Wash Day | Quick Flexi Rod Set

Now that I'm back in the groove of things this wash day went really well. Last week I bunned it up switched between pigtail buns, high buns, and low side swept buns. As I started this week's wash day I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew I wanted no parts of a bun! Here's how it went:

 

• Detangled in sections using my rake comb and Mane N Tail Detangler
• Wash my hair using the Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo (diluted with water) to remove any buildup. This is the only sulfate shampoo that removes buildup without stripping my hair and turning it into a tangled mess!
• Did a second lather with my Keracare sulfate free detangling shampoo
• Applied a mix of Keracare Humecto DC and Mizani Moisture Fuse Conditioner
• DCed with heat for about 30 minutes.
• Rinsed and wrapped my hair in my turbie twist for about 40 minutes.
  
  
• Applied my usual leave ins (Chi Keratin Mist, Chi Silk Infusion, Kimmaytube Leave In mix).

Style: After I applied my leave ins I had no idea what I wanted to do with my hair but I knew that I wanted no parts of a bun. After staring in the mirror for about 5 minutes I decided to try my hand at a quick flexirod

set. I parted my hair and combed it straight down. I applied keracare wrap lotion only to my ends and used about 15 flex rods. I allowed my hair to dry overnight. It came out great the next day! I still haven't mastered pineappling or my hair just isn't long enough for it so I've worn it pined up everyday since then and put a few flexi rods in each night because with my intense workout my curls don't hold as well, but overall I've really enjoyed my bun break. Every other night I lightly moisturize and seal with Giovanni Direct Leave in and coconut oil. How was your wash day?

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Wash Day

Y'all haven't seen one of these in a while right? Well as I promised in my previous post I am getting back on my healthy hair journey and the best way to do that is to hold myself accountable with the fabulous wash day link up! Here's how my wash day went:

• Detangled in multiple sections using Mane N Tail detangler and a jumbo rake comb.
• Shampooed using KeraCare Sulfate Free Shampoo
• Deep conditioned using a mixture of Keracare Humecto, Mizani Moisturefusion Silk Cream Conditioner, and Kenra Moisturizing conditioner. Why the weird mixture? Well I'm moving in about a month and I'm trying to use up as many random hair products as I can before I move!
• Wrapped hair in turbie twist for about 30 minutes.
• Applied leave ins (Kimmaytube Leave in Mix, Chi Keratin Mist, Chi Silk Infusion) and air dried for aobut 2 hours.
• Moisturized and sealed using Giovanni Direct Leave In, Coconut oil, and JBCO.

Style: Because of the recent damage that I suffered due to neglect I decided to keep it simple with my hair this week. I rocked a cute high side bun with my bangs twisted around it to jazz it up. How was your wash day? Join our washday linky party!

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Washday | Same Ol Same Ol

Unfortunately this week I don't have any pictures of voluminous curls to show you because I did not wear my hair down one day. The in laws were in town so I spent the week spending time with them and this past weekend was spent running errands and being completely lazy. It was awesome! Needless to say between all of that I wasn't left with my enthusiasm for styling my hair so I just rocked a bun jazzed up with a bang and kept it moving! Here's how my super late washday went:

• Rinsed my hair with warm water for a few minutes and proceeded to shampoo with my Keracare Hydrating Detangling Sulfate Free Shampoo.
• Rinsed and shampooed a second time to ensure that I had no product buildup left.
• Used my turbie twist for about 25 minutes to soak up most of the excess water.
• Deep conditioned with my Keracare Humecto conditioner on the length of my hair and Giovanni GPB conditioner on my ends (I found a sample packet that I'd never used!) for about 25 minutes.
• Rinsed and applied a small amount of the generic version of the Matrix Biolage detangling conditioner.
• T-shirt dried my hair for about 30 minutes.
• Detangled with my Mane N Tail and applied my leave ins using the LCO method (Chi Keratin Mist, Kimmaytube Leave In Mix, GVP Smoothing Serum).
• Blow dried my hair on cool until my hair was about 80% dry.
• Moisturized and sealed using my beloved Giovanni direct leave in and coconut oil and applied JBCO to my scalp.

Style: A bun jazzed up with a bang (I promise to take pictures next time!).

Thoughts: I think I'm going to go back to detangling my hair prior to shampooing. I've only switched up my detangling routine recently because I'm only 2 weeks post relaxer, however because I don't really 'comb' my hair during the week I don't want to create a detangling nightmare as I get further along in my stretch! Also, as of lately I've been on a kick of using protein conditioners on my ends to minimize breakage and ensure strength. This week I will be doing a full protein treatment though just to be safe! Lastly, I've seriously been loving my hair since I got my bangs back and trimmed away those thin ends that appeared. Because my hair is layered I feel like that extra trim has given my hair a chance to catch up and I swear my hair feels thicker!

How was your washday?

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Washday | Keeping It Simple

This washday I kept it really simple. Honestly I didn't feel like washing my hair at all so I just stuck to the basics and moved on with my week. Here's what I did:

• Prepooed with coconut oil
• Detangled with Mane N Tail detangler
• Deep conditioned with Keracare Humecto Creme Conditioner under Gold N Hot conditioning cap for about 25 minutes
• Rinsed and shampooed with Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo
• Rinsed and applied a dollop of the generic version of the Matrix Biolage detangling solution
• Rinsed and t-shirt dried my hair for about 20 minutes
• Applied leave ins using the LOC method (Chi Keratin Mist, GVP Smoothing Serum, Giovanni Direct Leave In).
• Sat under my hooded dryer for about 20 minutes
• Moisturized with Giovanni Direct Leave in and sealed with coconut oil

Style: A plain ol bun! My new growth is starting to kick in which means that my hair doesn't like to be manipulated too much. My hair was super soft and fluffy so I just rocked a low bun. How was your wash day?

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Why I'm Enjoying A Simplified Regimen

Throughout my entire hair journey I've heard these 3 words 'Simplicity is key'. Well between all of the new yummy products and bandwagon regimen jumping I was doing at one time I never really got to experience that. However, recently I've been enjoying my most simplified regimen to date. In fact my regimen is so simple now that it's almost scary! The best part is that while I'm thoroughly enjoying my new found 'no muss no fuss' regimen my hair is thriving. It's so nice to not be all over the place with products and my regimen. What more could a girl ask for right?! Here's my updated regimen:










Monthly

• Hard Protein Treatment (Nexxus Emergencee)
• 1 visit to the salon (a girl needs a break!)

Weekly

• Deep Condition (Keracare Humecto Conditioner) Click Here to read my review
• Shampoo (Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo) Click Here to read my review
• Rinse Out Conditioner (Generic version of Matrix Biolage Detangling conditioner)
• Bun 5 days a week (protective style of choice)
• Enjoy my hair on the weekends

Daily

• Moisturize (Giovanni Direct Leave In) Click Here to watch my review
• Seal (Coconut Oil for length & JBCO for ends)
• Scalp massage with JBCO (normally every other day)

Relax (Professionally)

• Every 8 weeks (Mizani Sensitive Scalp) Click here for my latest relaxer update

Trim (Professionally)

• Every 4 months

Flat Iron (Professionally)

• Every 4 months

After typing out my regimen I almost feel like there should be more, but I've got all of my bases covered. Of course there are a few things that I am still tweaking like prepoos and the occasional cowash. I hope my dimmed inner product junkie stays supressed for a while because right now I'm seriously enjoying this. Be on the look out because I am planning to do a video soon detailing my updated regimen which may explain everything even further!


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Washday | The Low Bun Experience

This past Friday couldn't get here fast enough. For some reason my scalp was itching like crazy! Well actually I know what the reason was. My hair just needed a good washing. Here's how the washday went:

• Detangled with Mane N Tail Detangler
• Applied Keracare Humecto conditioner
• DCed with Gold N Hot conditioning cap for about 20 minutes
• Rinsed and shampooed with Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo
• Rinsed and applied a small amount of the Generic version of Matrix biolage detangling conditioner.
• Did a final rinse and t-shirt dried my hair for about 30 minutes.
• Applied my usual leave ins using the L (Chi Keratin Mist) O (GVP Smoothing Serum) C (Kimmaytube Leave In) method. 
• Allowed my hair to air dry and then moisturized and sealed using my Giovanni Direct leave in and coocnut oil. 
• Massaged JBCO into my scalp and sealed my ends.

Style: I'm about 2 weeks away from getting my next relaxer and this is normally about the time my
hair decides not to cooperate. Meaning high buns, mid-cenetered buns, etc are out of the question. Previously I used to force my hair into a high bun, but this time around I decided to rock a low bun. Because I air dried my hair I had the biggest, softest low bun I think I've ever created without using a filler! I was so amazed I even took a comparison shot to see how far my hair has come in terms of growth! Oh and to jazz up my low bun I threw on a cute headband and a fun pair of earrings. I'm all for low maintenance no muss no fuss hair styles and that's exactly what this low bun did for me!

How was your wash day? Have you checked out our washday linkup? If not join us!

Sidenote: My latest beauty favorites video went live on my youtube channel! I mentioned some awesome affordable products! 

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Weekend Washday!

I'm back with another wash day post! Some of you may have noticed that I did not post any wash day related posts for 2 weeks, but I have good excuses! The first of those 2 weeks I did a bantu knot out and it was awful! so awful that I had to re-wash my hair in order to bring it back to normalcy. The second week I went to the salon and it was my birthday. Anywhoodle I'm back with a fabulous wash day and tons of pics! As of lately my wash days have been on Fridays. I normally wash my hair after leaving the gym or immediately after I get home from work. This allows my hair to be fresh for the weekend without actually spending my weekend washing my hair :). Here's how this weekend's wash day went:

• Detangled with my Mane N Tail Detangler.
• Applied Keracare Humecto conditioner and sat under my Gold N Hot cap for about 20 minutes.
• Rinsed and shampooed with my Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo.
• Rinsed and applied a bit of the generic version of Matrix Biolage Detangling conditioner.
• T-shirt dried my hair for about 15 minutes.
• Applied my usual leave ins using the L (Chi Keratin Mist) O (GVP Smoothing Serum) C (Kimmaytube Leave In) 
• Sat under the dryer on cool setting for about 30 minutes.
• Moisturized & sealed with Giovanni Direct Leave In & Coconut Oil
• Massaged JBCO into my scalp and sealed my ends

Style: Saturday was the honey's birthday so I decided to do a caruso pin curl rollerset. I seriously adored this hairstyle! *Sidenote* Can we just take a moment to disucss how my makeup was BEAT *two snaps*! On Resurrection Sunday I decided to recreate my side curl updo. Unfortunately by the time I could snap a picture the wind had disrespected my curls and turned my hairstyle into a bit of a mess! Either way I totally enjoyed my hair this weekend. For the week I'm back to my soft fluffy buns!

How was your wash day? If you haven't already check out The Washday Experience Linkup!

How was your wash day? If you haven't already check out The Washday Experience Linkup!

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Wash Day With Side Swept Curls

This wash day was awesome if I do say so myself. On Friday after work I felt my hair and knew that it was time to wash it. In the name of prevention I like to wash my hair when I can feel that it's becoming dry and heavy with product. Here's what I did:

• Detangled using Mane N Tail Detangler.
• Dampened hair with water and applied KeraCare Humecto conditioner.
• Sat under my Gold N Hot conditioning cap for about 30 minutes.
• Rinsed and shampooed with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo
• Rinsed and applied a small amount of the Generic Version of the Matrix Biolage Detangling Shampoo.
• Applied my usual leave ins (Kimmay tube leave in, GVP Smoothing Serum, & Chi Keratin Mist).
• T-shirt dried my hair for about 40 minutes.
• Air dried for an additional 20 and sat under the dryer for about 10.
• Moisturized & sealed using my Holy Grail product Giovanni Direct Leave in & coconut oil. 
• Applied JBCO to my scalp and sealed my ends with it. 

Style: I was so over my boring old bun. I needed some spice in my life and after being inspired by an Instagram post from a college classmate I decided to recreate the style with my own twist! This lovely lady is natural and have a side updo created from an old twist out. Well I haven't yet mastered twistouts or braidouts for that matter, but I have learned how to use the heck out of Flexi Rods! I twisted my hair around my head and used caruso steam rollers to create the curls. Throughout the week I just reset my hair by throwing a few flexi rods in it each night with a bit of Dark N Lovely Au Naturale Curl Moisturizing Souffle (Review coming soon!).

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Wash Day...Mixing The Old With The New!

This past Saturday made me officially 1 week post relaxer! As much as I enjoyed how simple it was to style my hair all week it was definitely time for a good shampoo and deep condition. Here's What I did:

• Detangled using my Mane N Tail Detangler and braided my hair into two pig tails.
• Slathered on a bit of my Macademia Oil Deep Repair Masque (This was my light protein treatment. I will do a heavier protein treatment at 3 weeks post.).
• Sat under my Gold N Hot conditioning cap for about 10 minutes.
• Rinsed and then applied my newest product Mizani Moisturefuse Conditioner. This conditioner smells AMAZING!
• Sat under my Gold N Hot Conditioning cap for about 15 minutes.

• Rinsed and shampooed with my Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo. 
• Rinsed and applied a small amount of Harmon Face Values Detangling Solution.
• Did a final rinse and wrapped my hair in a t-shirt for about 40 minutes.
• Applied my normal leave ins (Chi Keratin Mist, Kimmaytube leave In, GVP Smoothing Serum) and air dried my hair in a bun for about 30 mins. 
• Sat under the dryer on cool for about 15 minutes. 

Style: For church I decided to rock some caruso steam rollers. Throughout the week I will be rocking a bun. Boring I know, but I've been inspired to try an updo for next week's wash day so stay tuned! How was your wash day?

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The Washday Experience | Relaxer Update!

So this wash day post will be a bit different for me because I didn't actually wash my hair myself. For those who are not familiar with  my relaxer routine I leave it all in the hands of my beloved stylist. I did however make sure I paid extra special attention to what was done so that I could share with you guys!

First let's talk about my relaxer day prep process...

• Even though I rocked a fabulous roller set for the first part of the week my scalp was super itchy (am I the only one who experiences that only on the week leading up to your relaxer?!) so in the name of caution I did a quick cowash and bunned my hair for the rest of the week.
• On Friday afternoon I detangled using my Mane N Tail Detangler (shout out to Divachyk for giving me the idea to try this). I also applied JBCO to my scalp and new growth, but did not massage it in as I didn't want to risk irritating my scalp.

• After my detangling session I moisturized my hair in sections using my Giovanni Direct Leave In and sealed each section with a bit of my GVP smoothing serum (equivalent to the Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum).

Overall my hair felt super soft and moisturized and quite frankly it hadn't felt like that in weeks. To put it simply, this stretch SUCKED. I believe it all started with a new product that I tried and my hair never seemed to get back on track again. I plan to cautiously give that product, which shall remain nameless for now another shot before I ban it from my hair forever. Either way between this last bout of winter and more shedding and tangles than normal I was happy to put an end to this stretch. Despite all of my hardships I did experience a bit of a growth spurt which was confirmed by my stylist! Now onto the actual relaxer day.

• Per usual my stylist assessed the state of my hair making sure nothing was out of the norm (breakage etc.) She also likes to keep an eye on my problem area (my crown since I experienced breakage in that area from not detangling properly last year).
• She then based my scalp thoroughly and proceeded to apply my nomral relaxer of choice, the Mizani Butter Blends Sensitive Scalp formula. I love how gentle this relaxer is.
• The total processing time was about 17-18 minutes. She noticed that I definitely had more new growth than I normally do (Whoop whoop!).
• After rinsing out the relaxer she applied the Mizani Moisturefuse to my hair (this stuff smells amazing by the way) for about 20 minutes or so.
• Lastly she neutralized my hair with the Mizani Phormula 7 Neutralizing and Chelating shampoo. She always shampoos twice to make sure all remanents of the relaxer are gone.
• Since I was not getting a trim she applied a bit of the Keracare Foam wrap and some of some sort of Mizani oil that I forgot to get the name of and roller set my hair. 

Overall it was a great relaxer day experience and based on an unoffiical length check I'm almost certain I've reached APL! I'm not doing an official length check until May so you'll have to wait until then for confirmation! How was your wash day?

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My Valentine's Day Look | Hair & Outfit

Many of those who know me know that I am not really a huge Valentine's Day kinda girl. I'm a firm believer that the lover and affection that people get on Valentine's day should be given all year around! Either way that doesn't mean that I don't use the holiday as an opportunity to dress up and do something different with my hair :)














Hair: My hair style of choice was elegant yet simple. To achieve this style I put most of my hair into a banana clip and then created a faux french roll using bobby pins. I left a bit of hair out in the front which I flexi rodded over night to achieve my curls. Overall I loved the style and so did my honey :)








Outfit: Since Valentine's day landed on a Friday I decided to keep my outfit casual and chic. I rocked a fabulous cream colored layered top that flares out in the back from Express and paired it with a pair of hot pink jeans from The GAP. To top of the outfit I rocked my caramel colored leather riding boots that I purchased from Target.

 
I kept my jewelry and makeup simple as well by rocking a pair of small pearls and a touch of foundation. I completed the look with a soft pink NYX lipstick called 'Margarita'. Did you all have a great Valentine's Day?


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Bun Life | How to Create A Full High Bun Using Kanekalon Hair

Hi guys!

Some of you may remember  in my 'Back To The Basics' wash day post me promising to post a video tutorial showing how I created my high bun using kanekalon hair. Well the video finally went live on my YouTube channel. Please bare with me as this is my first ever video tutorial. I hope you all find it helpful! Until next time :)

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Wash Day...Indecisive Saturday

Here on the East coast we got about 10 inches of snow, which meant a few days off from work and a serious case of cabin fever! Lazing around the house for so many days left me feeling incredibly lazy by Saturday so I was not feeling this wash day at all! Luckily I still was able to pull of awesome results despite my laziness. Here's what I did:

• Detangled using my Up and Up Detangler
• Massaged Tropical Isle Red Pimento Oil into my scalp and applied my Kenra Moisturizing conditioner to the length of my hair and my One N Only Argan Oil . 
• Deep conditioned using my heating cap for about 20 minutes. 
• Rinsed thoroughly and applied my As I Am Coconut Cowash to my scalp. Left in for about 2-3 minutes. 
• Rinsed and applied PMSDT for about 5 minutes. 
• Did a final rinse and removed excess water using the t-shirt method. 
• Applied leave ins using the LCO method (Chi Keratin Mist, Kimmaytube Leave in, GVP Smoothing Serum). 
• Sat under hooded dryer on cool setting for about 30 minutes. 
• Moisturized and sealed using my Giovanni Direct Leave In

Style: Here's where the indecisiveness came into play. Originally I wanted to rock milk maid twists, but didn't like the way they turned out so I tried to create some sort of low twisted bun. That didn't work out either so finally I took down my hair and decided to do a dry flexi rod set. Hey a girl's allowed to change her mind! To give my curls a bit of a hold I used the Dark N Lovely Au Natural Curl Moisturizing Souflee *newbie alert!*  My flexi rod set came out beautifully and was able to withstand the windy overcast weather we've been having lately. Monday my flexi rod set morphed into a roll & pin bun of sorts! 

How was your wash day?

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Wash Day...Back To The Basics!

In the name of using up products I somehow managed to get away from the wash day process that has always worked best for my hair. Well this wash day that came to an end and I got back to the basics! Here's how it went:

• Applied my Tropical Isle Red Pimento Oil to my scalp and gently massaged it in for about 2-3 minutes.
• Deep conditioned on dry hair with my Kenra Moisturizing Conditioner and my One N Only Argan Oil Deep Restorative Masque on my ends for a shot of protein for about 20 minutes using my heating cap.
• Rinsed and applied my As I Am Coconut Cowash to my scalp *newbie alert* 
  
• Rinsed and applied my PMSSDT to the length of my hair for 1-2 minutes.
• Did a final rinse and wrapped my hair in a t-shirt for about 20 minutes.
• Applied my leave ins using the LOC method (Chi Keratin Mist, Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum, Kimmaytube Leave In). 
• Sat under my dryer for about 25 minutes using the cool setting. 

Style: This past week I made the most of my flat ironed hair and wore my hair down almost every day and loved it since I don't get to do that often. Of course it was time to get back to protective styling because I've got goals to reach! This week's style was super simple AND I even recorded a tutorial for it *Yay!* I created a cute full high bun using kanekalon hair for added fullness. I promise to post the tutorial to the blog once it airs on my Youtube channel!

How was your wash day?






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