Catch Up - Twisting we twisting

Gahhh I've fallen off the posting again.

Summer Holidays is keeping me busy lol.

Just a quick post about my revisit to twists. I was sitting watching tv one evening while waiting for the hubster to get in from a late shift. I decided to M&S earlier than normal so I could give him my undivided  attention *blush* 

I detangled and started moisturising and twisted the front of my hair to see how it had grown. I must have done them smaller than the last time because they looked nice and I just impulsively decided to twist all my hair. I finished M&Sing and clipped my hair in sections and got to twisting, whooooahhh my hair has gotten thick!! I had noticed that my sectioning has sometimes needed to be smaller but didn't put the two together. I'm loving the thickness.

Anywhoooo hubby came home and I had a tiny bit left to twist and he loved it! Awwww gotta swoon at a supportive guy.

He was surprised that I twisted it up so fast.

I really line the look and can't wait till the relaxed ends are all gone so the twists don't unravel.

They don't last that long but let's see how long I can keep them in. I plan on M&Sing as usual just with less product.

Catch up - Post Holiday Treatment.

What a wonderful family holiday we had!!! It was such a pleasure to spend time together as a family and having low stress, low bother.

My hair however was happy to be home and pleaded for some TLC.

My head scarfves saved me from fuzzy plait shame. I put my small one on on one day at the front, and then travelling back I put my trusty orangey silk one on the whole of my head and had plaite the cameroes into two:

In the night that we arrived home, I took my hair out of the cameroes and detangled with my beloved Knot on my watch. Supprisingly there wasn't much shedding. My hair felt great, no straw in sight lololol. The back of my hair felt amazing!!! Soft, light and moisturised I know it was from all the cowashing. I'm really considering taking the time to cowash in between wash days again and see how that goes.

I used Hairlicious on my scalp and EVCO through my hair, I was very generous with it as I wanted to get a really good overnight treatment.

Next day I clarified with ORS creamy aloe shampoo and put on a protein condish mix, I had a squirt of Organics hair mayonnaise so added that to some Queen Helene Colestrol and Motions oil moisturiser silk protein conditioner.

The queen Helene is very thick and didn't  mix very well but the mix was deffo usable - if a bit weird looking - 

My hair did feel slightly hard when I applied it and I didn't want to comb it through or section it so just put a shower cap on.

I left it on for about 30 mins and rinsed it off and blotted hair.

My hair felt strong but a teeny tiny bit dry.

I rinsed with Coffee and Cinamon tea I loooove the coffee rinses lolol.

I removed the excess and put on my deep condish mix this time round I wanted a really moisturising blend so went for Silicon mix, Aplanadora, and a big amount of the yummy Kanechom Karite and a healthy squirt of my ceramide oil blend. I detangled in four sections, loosely winding them up and tucking ends in placing a soft hair band around each bump ..... I cannot remember if I mentioned this before but I can't use my flexi rod trick anymore when sectioning for DC anymore whooooop my hair is growing but Whawhawhaa, I need to find a new trick.....

I used the new conditioning cap- it looks like gold foil on outside and silver foil inside, meant to boost head/body heat - and tied a scarf around it for double heat and to stop water neck dribbles 😝

I left it on for a good few hours and rinsed off. I did notice that my hair wasn't as soft and light as it normally would be so the protein treatment really did a great job. 

ACV rinsed blotted and then ran some EVCO through. Wrapped hair up in oversized vest and let it dry for a while.

Applied my leave ins - Dove conditioning spray, oiled scalp with Hairlicious, moisturised with....  arrgggghhh can't remember which mousturiser I used, either macadamia nourishing leave in cream or profective mega growth daily leave in strengthner, sealed with Organix Coconut milk anti breakage oil.

Threaded up and off to bed. Whooooo a long wash day but very satisfying.

More Holiday Talk

I am really enjoying our annual holiday, we've been in the pool almost everyday and it's really lovely spending time together having fun.

It's making me really look at myself more, I should really start going swimming with them back home but I am not brave enough YET.

My hair is more fuzz than plaits, I re did the very front two as they were crying for mercy, I'm wondering if there's been some growth too as the hair is moving away at the roots as well as the plaits themselves. Maybe it's enjoying all the water and condish? The free hair is incredibly soft and I'm hoping the dreaded moisture overload won't revisit!!

I'll be sure to give it some protein when I get back.

I've been loving preparing lovely meals for the family and today we had healthy BBQ kebabs and skewers, chicken, beef and prawns, coconut rice was requested so I made a few healthier changes and whipped up a pot, yumm!!

I can't wait till God blesses us with a bigger home with room for a dinning table.

Holiday Hair Maintenance.

Although I don't love the fuzzies. I love that I don't have to spend ages styling in the mornings! Also at night I can M&S very quickly.

I knew i'd be washing my hair a lot maybe even daily but didn't want to strip and dry out hair so cowashing would be the one. I planned on using Hello Hydration, but during a trip to Superdrug I spotted Ausie Moist's Beach Mate line, the 3 min recon jumped out at me, I have the moisture one which I love so grabbed Beach mate one. It was on offer too - Result!

I also saw they had specials on Organix Whoooooop love that brand! The store was a small one so they didn't have a big range I reached for the Argan serum and the Keratin Serum. Yoyyy!! The keratin went straight back, the smell!! Balk!! It reminded me of something I hate but couldn't grasp quite what, it smelt like sick (sorry tmi) the Argan on the other hand was great! - will review later.

I packed the Beach Mate, Argan Serum, ORS edge tamer, bonnet, flexirods, scrunchies, pins and hair ties in my hol hair bag and ran back for my Organix coconut milk anti breakage serum as I wanted to give my hair as much help as possible. (What was I thinking? No moisturiser, No leave in?!!) I planned on bringing an oil blend but forgot.

I didn't get time to plait sons 3 and 5 hair so planned on doing them while here so packed Leave in, detangler and moisturiser for them - Thank God!! - I am soooooo glad I did as I am using them on my hair.

Each Night I M&S. (If I've been swimming, I go straight to moisturiser stage as it's already been conditioned.) if scalp dry I use the Rapeseed Oil from the kitchen as I left my oil blend. Soooooo glad I wanted to use that for cooking lolol

I cover with bonnet, I flexirod if I want curls the next day.

In the morning I use the Argan Serum and edgetamer on edges and front plaits and style plaits.

After Swimming. Cowash with Beach Mate, put more condish on hair then leave for about 3 mins then rinse.

Wrap hair in towel for 5 mins and blot. 

Put Argan Serum through hair and wrap up. When it's almost dry I take towel off I don't have a vest or tshirt here to use in place of towel and really feel the difference :(

I let air dry till nighttime and do nightly routine.

My hair is feeling a little dry so I'll oil rinse when I cowash next.

I am liking the simplicity of plaits, it's been around 14 years since I had plait extensions! I am feeling them but as there's only a few plaits it looks odd down so I mostly side bun or plait, I'm really thinking about putting some in when I get back.

I am a little worried that my hair will be unhappy from all the swimming, sea air and general hol abuse, I'll put a plan in action for my wash day when I get back, I'll deffo clarify, but will prob do a protein treatment too to give it some strength, I'm thinking of plaiting up but want to assess it first after I wash it to see what's what.

Fuzzy Plaits.

Hmmmmmm I am not feeling the fuzzy plaits one bit. I knew they'd be fuzzy as I was planning on swimming regularly while here and of course that meant washing too.

I just don't love the look. It reminds me of being young and cameroes got messy. I'm soooo tempted to take them out but I can't be asked to have my own hair out, plus don't want to swim with my hair out.... Wondering if I should just take out extensions and plait up my own hair?

Hmmmm decisions.

Holiday Prep

I spent a week trying to decide what to do to protect my hair from the chlorine, sun, sea, sand and holiday abuse.

I decided plaits would be the best bet as my unit stopped me from reaching my scalp when I was in Dubai. It also took ages to dry. It was great for waft I needed but itchy.

Plaits would mean I could wash, moisturise and seal with ease.

I love to go swimming when holidaying as I feel soooo free and hey, no ones gonna see me again.

I thought about crochet braids.

As it happens one of the YouTubers I sub to did an in depth set of vids on crochet twists with perimeter box twisted!!

I didn't want to spend very long on the plaits as it's only for a week. I decided to do a few rows of cameroes with braiding hair to the side so I could wear it in a side plait or bun. I'm deffo thinking about crochet braids for protective styling after hols as I want to put my hair away - that's another post altogether lol - it took not too long to do but I was very tired as I had to do Son 2's hair and pack, and stuff that needed to be done, it was light outside when I finished and went to sleep.

Hubster was impressed when I got up and he saw my hair - SCORE lololol 

No Comb Challenge - and low manipulation.

Have you ever done something or said something that led on to something that you didn't expect or intend but ended up being a great thing that you couldn't believe you didn't do or say it before?
That's what got me to my next challenge.
I know I'm always sprouting challenge this and challenge that but I do get bored with my hair at times and I also look at what I can do to better certain issues and find challenges motivate and inspire me.

Weeeellllll...... As I mentioned before the summer weather has my hair kind of dry at times and deffo frizzy and I find I have to use more gel than I would like when styling in buns/ponytails to combat shrinkage/heat/melt/frizz etc. I have been using flat twists in the front of my head more so I don't need to use too much gel and have to fight the frizz. I also actually like the look of them so that helps, I tuck the ends into the low buns and off I go.

Thursday night I undid the flat twist and saw how lovely it had set my hair. My past braid and twist outs haven't been too pretty but I loved the look of it this night so I decided to have another go, this time I didn't do it in four sections but flat twisted from top to bottom all around, maybe around 8 in total.
I used Hairliciouis on my scalp, Dove leave in conditioner,  my new Organix Curl Definer as my moisturiser(I'm really liking it so far and will review when I've used more), Ceramide rich Oil blend (grapeseed, starflower, vitamin E, enriched coconut, jmbco) to seal. I used a little bit of aloe vera gel for hold.


I LOVED the results the next day, my best twist out to date! I didn't like my hair out really so left side fringe and popped rest in a high bun, tucking in the edges. The bun was soooo full.

Please excuse the cartoon caption, the photo cut in a funny place and nose part looked weird

That night, I didn't want to comb out the curls, which I've had to do in the past as the curls didn't get defined in the first place and didn't last all day. This time the curls were singing at me so I moisturised and sealed in four sections withouht combing and bantu knotted.

Saturday my hair looked lovely and more importantly felt sooo soft and moisturised. I didn't even have to use moisturiser to help style. The front fringe was mooshed up so I brushed the root area only, trying to avoiding messing up the curls and put my hair in a high bun. The curls in the bun made me smile so I didn't tuck the ends in. I styled without a comb again and that got me thinking about the whole finger detangling and how I've wanted to try solely finger detangling for a whlie after reading and watching bloggrs/vloggers who don't comb during the week.
I decided to do the same that night, I was umming and ahhing as I had church next day and didn't want to go with my hair messy. I decided to just go with it so followed the same process as previous night and went without the comb. I needn't have worried about messy church hair as my hair was behaving after bunning I tied a scarf around to keep it sleek. Took the scarf off on the way to church and all was well lololol.

I thought why not "twist out" till wash day so I set my hair in flat twists again on Sunday night as it started to look a bit scraggly. I used a comb for the first time in a couple days, I finger detangled in four sections then combed smaller section to twist, I then swapped it for my denman and carried on with that. This time round I bantu knotted the ends of the flat twists.
The results were fab! I had lovely side fringe again and curly bun. I left the ends out and used a little Eco Styler Argan Gel to loosen and define the curls a little.
Two wispy curls escaped the bun as I didn't use scarf to tie down edges - I didn't want to flatten my fringe and I liked the soft look to the bun - so I pinned them up.

OOoooo those curls!

I will follow same process of no comb, M&S and bantu knotting at night untill tuesday evening when I'll prep for wash day.

soooooo a simple hairstlye led to a more elaborate one which led to a challenge annnnd low manipulation styling all round whoooopppppp.