been ages and I was wondering how washing my own hair in the shower would be.

I'll do a seperate wash day post but wanted to post the picture of my puff. I am sooooo happy that my hair grew quite a bit during the looooong protective style phase. My hair is much thicker as well as longer. I'm very tempted to get my GHD's to it. I planned to straighten it in August for my one year transitioning but it being summer I didn'tt want to fight the humidity plus knew I'd be swimming. Then I wanted to let it get over the chlorine, sun and sand abuse so put it off to October thinking I'd do it for our wedding anniversary.... Theeeeeennnn we were moving and now.... I don't know what box my GHD's are in haaaaaaaa.
I'll look out for them while we unpack each room we work on.

sooooooo ramble over here's my new improved bun/puff ...... hmmmm the pictures are not that great (what's new ahem) buttt I want to journal the puff soooooo yea, I'll edit them.

Excuse the  dark circles and, I am wearing clothes under cardie,lol

excuse the makeshift blur, my face was weird.

Catch up - Plaited up

I am now way into month 2 of my protective styling!! I didn't even plan to go this long. But after the first month of my two instant weave units I decided to go for the plaits.
First off, let me say I dont think I will be doing this myself anytime soon haaaaaaaaa my arms ache, even now.
I have "box plaits/braids" on the perimeter and "crochet plaits/braids" in the rest. I didn't bother to pre plait the hair but if  I decide to go through the everlasting task again I will pre plait the hair as that will make the process 2055% faster. I'm thinking that I can just pre plait the hair anytime, like sitting down watching tv etc. Just at anytime I feel like it then by the time I go to actually do my hair they'll already be done.

The plaits took aaaaages to do. I actually did them over the course of two days and nights and then curl and sealed the next day so it was 3 days... plus the day it took for my wash day before...... gah!! 4 days... and I was sick with the lurgies so it felt like 10 days lololol.

Hubster picked out some redish hair for my highlight plaits and I quite like the effect. 

It must be near to 15 years since I had box plaits and it took done getting used to, both looks wise and the weight if the hair. 

The latch crochet thingy I had was broken so I tried to use a loom band hook..... Don't try it ..... Truss me lol

I used my fingers for the cameroes that weren't too tight and then used a hairpin for the rest.

I curled and sealed the ends with booking hot water and really like the look.

The only thing that makes me not dread taking the plaits out is that the crochet braids will be a cinch to remove and there's not too many box ones to remove.

I've been oiling my scalp and M&Sing when needed but my scalp needs a good wash. I'll prob make up a spritz to cleanse my scalp as I don't feel like washing the plaits as they're quite big and will take an age to dry.

Catch Up - Colour FAIL!!

Yea title says it all actually it should say EPIC fail lolololol.

I hot footed it down to Tesco to pick up hair dye, looked at the colour chart at back and the colour looked ok so I picked it up. It said no need for lightening hair first as it had the developer or whatever soooooo we came home I prepared dinner for everyone and set about the dye job....... First off PHEWWWW what a chocking. strong smelling encounter!! I had to go outside on my front porch to dye my hair.... by this time it was past midnight!?!?! WHat on earth?!? What kind of hair dye-outside- after midnight madness is this? After all the shenanigans the hair didn't even budge...... GAHHHHH. So I decided to get some bleach the next day.

We were on a date that day and had some time in-between returning to the venue for standby tickets so decided to walk to a park and chill out. Welllll I spotted a Superdrugs on the way and popped in for the bleach.... easier said than done, I picked up lightener and a separate hair colour (plus I grabbed an Organix Argan oil on offer whoooopppp - my local has been out since the stinky keratin oil return - plus a couple items) and my eye glimpsed some spray colour so picked up a red can and a pink can - old school lololol. I sprayed some red colour at the bottom of my hair in the park and had flash back of a teen me spraying colour in my hair with my friends lolololol I loved the look.

Yea.... soooo the lightening did not work, and I left it on the hair for ages..... thennn it hit me the hair wasn't all "real" so can you even colour synthetic hair? er... nah!! hmmmmm so what a waste of time haaaaaaaaa if only I thought my wonderful ideas through lololol.

So that was that, the spray colour left itself on my clothes and made the hair kinda sticky and crunchy so that was that too.

Well no biggy, still like the unit but will change it for my Brazilian Hair quick weave when I take it down to wash my hair. I feel like softer hair and with waves instead of curls.


funny thing, when I took the hair out to wash my hair I could see red hues.... it must have been the "real" hair that was blended with the synthetic hair that got coloured....... hmmm

Catch Up- Protective Style decision

Sooooooo....... I did decide to plait up my hair well.. I had made the decision to either twist or plait lololol, I do like the look of twists... I looked online for some inspiration and to look closer at crochet braids as I haven't done them before... plaits and twist extensions yes but I want the crochet braids to look nice. After searching I came across a couple of examples that used pre-plated hair! Whaa?! I can sort off remember pre-plated weave hair back in the day and wondering if there was plaiting hair too but I always looked right past it... and now its the most perfect thing for crochet braids!! The time that will be saved, whoooooop!!
With excitement I went searching online and in stores for some pre-plaited hair but SNAGGG I can only find it in US!! Its cheap as chips over there but shipping is a..... (insert appropriate, or inappropriate word lol) yea, its that bad.

The only thing half near it is dreadlock braids..... not gonna work.... I see people raving about marley hair as its kinda pre sectioned but it's a bit course for me...... plus costs nearly double than the cheapo braiding hair - gah!!

Well, I was in the store and after two workers looked at me like I had three heads and the last one who was helpful but not fruitful my eye glanced at some hair and caught the words "One pack" I looked closer and saw a really pretty ombre looking hair in a red and brown.... The pack was £15.99 and  came with 4 "bundles" of hair in 12, 16, 18,18 and 20 inches and what?? a free closure? - and yea it was a mix/blend of "real" and synthetic but.... the colour grabbed me and I had played with synthetic unit earlier this year so why nit try this?
I asked hubby and he was surprised that I had chosen the red colour, after confirming that it was red I chose he was very happy for me to get the red colour lolololol, I wanted a change and as I never have colour in my hair I wanted to have a go.
Soooo I grabbed the box, got some bits needed to turn it into a instant weave unit and paid.

Here's a "borrowed pic" of the hair pack:

I did all the day time stuff and in the night, I washed my hair and while it was airdrying I went to work on my unit.... I opened the box and GAHHHH!! The hair was all one colour!!! Gahhh..... What a nahnah I didn't even check the hair..... dohhhhh I just couldnt be asked to change it next day and  I had somewhere to go the day after...... dohhhhh I told hubby and he said to use it and he'd get me the red pack at the weekend... lololol see I told you he was feeling the red.

After all said and done, I made the unit and installed it. It's been a few months since I did this whole weave thing but it came out ok to me, the hair is nice, the closure is a little small and the "knots" aren't dyed, nor is the lace part so its a bit bait looking but hey it will do. I need to sort it out, will flatten it later and when I need to re sew it down I'll bring it forward. In the meantime I'll use my trusty JC headband.

Camerow pattern, Closure installed

Finshed results, Closure needs "flattening"

Sooooo... regarding the colour, I had the bright idea why not colour it?!That way I would save some of hubbys money, dye is cheaper than the hair pack right? And even though the store I got it from is on the pricey side so I'm sure its cheaper elsewhere, I'm sure I can do this dyeing stuff.... I used to dye my own and others hair back in the day and remember my studies and hair salon days.