Tracee Ellis Ross Killin'em...

Reblogged from wrecklessart:

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Whether it’s getting dolled up in heels or dressing down rocking J’s this Ross is definitely always fashionable. With her big, soft, natural, curly hair, Tracee Ellis Ross has represented for natural haired woman all over the globe for quite some time. By now I’m pretty sure she is very well admired for her signature hair.  This former girlfriend has been bringing style and class to your TV screens from the time she played Joan Carol Clayton on the TV series “Girlfriends” all the way up to her most recent sitcom as Dr.

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Yummy!

Mini Update & Diversity in Hair Care Products

Hello everyone, I know it’s been a long long time and I apologise for my absence. But I’m back now and I’m making a promise (to myself and you guys) to keep this blog updated. I really appreciate the fact that the blog has still been getting site hits and comments so thank you all so much for that! I just ordered a webcam online so hopefully in the near future I will be uploading some videos (I’m a little camera-shy so we’ll see how that goes ay lol) .

So since my last post in the summer I’ve had my hair in two weaves (with a break in between). I took out the second one in January and took a little trip to Brixton in search for some hair dye. I was feeling a little adventurous and wanted to dye my hair a different colour. I’ll do a separate post about this.

Anyway, whilst I was in the shop, I noticed a slight change in the shelves and saw that there was a section, small section I’ll add but nonetheless still a section, that was dedicated purely to naturally curly hair. Now don’t get me wrong, we all know there have always been natural and curly hair products on the market of course, especially for locs, but seeing products that were brand new from businesses that were not being overseen by leading companies like L’Oreal (Soft-Sheen Carson) and Alberto Culver (Soft & Beautiful, Motions) truly was remarkable.  These were products that were probably created through the frustration of the lack of 100% natural hair products mixed with the initiative and determination to fill in the gap in the market, and I must say I was genuinely amazed, in awe and taken aback.  If anything, I’d go so far as to say the shelf looked beautiful.

I took some snapshots of some of the products. I should have taken a picture of the shelf actually lol.

FroHer,

AfriCare,

Quenched Curls  & Curly Q’s (For kids) by Curls (To purchase products online in the UK check sites like British Curlies and Afrotherapy

Hair Update:

So since last July when I did a mini length check for you guys, How I Blow Dry My Hair, my hair has grown but I haven’t been able to retain a lot of length, so I definitely need to focus more on moisturising my hair and making sure my hair is trimmed regularly. I haven’t done a length check yet but here’s a picture to show what my hair is like now. I will do a proper length check in the next few posts.

I did braids and rolled the ends in bendy rollers to achieve this style.

Until next time x

Tags: africare, afrotherapy, black hair care in the UK, british curlies, curls, curly q's for kids, froher, natural hair, natural hair products, quenched curls

How I – Part 4: Straighten & Style

If you haven’t read “How I Blow Dry Natural Hair” read it here.

Unfortunately, during the time that I was going to straighten my whole head… It started raining! So I decided to do a mini protective style and I’ll show you the end results of that hence the title of this post.  I left a bit of my hair out in the front which needed to be straightened and this is what I used.

- Babyliss Pro Nano Titatinium hair straighteners (set on 200 degrees)

- Fine tooth comb

- A random comb lol

My hair has already been sprayed with heat protectant from the blow drying stage, however for extra protection I used CHI 44 Iron Guard Thermal Protection Spray before using the straighteners.

I used either my pink shower comb or that random comb to detangle the section that I’m about to straighten, and then I run the fine tooth comb through it to make sure it glides through the hair easily because I use the chase method when straightening.  There’s nothing worse than thinking you have detangled your hair properly with a wide tooth comb, and using a finer comb for this method without checking it will pass through.

If you haven’t heard of the chase method or would like to see how it’s done, view the video below (fast forward to 6:20 or you can watch the beginning as she talks about the different uses for the chase comb… which I might have to purchase soon lol)

As already mentioned I set the straighteners on 200 degrees which I had never done before, I usually have it between 150-175 degrees, which straightens my hair but doesn’t make it sleek straight.

The front of my hair. Only the right side has been straightened.

The finished fringe

For my mini protective style (I say mini because I had a weave done two days later, info and pics on that soon) I did the famous MissVCharles updo!

I basically did the same thing as her except I had a fringe and I only used gel for my edges, I didn’t want to load my hair with product seen as it was freshly washed and ready for weave.

You can also check out Care For Your Hair, Pelumi Rae did this hairstyle for her sister on her prom day. Gorgeous!

- Hair pins

- Eco Styler Argan Oil Gel

- Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturiser and Shea Butter below (for the ends of my hair when I put it into a bun)

- Detangling comb

- Hard bristle brush, and soft bristle brush for my edges

Xpressions Ultra Braid colour 1

My little bun

The end result. Not too bad for the first attempt.

That’s it! I currently have a middle part weave in right now, and I will be uploading pics and letting you all know how I’m looking after my left out section. If you have any questions or tips about this post or previous ones feel free to leave them  in the comment box!

:)

Tags: argan oil, babyliss pro on natural hair, black hair care, black hair care in the UK, chi 44 on natural hair, curly hair care, natural hair styling, straightening curly hair, straightening natural hair

Oprah’s hair stylist responds to media frenzy about his comments on natural hair

As you may or may not know, Oprah’s hair stylist, Andre Walker featured in the July 2011 issue of ELLE, and sparked up fury and debate from natural girls around the world when he said: “Kinky hair can have limited styling options; that’s the only hair type that I suggest altering with professional relaxing.” (read an opinion piece and comments on Black Girl With Long Hair and read the full interview here).

So me being nosey, I looked around Andre Walker’s official website just so I could get a better understanding about the man, his styling tips and tools, and why he might have said this, and I came across a statement that he made in response to his ELLE feature.

And it goes a lil something like this…

“It is a fact that kinky hair (my Type 4 definition) is extremely fragile and breaks easily. Even when you are very careful, something as simple as combing can break this texture. It is very difficult to achieve a longer length when the hair breaks, even with simple combing.”

I personally don’t think by him saying that he made anything better, although I could see where he was coming from, I certainly couldn’t agree. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to say that relaxed hair is in a much better and healthier condition than natural hair or if he was trying to give us natural girls a little “heads up” on the amount of breakage we “should” be experiencing.  Either way, I’ve seen, and I’m sure you have too, many natural girls with hair longer than I would have ever imagined.

You can read the rest of his statement and “professional opinion” here.

Feel free to leave your comments and opinions!

Oh and remember girls, “Make peace with your hair”.

Tags: afro hair, andre walker comments on natural hair, andre walker elle july 2011, andre walker elle magazine, black girl with long hair, black hair care, natural hair, oprah's hair stylist

How I – Part 3: Blow Dry

Following on from “How I Shampoo & Condition” is Part 3 where I’ll explain how I blow dry my hair and what I use.

Products and Tools used:

- Wahl Powerpik hair dryer with concentrator nozzle

- Professional hair cutting scissors

- TreSemme Heat Defence Spray

- ApHogee ProVitamin Leave-in Conditioner

- Africa’s Best Essential Oils (This is not the original bottle, it comes in a pouring bottle, I transferred the oil into a spray bottle to make it easier to use)

- Detangling Comb

- Section Clips

The products used here are different from the products I would use if I was going to leave my hair in its natural state or prepare my hair for a bantu-knot out style, hence why there are no butters or creams.  Because I knew I was going to straighten my hair after this, I used little to no product on my hair except for the heat protectants.  The oil was used very lightly for my ends and my scalp after  blow drying.

As my hair was still in sections from the previous steps, this is how I also blow dry my hair.  By this time it has already been air-dried for around 5 minutes. I lightly detangle the section, spritz with Tresemme and ApHogee and put the blow dryer on the lowest heat setting and comb the hair whilst evenly drying. I twist the section back up and repeat.  I trimmed any split and damaged ends off.

I did a rough length check after I blow dried my hair.

Shrinkage at its best!

Time to Straighten!

Tags: aphogee leave in, black hair care in the UK, how to blowdry natural hair, natural hair, tresemme for natural hair, tresemme heat defence

How I – Part 2: Shampoo & Condition

This is Part 2 of the “How I” segment. You can read Part 1 “How I Pre Condition” here.

To shampoo and condition my hair I use my Aussie Moist Shampoo and Conditioner.

I adopted the method that MopTop Maven used, and because I wasn’t able to record it, I’ll post the video below.

I basically do the same thing as her, except after shampooing and rinsing out one section, I then apply my conditioner and leave it in whilst I move onto the next section.  I repeat this until all the sections have been conditioned. I then rinse out.

For the final rinse I do an Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse to bring back the pH balance of my hair, it also makes my hair shiny and cleanses any residue left from any products that have been used on my hair. Read more about the benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar here.  I use 75ml ACV to 75-100ml water.

I use an old t-shirt to squeeze any excess water out, and let it air dry for about 5 minutes.

Time to Blow dry!

Tags: apple cider vinegar benefits for hair, apple cider vinegar for natural hair, aussie, aussie moist conditioner on natural hair, auusie moist shampoo on natural hair, miracle moist conditioner, miracle moist shampoo, moptop maven, natural hair, shampoo and conditioning natural hair

How I – Part1: Pre-Condition

Apologies. It’s been too long since my last post, so to make it up to you I’m going to do a ‘How I Pre-Condition, Shampoo & Condition, Blow Dry and Straighten my hair’ Special :D

I’m going to get straight into it and start with the Detangling and Pre-Conditioning segment.

Below are pictures of the products and I will explain how they were used throughout the process.

In the bottle is just a mixture of Water and my Aussie Miracle Moist Conditioner, and to the right is Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer (this will be my conditioner).

The Tangle Teezer (I decided to keep it), sectioning clips, and my detangling shower comb.

Step 1:

I spray the water & conditioner mixture all over my hair until my hair is damp not soaked.

Step 2:

I then section my hair (I do this as I go along to detangle, I don’t section everything at once) and detangle gently using the tangle teezer and the comb from the tips up to the roots.

Note: I usually use my fingers to slightly detangle the section first before using the brush/comb, this is usually becase my hair is in a bantu-knot out and so still has strong curls. I stretch the section by holding the ends with one hand, and use the other hand to gently separate the curls.

Step 3:

After detangling, I put a generous amount of Elasta QP on that section, especially on my ends. I twist and put it into a Bantu Knot/China Bump.

The left side has been dampened with the water/co mix, and the right side has been conditioned and put into a bantu knot.

A section of my hair that has been dampened and detangled.

I repeat steps 2 and 3, dampening my hair when necessary, until all my hair has been sectioned, conditioned and put into a bantu knot.  Here is a video on how to do bantu knots.

I had 6 bantu knots altogether. I put extra conditioner on my edges and then I wrapped my hair in cling film.

I wrapped my satin scarf on top and left this in overnight. I usually only leave it for 30 minutes, but I felt my ends needed some extra conditioning this time, and I was also too tired to carry on lol.

I use this same method when I’m deep conditioning but the products used are different, I’ll do a post on that soon.

Feel free to a comment, and add tips or variations on how you pre-condition your hair :)

And that’s it. Stay tuned for how I shampoo and condition!

Tags: bantu knots on natural hair, conditioning natural hair, detangling natural hair, how to, how to condition natural hair, how to tutorial, natural hair tutorial, washing natural hair