Maximum Length Retention - My Current Routine

You may remember that I am on a self-imposed 6 month "no-heat + protective styling" retention-focused challenge. So far it's been going quite well. I already introduced to you how I had been wearing my hair for work-outs and for maintaining healthy hair, i.e twists. I wore them for about 4 weeks pre-relaxer, and at 2.5 weeks post relaxer, here I am rocking twists again. I can't help it! They are just such a convenient and sensible do.
 

 

I Did it in the Shower - HOTW

This is my final HOTW post :-(! 

I go on spring holiday from work this Thursday and next week I will be relaxing. My hair may very well end up in a protective style after being prepped for the relaxer process, but this post is the last official one of the series. It was fun, I really enjoyed protective styling! You see, things which are good for you can definitely be fun too.

So anyway, as the title of this post suggests, this style was literally done in the shower. As you may (or may not) have read in the previous post, my hair was feeling a bit dry so I refreshed it in the shower and proceeded to style my hair right there. I think it took all of five minutes to do lol.

This is a style that I have resorted to a couple times when I had to style damp or wet hair, and it kinda just happened this time. Certainly not planned.

HOTW - done in the shower

How to:

Long and Thick? - How to Thicken Up Relaxed Hair

A lovely friend of BelowtheWaist (hey girl!!) left me a comment the other day:

I LOVE it. your hair is beautifully thick. How do you thicken it up.

What's the secret to your thickness? Its consistent from root to tip. Spill it! lol

 (First of all, thanks dear!) I responded by letting her know that I don't consider my hair 'thick'. That is, my strands are medium - fine in diameter. Additionally the density is in medium range. In terms of it being consistent from root to tip though, I can offer a few suggestions:

1. Limit breakage at every step.

• Wash hair in braids. This will cause a decrease in the amount of tangles you experience and subsequently in the amount of hair lost while detangle. Read more about washing hair in braids here.

You Make Me Feel Like I am Young Again - HOTW

This week's style is one that I used to rock the shi* out of when I was in high school. My sister (Heyy Racquel!) used to sit me down and do this to the upper 1/2 of my head and then 2 strand flat twist the back for an awesome braid-out, which would last me a week. Of course at that time I cared nothing about retention, I just wanted to look cute for school. Fast forward a couple of years and here I am using the very same style (minus the braid-out) for a protective style to get ahead on my hair journey.

HOTW - Young Again

Chilling Time - What I Do with my Hair on Weekends

Hey hey hey! Happy Sunday!

So you guys know I have been doing weekly protective styles since January. Then when I am heading out on the weekend it's probably a braid-out or a bun. But what about when I'm just here chillin' at home? Well, that's what I'm showing today.

after releasing last week's PS

Upside-down, Inside-out - HOTW

I feel like I do these posts every other day based on how quickly the weeks go, but hey, no complaints here, gallop away.

I love web-surfing hair info. There is just so much out there to see and learn. Last week I got some inspiration from Dessy and decided it would be my next HOTW style. It's a very simple and fun style that takes about 10 minutes to execute. The only issue is, you have to be inverted to braid the hair going from nape upwards. This is my first time doing this kind of braid and when I returned to upright position, I realized the braid was inside-out (It was late and I was upside-down..don't judge me lol). I decided to let it remain that way, (as I wanted to get to bed and had no desire to start all over) and topped it off with a bun.

So for this week's style, I was literally upside-down while executing it and the cornrow ended up being inside-out. Take a look-see:

HOTW - Upside-down, inside-out cornrow & bun

Steps:

Lazy Days - HOTW

So this HOTW post is not really a HOTW style at all...well kinda. You see, I washed my hair on Friday and I removed my single braids on Saturday night for an event and wore a braid-out. Before bedtime at around 5am Sunday morning, I barely managed to LOC and put my hair up in two braids at either side of my head. I couldn't be bothered to style my hair on Sunday evening so I have been rocking this style since then. And you know what, it's serving it's purpose so I aint tripping lol.

Lazy Days - HOTW

Tough Love - Stop with the 'Health over Length' Already!

First and foremost comes a disclaimer of sorts: Of course I know that the health is most definitely more important than the length of our hair. After all, who wants long, beat-up hair with thin, scraggly ends? NOT ME. However, another thing that I know is that WITH health comes length (unless you truly don't want long hair and keep cutting it). Why then do I continually hear 'health over length', 'health over length' health over length' ? As if it's one or the other, when in actuality, they are not mutually exclusive, they occur together!

Singles Mingle - HOTW

Hey hey hey! I'm back with another 'hair of the week' post. This week I tried something a little different. I was inspired by Rachel to give single braids a try. I had not done this style in YEARS, since I was a child with natural hair. But I think this style will be perfect for what I'm about to embark on this week, but that's a whole 'notha post. Check it out:

Single Braids - HOTW {Protective style}