Hair Essentials - Nia's Updo

FINALLY!!!! I posted picsof the do I created. I rocked this thing for two week.s I finally took it out last night. My hair was begging to be washed, especially with all the working out I've been doing. These pics were taken this past weekend. I took the style out last night, washed, put in a conditioning treatment and twisted into big twists with the replenishing treatment mist and styling creme both by Wen  and of course, JCO.

I plan to do more braided styles with the summer coming and all. I may even put it into braided extension, but I can't imagine not being able to put any treatment in my hair for months on end and not being able to wash my hair after my workouts. My hair doesn't look bad, just feels hot and moist if I do any "bumped-looking" styles as is shown above with this Ledisi type do.

I loved being able to get up and go, so this style was pretty nice AND it transitioned into a nice style I could wear to a wedding. Anyhoo, I did a couple new hairstyles this week, so 'll post those next week. Stay tuned! MuAh & CiAo! Live on Purpose. :-)

Hair Essentials - Chinese Bumps Styling (knobs styling)

I did another style over the weekend...last weekend that is. It's really simple too. I co-washed with the Cleansing Conditioner from Wen (I'm trying out the Wen products for my mother. I'm her guinea pig apparently) and then I put JCO (Jamaican Castor Oil) in it to seal moisture in hair.

Prep Time: Putting hair into Chinese bumps 30-60mins (took me almost 30 minutes after cowashing hair)

Style Time: 30 mins

Step 1: Pull sections of hair and twist around with fingers and roll the hair around the base. (your hair would usually begin the spiral by itself if you have twisted the hair with your thumb and pointer finger creating a "base" and then you can wrapt he rest of the hair around it) Secure with a small rubber band

Step 2: Repeat step until the entire head is covered with chinese bumps (I put my satin cap on and went to bed. I actually wore my hair in this style for 2 days under a beanie so I can have the fresh chinese bump curls over the weekend)

Step 3: Undo chinese bump by removing the rubber band and/or turning the chinese bump the opposite direction that it was wrapped it. That would loosen the chinese bump and make it easier to remove rubber band without damaging hair.

Step 4: Separate the chinese bumps into 2-5 sections depending on how much hair was in that chinese bump or to create the curls the thickness you'd like it to be. (I separated mine about 3 times per chinese bump)

Step 5: Pull curls on one side of your hair and secure with a pin, making certain to pin the end of the curls under the hair so that the ends are secured.

I sprayed  a little bit of Wen's replenishing spray in hair and pulled on the curls to help loosen them up a little bit.

This style lasted me the entire weekend. It's a difficult style to maintain. At nights you have to put the hair back into chinese bumps. You can comb your hair out and use light moisturizer or replenishing spray to put fresh chinese bumps in your hair, or you can just take sections of hair and put into about 15 chinese bumps making sure to secure ends properly. I had to call this style quits after about 5 days. by Day 5, the curls were not as tight, but I was getting worried that I wasn't doing a great job of securing my ends.

This style is definitely not long-term wear, but it's definitely cute. This is not a style to do if you want your length to show. At least not in the first day or two of rocking this do. Any questions, feel free to ask. I've done other chinese bumps styles as well. Check those out in my other posts.

Live on Purpose in 2013! MuAh & CiAo!

Hair Essentials - Am I a Wen Girl?

Well, I researched and checked this product out after I realized that my mother was using me as her personal guinea pig. Her excuse, well our hair is similar and instead of us both trying out this new products, you're into hair. You should try it and let me know how it goes.... (as if my method wasn't working already) But because she pushed me I figured the least I could do is give it a try. So here I am with 90 days worth of Wen products. I'm trying my hardest to not use any additional product just to see what the results will yield. I love the fact that the "shampoo" is actually a conditioning cleanser. That's kinda dope.

This set came with two bottles of conditioning cleanser, a replenishing moisturizing mist, a styling lotion (which feels like a mixture between leave-in conditioner and moisturizer), the hair balm (i don't quite know why I'd use that seeing that I usually comb my hair for the week and forget about it) and then the hair moisturizing treatment thing. I haven't even opened that up yet. I imagine that the treatment product isn't used after every wash so I decided to go every other starting next week.

So far so good. No issues. I must admit I did use my grease. I felt like the products didn't have enough oils to "seal" the moisture in my hair. I didn't use the oil as I typically would. My twists still feels healthy and semi-bouncy, but I have felt my hair better. It definitely felt great during and after the wash. It didn't do much for my flakes (which tends to accumulate from product build up on my scalp and I had gone over 2 wks without washing my hair, which is really long for me and I didn't do a scalp cleansing treatment since I'm only trying to use the Wen products)

But overall, I'm happy with the results. I can't wait to use the treatment moisturizing product to see how that feels. During the "cleansing conditioning" portion of my hair care regimen, my hair felt nice and healthy. I washed it after it being pressed (Oh! Speaking of which I have to go back and attach pics. I'm def slacking in the picture dept lately) Now that I'm doing the bounce check, some of my twist are bouncier than others. I always feel that the bouncier the twist, the healthier that portion of hair is. I can explain how to check hair for bounciness later if you don't already know how. This post is long enough. I won't recommend the product until after I have tried it for at least 5wks straight.

This is Day 2 and counting. :-) Let's see what happens in 5 wks! Stay with me. This is for you, mom. I hope you're reading this blog too! lol. Live on purpose. MuAh & CiAo!