A Little More Info About My Senegalese Twists!

Enjoy :)

Guess What I Got? | Senegalese Twists!

Some of you may remember in a previous hair rant I mentioned considering getting braids of some sort as a long term protective style to lead me into the first part of Fall! After reading the heck out of Sharday's The Awkward Stage blog I finally worked up enough courage to go for it. I absolutely love my twists. For those of you who don't know I used to be an avid 'Kinky twists' wearer a few years back. The Senegalese twists remind me of those except these twists use Kanekalon hair vs Marley Braid hair, which in my opinion I believe will help make the take down process much easier as it doesn't tangle quite as easily as Marley braid hair does. I'm planning to keep my twists for 6-8 weeks and will have a series of Braid videos/posts about the following:

• How I prepped My hair for braids
• My daily braid regimen
• How I wash and deep condition my hair in braids
• How I remove my braids

Also, I am extremely proud of my new found voice when it comes to speaking up about my  hair (there was a time when I would sit in a stylist' chair and not say a darn thing no matter how much I didn't want them to do something). I made sure I brought my own moisturizer to use and let them know that I did not want gel of any kind (especially the JAM that they had in mind) used on my hair. My reason in doing this is to 1. prevent product build up as much as possible and 2. help aid in the detangling process upon removal. I'm also planning to use as many 'natural' products as possible to keep product buildup to a minimum while keep the strength and moisture of my hair at a maximum! Stay tuned!

1 Year Length Check Update!

Hi guys! As promised here's my 1 year length check update video chocked full of comparison pictures! I'm absolutely amazed and happy with the progress my hair has made this past year. Since I'm finally starting to flirt with actually hitting APL this is my next official goal length. I don't want to set an time/month to meet this goal. If there's one thing I've learned while being on a hair journey is that your hair will grow and with A LOT of patience you will eventually get to where you're trying to get! I believe I've got about 2 inches or so to get there so stay tuned!

Product Review: One N' Only Argan Oil Hydrating Mask

As many of you know I'm a huge fan of the One N' Only Argan Oil Deep Restorative Mask! So when I saw that One N Only had a Hydrating mask I just had to try it. I've been using this product for about 2 months now and am finally ready to give a full review.

Price: $9.99

Place of Purchase: Sally's Beauty Supply

Ingredients: Water (Aqua, Eau, Cetyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Propylene Glycol Ceteth-3 Acetate, Fragrance (Parfum), Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Tridecyl Stearate, Neopentyl Glycol, Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone

Directions: After shampooing with One 'n Only Argan Oil Moisture Repair Shampoo, apply a generous amount of One 'n Only Hydtaing Mask all over the hair and comb it through. Let it penetrate for 5 to 10 minutes, rinse out and follow with any One 'n Only Argan Oil styling products.
 
Promises:One 'n Only Argan Oil Hydrating Mask is a rich, creamy treatment designed to hydrate and repair damaged hair. One 'n Only Argan Oil Hydrating Mask does not need to be heat activated; 5 to 10 minutes will treat hair with needed moisture and protein, adding elasticity and shine. This highly effective mask revitalizes and hydrates hair, restoring shine and managability.

My Thoughts: Because I love One N Only's Deep Restorative Mask I was really hoping I would love this product too, but unfortunately that was not the case. When I first applied this product to my hair it seemed to sink right in, which I thought was a good sign. Unlike the deep restorative mask which is EXTREMELY thick this product is a lot thinner in consistency, but far from runny. Each time I've used this product upon rinsing it out my hair wasn't left with and slip or noticeable softness. Even after air drying or blow drying I felt no noticeable difference except that my hair felt coated as if there was a film on it. Overall every time I've used this product my hair has felt blah. I'm trying to convince myself to use up this product for the sake of not wasting money, but this DC may just get tossed. The bottom line is as much as I wanted to like this product I didn't :/

Relaxer Update #6!

As promised here's my relaxer update video! Next week my official 1 year length check video will be up! I can't wait to share with you guys and show you the progress that I've made!

Bantu Knot Results!

As I mentioned in my previous wash day post I planned to do a bantu knot out to rock this weekend. I only did 4 bantu knots and as a result I wasn't as happy with my results, however I think the real reason my bantu knots looked a little weird is because my hair is cut into layers. Since I didn't like the way it looked down I decided to smooth my bantu knots into a banana clip with a cute decorative headband. Let me just say I loved the look! The only styling products that I used were my Giovanni direct leave in and a bit of coconut oil.

Wash Day!

So today it was time to do my midweek cowash, which I avoided doing yesterday out of sheer laziness!

• I massaged the Tropical Isle Red Pimento oil into my scalp and spritzed aloe vera juice on the length of my hair. 

• Applied a mixture of Silk Kera DC and the One N Only Argan oil hydrating mask to the length of my hair followed by my grapeseed/olive oil mixture. 
• I placed a plastic shower cap and my turbie twist on my head and DC'd while I cooked dinner. Y'all know as of lately I've become quite creative in figuring out ways to DC while doing something else. Surprisingly I really liked this method because it allowed my DC to heat up naturally. 
• After about 20 minutes I rinsed the DC out thoroughly and applied my hair one to my scalp for 1-2 minutes and then rinsed.
• Applied Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment to the length of my hair for about 3 minutes and then did a final rinse.
• I wrapped my hair in my turbie twist for about 20 minutes and then applied my leave ins (Chi Keratin Mist, PM Super Skinny Serum, and Kimmaytube Leave in)  using the LOC method. 
• Using a head band from forever 21 to tie down my edges I air dried for about 1.5 hours.

• Lastly I detangled my hair in four sections using my hercules sagemann comb and moisturized using my Giovanni Direct Leave In and sealed using coconut oil. 

Final results: Big fluffy soft hair! I plan to bun tomorrow and try out a bantu knot set for this weekend! 

How I Prepare My Hair For Relaxer Day!

So as promised in my last wash day post I have a video detailing not only what I do the day before my relaxer, but what I do the entire week leading up to my relaxer. In addition I mention my favorite products and techniques that have consistently insured an easy relaxer application for both my and my hair stylist!

$2 Off of Essie Nail Polishes At Walgreens!

As of lately Walgreens has become one of my favorite stores for beauty items besides Target and of course my beloved Sally's! The reason why is because of the coupons! I recently discovered (thanks to the lovely sales attendant) that at the beauty check out counter there is normally a stash of coupons sent to them by the retailers for a certain amount of your purchases! On yesterday my honey and I stopped in Walgreens after church because he needed to pick up something so of course I used this as an excuse to roam through the hair and beauty isles and decided to stop and look at all of the Essie nail polishes. Honestly, I had no intention of purchasing them because I find them to be rather pricey, but while I was browsing the sales attendant came over and told me that she had Essie coupons for $2 off! Well I am my mother's child which means that savings, sales, and deals make my day so I selected two lovely colors (Play Date, which is pictured below and Chinchilly) for just $12. I would've paid $16 if it hadn't been for those coupons! So since I was blessed in savings I just had to share it with you all because let's face it...most ladies love a cute nail polish! I have no idea how long these coupons last so just make sure to check out at the beauty counter (the register that is normally accross from the beauty isle) and if the sales attendant doesn't mention it make sure you ask if they have any coupons!

Wash Day!

So on Saturday I went to the salon and got a touch up/relaxer. Please don't fuss I promise to have my relaxer update video/blog post up soon! I'm actually doing a series of videos/posts documenting how I prepare for my relaxer, my actual relaxer update, and a 1 year post cut length check! Anyway on to what I did this wash day!

I massaged some of the tropical isle red pimento oil onto my scalp and spritzed the length of my hair with aloe vera juice. I then applied a mixture of the One N Only Restorative mask and GVP Joico K-pak to my hair. I sat under my heating cap for about 5 minutes and then hopped in the shower and thoroughly rinsed my hair and scalp.

Next I applied my shea moisture raw shea butter retention shampoo (diluted with water in a bottle with a nozzle tip) to my scalp and gently massaged. I then rinsed and squeezed the excess water from my hair and applied my GVP Nexxus Humectress conditioner to the length of my hair. I sat under my conditioning cap for about 15 mintues and then hopped back in the shower and rinsed. Lastly I applied my Paul Mitchell super skinny daily treatment and rinsed after about 1-3 minutes.

Afterwards I wrapped my hair in a t-shirt for about 15 minutes and then applied my leave ins using the LOC method and air dried my hair using an suber cute head band I bought from forever 21!  My final results were soft fluffy hair.  Oh and check out this wave action I've got going on...reason #562 why I love the Mizani Butter Blends sensitive scalp relaxer system :D

My Recent Sally's Purchases

Well this weekend I decided to run a few errands which included a stop at my favorite beauty supply store! Honestly the main reason I stopped by was because I had two gift cards that I wanted to spend (I was tired of carrying it around in my wallet!).

I decided to try a few new products. Here's what I bought. Stay tuned for my next wash day post to find out how I liked everything!