Chaotic Laziness

Hello world,

Sorry about being MIA. Everything has been really crazy and I haven't really had any hair things to share lately. I was gonna post at least for Valentines' Day (great day that day, still rocked the MaxiGlide hair lol) and then I was gonna twist my hair again but I saw fit to MaxiGlide again after my next shampoo. That thing is truly addictive; it's so fun you would probably forget that it's just a flat-iron with teeth and a steamer!

Well, I (almost) made good on my going back to twists for protection and growth yesterday but I got a late start. A late start for me now means that I will NOT force myself to finish my hair and stay up all night doing so. Yesterday was a lazy day b/c my dad's birthday was Saturday. I treated him to dinner and the movie he's been dying to see since finding out it was being released (thanx to me! lol I had to tell him)....The Wolfman. He loves the old horror movies, those were big back in his childhood so he was super excited when he finally saw the trailer. Needless to say, there was no question as to what movie we were going to see lol. Back to lazy Sunday......

Sunday was just a laid back kinda day. We were supposed to make a trip to the laundromat but that didn't happen (today, maybe?). So....I made plans on starting my twists on dry, straightened hair from my last MaxiGlide trial. Yea I should probably wash it first but I wanted to be different this time around. Plus I didn't feel like washing and drying and yada yada. It's such a chore for me to wash my hair and I wish my dermatologist new that washing every week for me is overkill for my strands. My ends are showing damage again (the gliding made it worse I think....but I did use heat protection, so don't go there! lol) so I've been doing search and destroy missions like crazy. I want and need my ends to be healthy again. Back to the story lol Well....like I said lazy day led me to take a little nap and watch The Little Mermaid (I've been driving myself Disney crazy since applying for the College Program Internship ) until I decided to try to twist my hair. I thought that since it took me only 2.5-3 hours to twist back in December on dry hair that since my hair was straightened, it wouldn't take all night. Wrong!!! lol I only have a section on each side and a few twists at the top to make my hair look completely twisted when pulled into a ponytail.

I plan on finishing the rest or at least some more of it when I get home later; if not I'll just go with the flow of the week and twist as little or as much as I can.

Pics coming soon!!!

Twisted Up

Oops, I did it again! lol That was supposed to be the title of this post, which I could have sworn I had drafted and tucked away for some editing---but it seems it isn't here :( ----. Oh well. Anywho, after washing my hair last Wednesday, I decided it was too soon for me to put another round of my lock and twist gel in, so I just washed and conditioned (nothing deep, just a much needed cleanse) and let my hair air dry ("big" mistake lol). I decided to do this because I didn't get to run to the beauty supply and get more of my gel, so twisting would have to wait a day. I thought about dry twisting but with my air-dried mess of a fro, but I didn't see that as being a smart choice.

Thursday I rinsed my hair and deep conditioned with my fav deep condish--Neutrogena Triple Moisture of course!--with lots of marination under the cap going on; I had so many things going on at once I think my hair was conditioning for a couple of hours lol. But once I was able to rinse, my hair felt as soft as ever and was wet and ready to be twisted up into perfection once again.

I was scared going into the twists again because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to make my hair as perfect and beautiful as before. I gave it a go with my arsenal of snacks and my little dvd player---I watched 'Secret Life of Bees' and 'Knowing', both great movies---and my hair came out just as cute. Personally, I think the first set of twists was the best but that could only be expected since I wasn't exactly expecting my hair to look so good before, and the second time I had an expected result that I was looking to achieve.

It took a few days for my hair to 'fall into place' and start to grow on me. It's been a week and it's still cute :) I haven't done any photos this time around as of yet but I feel a mini-shoot coming on lol

Have a great day!!
~Lena

Beautiful Twists

I did it you guys!!!!!! lol Last time, I talked about wanting to do more two-strand twists or attempting to do a rod set to achieve a curly look. With my big 'ol head full of thickness, a rod set was NOT going to happen just yet (even though I managed to buy 5 packs (12 in each) of rods for 50 cents at my local beauty supply just in case--good deal for a first time thing, no?). I decided to go with my beloved two-strand twists and they came out absolutely GORGEOUS yall!!!!!!!!! haha. It's so wonderful I almost cried! lol Not really, but I wouldn't have been shocked if I did. Being that you ladies know the journey of trial and error we go through with our natural tresses, you can probably understand my excitement of obtaining perfect twists after trying so hard the first few times they were done. The first few times were super puffy--not what I was going for but I dealt with it---and not small enough (ya know, how the kinky twists/senegalese twists are). But, after much patience and determination I achieved a cute twisted look.

I will be rocking my twists with flower clips that I previously purchased to spruce up my pony puffs--when possible. I may have to make another trip to the beauty supply for more clips b/c I only have 4 colors so far: white, black, pink, and yellow

The Process:

Doing my twists have always taken me a long time and between twisting and taking breaks and being on the phone, I didn't finish until a little after midnight Saturday-after starting around 6:30-7:00 Friday evening.

I washed my hair with my remaining Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine shampoo (just to get rid of it and not let it go to waste; I heard about the lawsuit, no worries the shampoo was bought too long ago--I'll be on my for real natural shampoo/no poo game soon enough) and conditioned with Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Conditioner (I let that sit in for 30 min, covered in a cap to trap heat). I detangled with my wide-toothed comb while shampooing and conditioning.

After rinsing the conditioner out, I blotted but didn't really aggressively dry my hair so I could work with wet hair (plus I hear its better to blot natural hair than wring it dry or anything). I sectioned my hair into five areas/sections; how exactly--Idk, I just know I managed to get a part in the middle and sections on the side and back for easier/supposed to have been faster styling. I had my spray bottle filled with water and a little conditioner(Herbal Essences Hello Hydration) and my Organic Root Stimulator Lock and Twist Gel, my rotating table mirror, my portable dvd player, Push, and Bride Wars, and went to work. My mind was on small twists and that's what I got, small twists. Some of the ones in the front curled up naturally, so for the twists that weren't in sync, I got a chance to use my rods for them and any others that needed a little curl.

The Results:

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful twists!!!!!!!!! I will definitely do this again :)

My sweetheart loves it, and so has everyone that has seen me since I've had them in:

right side
left side
Hello Beautiful!!

Any comments or questions? Post them here and I will be sure to respond

Have a great evening :)

To Twist Or Not To Twist.......

My first set of kinky twists: Summer 08
Before I discovered two-strand twisting my natural hair

Greetings fellow naturals! A few posts ago I talked about going into protection mode and getting a full-headed sew-in weave, soon. Well, I have changed my mind. I haven't fully reneged on the weave thing, I've just gotten the urge to attempt to do some really small two-strand twists on this thick natural head of mine. Foolishness you say? Indeed it is lol. I can barely stand the medium sized ones I do now (I've done it about 3 times and wasn't looking forward to a number 4). It takes me forever to do them; about 2hours at the minimum. I have had extremely teeny ones before, set on rollers at a natural hair salon (My fellow Detroiters look up Afia's I'm Naturally Beautiful Hair Salon, they are amazing---hooked a scared transitioning sista up :) If you would have seen a before picture.....ooh, you wouldn't have believed that I had tons of hair tamed into that teenie curly style. The owner was shocked too lol . They said I looked like a totally diff person. My hair only looked twisted if you got right up into my hair and looked closely at it. From a normal distance it looked like I just had defined curls.

--I want those teenies back but I don't have $90 to spare--ouch! I haven't been since the end of last year but that doesn't mean I'm not going back. I hate making appointments for anything so lol but I will be back there before this year is over.

Anywho, I was considering doing some relatively small twists but with my length I don't think they are gonna look like I'm imagining; my twists are going to be quite lengthy so, we shall see haha

Until I experiment with this tomorrow (or Saturday) here are some photos from the teeny weenies from Dec 08. I should have taken closer shots of my lil teenies but I wasn't thinking about that back then....

Adios~

My oldest nephew and myself..........

Me with my two oldest nieces.......