Wash day: Back to wigging!

Hey cuties :-) been a while... hope everyone is doing great!? 
      
       Sorry for my inconsistency with posting its really been hard for even friends and family to reach me because of the area i live at the moment. The problem is electricity!!! I will soon move to a better apartment though and my dear school stress is also there ooo lol Thank you to all who keep reading my blog and sharing my blog url...I really do appreciate Sooo to you my lovely readers...Welcome to the last month of the year... may God Bless you, increase your joy and keep you safely throughout this festive season!....AMEN!!

       I had a busy school week as usual and i sometimes didn't get to moisturise and seal but what helped my hair is the glycerine i added to my moisturiser.
        I'm so happy that i'm this far into my stretch.... i have gone 10weeks without my wigs which is a huge progress for me because in previous months i would start wigging at 5-6 weeks. But i still have intentions to relax my hair this December either at 13 or 14 weeks post. This washday was on Friday 28 and it happened in the evening so my hair air dried all through the night. so.... here's my washday procedure:
     
Wash day procedure
*hot oil treatment with palm kernel oil
*finger detangled
*shampooed off (lathered twice cause its been two weeks since last washday i had to make sure my hair was nice and clean.
*deep conditioned with Organics by Africa's best cholesterol tea tree oil deep conditioner (i had a problem with the scent...it almost knocked me off ...seriously made me light headed) will do a good review on it on another post.
*rinsed off 30 mins later.... wrapped head with t-shirr for a long time while i flipped through some pages :-)
*by the time i took off the t-shirt my hair was nice and soft...

I moisturised with my kids organics olive oil plus Shea butter moisturizer and sealed with raw Shea butter and finger detangled again, then followed up with a wide tooth comb. Next i put my hair into 12 big plaits and left it to air dry. The next morning i wore my wig and i was sooo happy that my hair would be hidden away from the harmattan sun and dryness...at least it would conserve a bit more moisture under the wig.

Its the dry season and this is the time where our hair can get so dry... even our skin is not left out... keep stalking my blog cause i will be sharing some easy tips to get your hair through this season...
              How was your recent washday? tried any new products?? share!! :-)

                    *much love*

Washday & Flexi Rod set

Hey lovelies!! I'm behind on posts... so sorry about that :-( I have just been really busy! I'm glad i finally got to write this post.
       
         This wash day happened last Saturday. I was quite excited because i tried something new but i want to use it for sometime before giving a review and that is Palm Kernel oil. I have seen good reviews on it...but hey! what works for people may not work for you...lol.  Here's a quick run down on how it went.

washday procedure:
*oil prepoo with palm kernel oil
*finger detangle and covered with plastic cap for hours...lol
*shampooed it off with my lavender shampoo
*wrapped head for 15mins
*deep conditioned with ORS replenishing conditioner for about an hour

*rinsed out and wrapped my head with towel.
*detangled gently with wide tooth comb..

Now here's my flexi rod procedure.
* my hair was washed in sections so i parted with my fingers to create smaller sections.
*moisturised and sealed sparingly
*applied my lusti organics holding spray and
*combed through a section.
*rolled the rods tightly onto the hair and bent the ends of the rods to secure it.
*all these happened in the evening so i went to bed with the rods on my head and... its not a pleasant experience at all... i couldn't sleep well for a long time until i found a way to lay my head without much pain and disturbance... (things that we do for our hair;-)...lol)

Installing flexi rods is best learnt by watching a flexi rod set video. There are so many YouTube videos that teach how to use flexi rods.

In the end my hair came out with lovely curls... but before the end of the day my hair got poofy and poofier :-( that the curls almost became unseen. I think i know the culprit because i have done flexi rods before and they lasted longer than a day.
(1) i failed to moisturise and seal well. I thought i could just skip this but i should have just stuck to what i always do.
(2) I am 9weeks post relaxer and combing my hair at this time is something i try to stay away from. So i combed but didn't make sure to really smoothen the section out before rolling on the rods.

I love all styles that gives my hair curls so i will definitely give flexi rods another try and i hope it lasts longer next time!

Here's a pic guide.
*second pic shows my hair with the flexi rods in...total of 25rods
*next upper shows after removal and the curls have not been separated...lower pic is after separating one section into two or three.
*last pic is Sunday afternoon...the curls got a bit poofy.
      
              how was your recent washday? tried any new products?

                   *much love  :-)*
       

Hair porosity.... Tips to help you get healthy hair irrespective of your porosity.

Hello cuties! hope everyone is doing well?!
    This is quite an interesting topic... its really a big deal when it comes to hair care. Anyone who is serious about achieving and maintaining healthy hair must know their hair porosity.

What is hair porosity?
It is simply the ability of our hair strands to absorb and retain moisture.

How to do a Porosity test
* after detangling on washday when  much products have not been added to your hair take some strands of hair from the comb.

*Get a clean bowl or cup of water
*gently lay d strands on top of the water.... that is place them gently on the water surface.
*watch what happens closely

(A) If your hair sinks almost immediately or in less than 5mins you have High porosity hair
(B) If your hair sinks in about 10-30 mins you have normal porosity hair
(C) If it sinks hours later (or never sinks...lol) you have low porosity hair.

Now you have done the test and found out your porosity.... first advice... DON'T FREAK OUT!!! lol.
Know that regardless of your hair porosity you can still have healthy hair. Even those with Normal porosity could still get their hair damaged by not doing things the right way. Second advice is this... get lots of information concerning your hair porosity and bear it in mind always because when moisturising and sealing or any other part of washday you need to know if its necessary to add more or layer your products, if the timing on a product is enough for your strands to absorb the goodness.

Here's an explanation of the porosities and how to get the most out of them.

HIGH POROSITY
This is hair with cuticles raised and open in such a way that it allows free flow of moisture and also freely gives out the moisture in no time... meaning it receives and gives away moisture easily.

Here are some tips to help you handle your high porosity hair
* know that Your hair needs more of protein than moisture. Protein does help to fill in some cracked cuticles thereby helping more moisture retention. So deep condition more times with a protein conditioner than a moisturising one
*ensure that the final water used to rinse your hair is cool as this helps seal the raised cuticles.
*always seal your hair with butters like Shea butter or a heavy oil to help coat the strand and preserve the added moisture for a longer period of time.
*use light protein leave in conditioners
*do a heavy protein treatment at least once in a month
*completely eliminate the use of direct heat as it can further damage the cuticles.
*do not use baking soda treatments because baking soda has a high pH which enables it to open the cuticles of your hair strand which is bad for high porosity hair...opt for properly diluted apple cider vinegar as a final rinse to help it lock in the moisture and other conditioning treatments.

NORMAL POROSITY HAIR
This is hair with cuticles slightly raised. Products enter and leave withing a certain period of time. This type of porosity retains moisture more than high porosity hair but not more than low porosity hair and this is okay...that's why it is called NORMAL.

Here are some tips to help you handle your normal porosity hair
*use a cool water as your final rinse on washday
*moisturise and seal as needed
*maintain a balance between protein and moisture by rotating your protein and moisturising deep conditioners.
*use heat tools with moderation and always use a heat protectant. The safest way to escape heat damage is not to use them at all because all the porosities are prone to heat damage.
*seal with light oils like olive oil, grape seed oil.

LOW POROSITY HAIR
This is hair with cuticles closed tightly. Moisture does not penetrate easily and when it eventually does it doesn't go out easily either. This type of hair does not take to relaxers well...meaning it comes out texlaxed and not bone straight most of the time.

Here are some tips to help you handle your low porosity hair.
*Always rinse first with warm water to open up your cuticles
*use only cooler water for final rinse
*Always deep condition mostly with a moisturising conditioner... bear it in mind that low porosity hair naturally has more protein than moisture so hard core protein treatments are not so beneficial... focus more on moisture treatments.
*Seal your hair with a light oil
*Do not layer products because they will further close the cuticles preventing any more moisture from entering the hair during daily moisturising and sealing
*Limit heat styling because too much heat styling will lead to damage.
*boost the penetrating ability of your deep conditioners by using heat in the form of hair steamers, hot head conditioning cap etc.
*do not use apple cider vinegar because it has an acidic pH and will further close the cuticles of your hair strands and this is bad opt for baking soda which has a higher pH to open up the cuticles... but don't forget to close it with a final cool rinse.
     for more on high, normal and low porosity hair click here and here

When i did this test...my hair kept floating till i got tired of coming to check. So my hair is low porosity hair. I made my research and found out ways to care for my hair and even went crazy with moisturising and sealing. But now its not much of a big deal. Low porosity hair definitely needs longer time to absorb products so if a product says leave on for 15mins its advisable to leave it on for at least x2 of the time. This is common knowledge for bloggers and anyone that has gone far in their hair journey... If you know your hair porosity and work with it you will find that you hair will become healthier in no time.

My flexi rod set washday will be up pretty soon... thanks for always viewing my blog...
          *much love.....muah! :-)*

Whats been happening to my hair

Hello y'all :-)

      I have been trying to put up this post but something always comes up... i moved to Port Harcourt for school and so far... its been a bit stressful but i know with time I'll get used to the environment and some how my days wont be sooo stressful. Anyways i will still try to give my best info on the blog and keep you guys updated on how my hair is doing... which is what this post is about.
              Right now i'm 8weeks post relaxer (2 months since i last relaxed). That being said... my hair hasn't been washed for almost 2 weeks....... my last washday was the one before my flat twist out and since then I've been so little with the things i do to my hair and ....this is really not bad...its beneficial because i have my hands off my hair... apart from shed hair which will still shed irrespective of being manipulated or not there are no breakage occurring during this period. Right now i have my hair in a bun. which it has been in for about 3days...i took it down last night, oiled my scalp and did a scalp massage, moisturised and sealed, finger combed and put my hair back in a bun. I then tied it down with a scarf.

Natural hair washday & flat twist out

Hello y'all hope you're having a fun filled weekend? ... I'm feeling so excited because its washday... wellllll not mine but my sisters.  The last washday happened on the 5th of October but i didn't post on it... it was actually a wash and blow dry...my apologies for not posting...i just had in mind to post some more important topics since its a new blog.

Here's what has been happening to her hair- she took down her threaded hairstyle after two weeks moisturised and detangled, then went for another threaded hairstyle. so...this is how her washday went:

washday procedures:
(1)after finger detangling i parted her hair in two
(2)prepooed with organics by Africa's best hair mayonnaise for 30mins (protein treatment/deep conditioning)
(3)shampooed it off with ORS creamy aloe shampoo
(4)wrapped her head wit towel for about 15mins
(5)deep conditioned with ORS replenishing conditioner for 1hr then rinse out and wrap head again for about 15-20mins

I decided to do a hairstyle i haven't done with natural hair before.... FLAT TWIST OUTS! I had previously done it with my hair but i wanted to see if i could get almost if not the same results with her hair.

Protective styling.... what you need to know.

Hey dearies!!  I'm back with an interesting topic... Protective styling!
   Protective hairstyles are hairstyles that help reduce daily or weekly manipulation of our hair. It plays a big role in length retention as there will be less breakage due to restyling. If you are on a healthy hair journey its very much advisable that you use protective styles. However One should be cautious when choosing the protective style... This is because some protective hairstyles may damage the hair if not properly or correctly done.

Flat twist out video

Hey cuties!

Been getting comments from friends on how i made my flat twist out so i thought its better i share a video since i don't do videos for now. I just began to notice the importance of putting up a video because things like detangling and styling tutorials are better watched than read. I have not yet settled down with blogging... i may start up a vlog some time in the future but for now i will try my best to share videos that shows how to do the hairstyles if a pictorial is not enough.
  Here's a link on how to do a flat twist out..I hope you find it helpful. click on the link to view.

How to do a flat twist out
                  
                   *much love*