Tuesday 27 May 2014

Senegalese Twists for my Protective Style



Hi all

Senegalese twists are great style to use to give your hair a break from daily styling. I’ve worn Senegalese for a while but last had them in sometime last year and I’ve enjoyed the hairstyle the times I have worn it. Before you take the plunge and get some installed, there are a few things that you need to know about how to prep for and care for Senegalese twists.
How I prepped my Hair for Senegalese Twists
  • Conditioned hair
My hair is going to be contained in the twists for several weeks, hoping 6 -8 weeks max so it was important that i conditioned  it well before styling. I like to make sure that my hair has a good balance between protein for strength and moisture. Moisture is especially important because the synthetic hair that is used for the twists can rob your hair of precious moisture.
One week before I got the twists installed, I did a protein treatment. If you are having severe breakage, consider Aphogee’s Two-Step Protein Treatment. I opted for a lighter protein treatment like Aphogee’s Two-Minute Protein Treatment. After the protein treatment, I infused my hair with moisture for the week leading up to the install by co-washing my hair once and moisturizing frequently. For the wash right before I get my twists installed, I use a heavy moisturizing treatment Elasta qp DPR.  Also, after I blowdry my hair (more on that later), I moisturize and seal my hair a few hours to one day before the twists are installed.
  • Blowdry or Stretch Out Hair
Senegalese twists take some time to install. (Mine took about 5 hours.) In order to make the process move faster, the braider grabs pieces of hair quickly. If your hair is curly, or if you have curly roots, your hair may break if they have to comb through it or untangle it. You definitely don’t want to wait until you get to the salon to get it blow dried by the braiders. They will not care for your hair as gently as you would care for it yourself. For that reason, I always blowdry my hair straight before an install. To minimize the possibility of damage, I let my hair airdry about 80%, then apply a heat protectant, then I blowdry my hair in sections.
If you are strongly opposed to using heat at all, don’t worry. You can stretch out your natural hair with braiding or banding. You could rollerset it on large rollers and let it airdry, then wrap it. For relaxed hair, you can wet wrap your hair. Just remember to do this well before your braiding appointment! Wet hair can take many, many hours to dry.
  • After all of that is done, I make sure to moisturize and seal my hair one day, or even up to a few hours before an install. For a job like this, non-greasy moisturizer is in order. I use Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango butter Moisturizer. Remember to seal lightly. You don’t want you hair to be slippery or weighed down with grease I used a bit of Jojoba oil. I keep my scalp clean, but if yours feels dry, you can massage it with a small amount of oil. These steps can be tedious, but if the health of your hair is important, then they are necessary. I also added edge control and slickened my edges down before telling my braider to stay away from your edges, so new there was a barrier right there.
Though after the twists were done I massaged a little bit of coconut oil on my scalp to soothe the mild tightness that I was feeling, am also in the Hairlista coconut oil challenge hope I can keep up with it since I am already in 2 other challenges. Better to try for healthy hair results. Two months I hope and this will also help me stretch my relaxer till my next one is due.

I will do a post on how to wash and deep condition with Senegalese twists/box braids

P.S you can see pics in protective style pics : http://curlyeva.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_24.html

laters
Curly Eva...xoxo

Friday 2 May 2014

Hair Update 6 weeks post Relaxer

Hi all

I need to be consistent in updating this journal  more frequently. What's the point of having a journal if I'm not logging on a consistent basis, right? :) I'm sorry I've been a bit MIA -i have been really busy but I'm happy that I'm sitting down with some tea and cake (wink- wink) and ready to start writing about healthy hair again. I will start writing about how my hair is coming along and how my healthy hair goals are progressing overall.
One of the reasons I haven't been writing (and this really isn't an excuse) is that I haven't had too much to write about. My winter hair regimen is the same and the only major change that has really taken place is i have decided to add African braiding in Zimbabwean lingo mabhanzi between now May to maybe till i find a protective style i can alternate with my wigs and that I've started exercising do my Zumba 3 times a week.  


The main issue with my healthy hair regimen is to get very comfortable with protective styling. Various ponytail styles, buns and wigs are my best friends. These days I wash my hair once a week, and I make sure to shampoo out my edges either three days a week with minimal physical manipulation if I am wearing gel in them to keep them smoothed back (like my ORS Edge Control gel). I try to airdry my edges as much as possible to limit heat use on them, then i rock a ponytail or a bun or mabhanzi under my wig.

I've been keeping up with babying my edges ends and my nape am happy to report that I haven't gone through any unnecessary split end craziness or breakage/shedding issues. I have begun doing my tea rinses religiously and ACV rinses and my go to teas are blak tea and green tea. My hair is pretty much gaining more thickness and i cant really tell how much length i have gained since i am about  weeks post i will only do a length check after my next texlax. at the moment I am totally cool with growing my hair healthier and  longer. My next hair length goal is for it to reach full Arm Pit Length and then hope for BSL by December 2014. 

I am making sure to maintain a balanced diet and drink a lot of water as well. I think my change overall in developing healthy eating and exercising habits is benefiting my hair, so I'm looking forward to seeing the long-term benefits of my healthy lifestyle changes overall.
Alrighty, that's my update for now. Let me know if you have any questions! :)and if you also want to share or update how you and your hair have been fairing

Later
Curlyeva....xoxo

Relaxer update | April
Am 3 weeks post relaxer !
LATE POST

Hello all,

I finally relaxed/texlaxed my new growth *on April the 12th* YAY!!! Finally, Finally finally!! It was definitely needed.....my new growth was getting unmanageable. And yes I am 3 weeks post relaxer now, delayed post I know sorry getting a bit lazy. I'd say I was way over 6 months post relaxer. I didn't keep count anymore coz my stretch was too long and too many challenges since it was my first time stretching for that long but now I have mastered the stretch technique I will be able to handle my next stretches more diligent. Soo  lets talk about my relaxer day shall we?

TEXLAX DAY no.2

In the build up to my relaxer touch up I deep conditioned my hair a week before and was extra careful not to miss my daily moisturizing and sealing with a lot of attention being paid to both roots and ends. I also gave myself scalp massages with warmed olive oil and sweet almond oil to give my scalp some extra oils in anticipation for the relaxer.
 

 Relaxer Kit used: Organic Root Stimulator - Normal for fine to medium hair textures.
 

I relaxed my hair at home....I'm have decided to do this on my own at any given time my 3 year old daughter will help with handing over the accessories I use etc. She likes to be involved in mummys hair routines.

I took appropriate preventive measures i.e. base added to scalp to protect against chemicals in the relaxer, oiled my ends previously relaxed hair that is and added conditioner to my relaxer to weaken the chemical in it.  i relaxed just my new growth and as close as possible to my scalp to get to the roots but not actually my scalp. I didn’t leave it on for a long time as I did not want to fully process my hair had it on for just under 8 mins - this method seems to be really working for me and I like it. That is texlaxing,  rinsed out relaxer and neutralised....i then deep conditionedusing the Replenishing  conditioner that comes with the kit mixed with a bit of ORS Hair mayonnaise and left to sit for 20 mins then rinsed out I then did a 5 min moisturizing conditioner with steam using the Elasta QP remoisturing conditioner then rinsed . After t shirt drying my hair,...used my favourite leave in at the moment the Aphogee Keratin & Green tea Restructurizer  oil and my ORS heat protection  serum. Air dried till my hair was 80% dry then blow dried on cool with a Paddle brush , flat ironed and I was done.





I have to say my hair has grown...Im well past shoulder length and so so close to arm pit length...and still like 4-6 inches away from bra strap length though. This noticeable growth is great encouragement for my healthy hair journey. Will definitely be keeping up my healthy hair practices -More protective styling, maintaining moisture to protein balance and less daily manipulation.
 

As I finish this post I am setting myself for the tHs winter hair care challenge details for challenge tellinghairstory facebook page, http://tellinghairstory.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/ths-winter-challenge-details/ . I will be continuing with the Jeenz grow your hair long and healthy challenge routine till the end of the year. Will post a pic of starting length and keep you up to date with progress pictures as I go on with the challenge.
For  now am keeping my hair in a bun. Moisturize and seal as needed.
So thats about it for now.....till later
Bye
Curlyeva…..xoxo

Next relaxer day.....