My Top 10 Natural Hairstyles for 2013

I wanted to my celebrate Natural Hair, so I created a collage of my top 10 Natural Hairstyles for 2013. I had so many pics to choose from, but I narrowed it down to these ten looks. It's filled with various types of textured fros created through twist outs, twist out and curling rods, bantu knots and two strand braids. I even have a braided updo and sculptured look there. Such variety! I love my natural hair. Our Natural is Beautiful Campaign ends today, but our natural will remain Beautiful yet and still.

Use the word cloud to locate blog postings that shows how to do these various styles. Also, I have a few how-to-videos on youtube. Check those out! For dry hair, look at natural hair regimen on the word cloud. Thanks for reading in 2013 and I hope you join me in 2014!!!!  Share your favorite 2013 pictures with me, I'd love to create a collage of pics collected. Shoutout to my new followers the Brezzells on IG. Much Love!

Life of a Naturalista is launching new site. New address www.lofanaturalista.blogspot.com on New Year's Day! Follow me on IG @lofanaturalista MuAh & CiAo!

Natural Hairstyles for Girls

With fantasy football, kickball and just life in general, I have been swamped. However, I wanted to share a quick thought and a couple pics with you. Many of my readers have little girls and it's always a lot to take care of your child's hair and then to handle your hair as well. There are natural hairstyles for girls. Mothers these days are full-time employees, full-time mothers and then try to have a life that exists outside their home and work place. so where would they find the time to take care of themselves or even their little girl's hair? Honestly, its difficult, but that's why haircare regimens are the BEST! Create one that works for you. I have shared mine with you several times, but I wanted to share my sister's regimen. My sister is natural herself (granted she is a licensed stylist; S/O to Larease!!!!) and she has a daughter. My niece like the women in my family has ALOT of hair. so taming that beast can be a lot! With her 4a hair in tow, she thinks she's the flyest!

My sister used a conditioning product on Sanaa's hair about a month ago. She said that it helped loosen the curls and allowed Sanaa's hair to be more manageable. Now, as the week begins, she braids her hair into simple appropriate long lasting styles convenient for school, church and play.  She moisturizes her hair and takes her time to braid it once every 1-2wks and then she could forget Sanaa's hair for the rest of the week. Makes sense to me. My mom would wash, blow dry my hair every other Sunday and I would rock a braided hairstyle for two weeks for the most part. Simple and easy to do. My mom too was very busy working her full-time job and caring for FOUR children, two girls included in the mix. so imagine all the hair combing my mom had to do. At any rate, she rocked it out and made it work. Here are pics of Sanaa's do. I'm going to find a copy of the product my sister used and update this post. Thanks for reading. Remember, Our Natural is Beautiful!

Hair Essentials - Natural Braided Updo (Professional Natural Hair)

Morning, Morning, Morning! I am so excited to make this post today featuring my girl, Rachel Boo. she is rocking a recently done braided hairstyle. I took pics of the sides and front, but forgot the back. The back is just braided up toward the donut. It is really simple and a great style to workout out with. Just tie your head and go! The braided top knot is becoming a fad in natural hair styling I see, but it has definitely been done for years. I'm waiting for Marley braids to get stale, so I can put them in in the Fall, tee hee. At any rate, here are the pics I took right after I redid my girls' braids. I think these pics are super cute. :-)

See my IG @Livlyhood for recent natural hairstyles. :-)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Our Natural is Beautiful 2013. MuAh & CiAo!

Hair Essentials - Natural Hair Updo (4c)

So, I braided and styled my bff's hair. She usually combs and styles her own hair. I can probably count the number of times I've done her hair on my one hand. Anyhoo, here goes:

Prep Time: 1 hr   (includes consulting)
Style time: 2 hrs (includes consulting while styling and catching up on each other's lives)

YOU KNOW HOW THAT GOES! lol

**I also completed her natural hair profile and natural hair goal plan which added an add'l 45 mins to the prep time**

1. She washed and sectioned off her hair in about 10 twists (5 on each side). I took over from there.
2. I untwisted each section and combed each section as I went along.
3. Next, I used Carol's Daughter heat protectant moisturizer and rubbed it into her sectioned hair from root to tip and blow dried each section and re-twist.
4. I repeated steps 2 & 3 until all the twists were completed.
5. Then I moisturized with JCS moisturizer and sealed with jojoba oil
6. Then I sectioned hair into 4 big sections, re-twisting 3 of them and started braids from the untwisted 4th section.
7. With each part, I further moisturized and seal with JCS nourish and shine product (GREAT FOR BRAIDING HAIR)
8. Then repeat step 7 for all other sections, leaving some hair out in the front (as much hair as desired)
9. With loose hair in the front, I moisturized with JCS nourish and shine product and loosely twisted it and rolled the twist under and secured with a pin.
10. I repeated step 10 until it was all twisted and pinned down the way I wanted it to be.

Here are the results:

 

 

 

Two important things! PLEASE COMB AND SECTION HAIR OUT FROM ROOT TO TIP. Do not take any shortcuts, it creates more breakage and tangling when attempting to comb out for styling later. Also, it doesn't allow for product to get to the root properly. And properly combing hair out especially when having type 4c is imperative to maintaining a healthy head of hair.

** Also Important - brush hair on either side of the section parted to braided all the way through so that the parts are more defined. Some hair is more stubborn to braiding and does not seem to hold a defined part. With more training, hair will work just fine **

This was a nice style, no additional hair was used and I think my bff looks gorg!

Our natural is beautiful. MuAh & CiAo! :-)

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 - Natural Hairstyles

Here is a recent updo I did in my girl's hair. She washes it and then I braid it moisturizing her hair with Jane Carter solutions twisted fro, a tiny bit of jojoba oil and then I use Dr. Edge for edge control at the start of every braid. Works like a charm and her hair always feels nice and soft when I'm braided it. In fact, I see her tonight for another appt. This hairstyle can easily transition from a professional work style to a night on the town with your girls or a nice evening with the beau.

With the front being in single twists, you can also change up the front for a change in the look by:

1. Untwisting twists for a "Rocking Out" hairstlye

2. Comb out twists and use curling rods for gorgeous curls in the front

3. Comb out twists and bantu knot the front for a cute spiral-looking curls

So many options, you're sure to enjoy this style for 2-3 weeks!

Hair Essentials - Natural Hair Updo

Some people have better braidable hair than others. Some other people inspire you to find more styles. Here is another braided style done to my girl's hair. Perhaps if we weren't so busy talking and catching up on VH1 reality shows, we'd be finished much sooner than we are. I'll say though that laughing, having a good time and doing hair is a favorite past-time of mine. Here's how it came out.

 All she needs to do now, is tie it up with a satin scarve and it can last for 2 wks or more. She works out often so keeping her hair braided is a good way to having a fancy do last a couple weeks without having your hands in your hair every day AND being able to workout without hair looking messy. It's the best of both worlds. Who said we had to look a hot mess because we work out. If only I could do my own hair more, lol. Anyhoo, that's all for now.

Live on Purpose people! I really mean that. MuAh & CiAo! :-)

Hair Essentials - Braided Wedding Updo

Update on my hair: I'm still rocking these twists in my hair. I'm prob not going to take it out tomorrow or this weekend. Probably next week. I honeslty don't remember when I put them in, but I'm still getting compliments on them. go figure. I'll take a pic of em and post on the blog. I may wear em as a twist out and pin up over the weekend though. We'll see what happens. If the weather is too dry, probably not though. My evening regimen has been working to keep my twist nicely moisturized without being super oily. Loving this!

Well I wrote this blog today to show the pics of my friend's hair I promised. I only put one up, but you couldn't really see the do. Here's a better picture of the do I did to my one girl's hair. I thought this was sooo cute. Hope you likey:

Sweet do, huh! I love it! and she styled it well. Naturalista! Anyhoo, that's all for now. MuAh & CiAo!

Hair Essentials - Natural Braided Updos

*Enjoy your first week of the new job :-)*

Before I share the pics, let me just say tha tI have been rocking my twists since I washed my hair last week and I have gotten compliments on this simple look. Every other day, I shower without a cap, so I can allow moisture to soak into my hair. Then I immediately cover with a plastic cap and begin getting dressed. At 15 mintues, I put moisturizer in my hair. After getting dressed, I put olive oil in my hair to seal the mositure and then wash my hands of the oil and hit the door. The entire twist feel much healthier. At night, I just use my satin cap. This regimen has been working wonderfully and my hair feels sooo much healthier. I don't have to go out of town this weekend, so I can rock my twist for another week. Sometimes just leaving your hair alone is good. (Update of my hair as of today)

In other news, I did three braided styles over the past few days. They are all different and the hair texture for all persons were all different. The first style was done for a wedding and the twists in front were going to be untwisted for a funky twist out style in the front with a braided updo. The last set of pics is a regular day braided updo and the second set of pics were for my friend's bridal shower. Braided updos can be done for every occasion. It can be as funky as you want. As creative as you can imagine and can be wearable for everyday. don't give up on being natural. There's always a style you can do. Embrace your naturalness.

Do any of these styles have additional hair added? If so which one (s)?

Well, that's enough for today people. Live on purpose. MuAh & Ciao!

Hair Essentials - Braided Updo Style

So yesterday, I did another braided updo style. Pretty simple. Turns out the braids were kinda tight and I had to loosen them up for my client. Some clients like braids tight, others, not so much. all in all, it's a very pretty style and can transition between work and play easily. Plus its easy to keep up at night, and you know how amazing that can be. To moisturize, I used all natural grease, jojoba oil and Jamaican Castor Oil (I'm in love with this stuff since I got it, such a nice texture for thick hair)

My client's hair is about 4-5 inches in length, Yes, I added hair, but I used natural hair, so it's not too obvious and the addition of hair isn't overdone.

Hope you enjoyed the pics! Live on purpose people, MuAh & CiAo!

Hair Essentials - Air Drying Natural Hair

After I washed my hair and let them essential oils soak into my hair, I washed my hair out with my co-wash from Az I Am, which smells lovely and then I combed it out with my wide tooth comb and separated into 4 big sections, oiled my hair with jojobal oil and jamaican castor oil and braided it into plaits, not to be confused with cornrows/braids. After then I put a touch of jamaican castor oil on the tips of each plait. I need to be more careful with my ends. I've found that my hair grows, but due to breakage, I have to keep seeking and searching for these split ends, which leads to frustration and be chopping off inches of hair. Not cute.

Anyhoo, I won't have pics of my do until next week because I will not be putting it into twists until this evening. I may use the flaxseed oil for twist outs, but Idk how well my hair will coil and how well it will stay. I don't want a sticky film in my hair necessarily and I have found the flaxseed to be sticky which is why I just use moisturizer and oil. But I'll let you know what I do. I should try it just to see how my hair responds to it. Who knows, it just might work. Pics to come!

Until then, hair is some pics of some styles I have done in other people's hair the past few days. Sooo pretty! And yes, I charge for braided do's. If you would like a do, feel free to email me at niaimbue@gmail.com for pricing.

 I only did the braided do in the pic with the 3 chicas! Hey homies!!!!

All hair better be sweeped/braided away from neck, back and face. Thanks for letting me braid you guys up! MuAh!

See you guys next week! MuAh & CiAo! I promise to have pics of my wedding do posted next week as well. Live on purpose people!

Hair Essentials - Updo Braided Style

Visited my sister in ATL to see her graduate from SCAD. Figured, why not get a free hairdo out of it. I knew I wanted a style that I can't do easily, so I go a braided updo. Here are before and after pics. I also trimmed my hair up to 3inches for some parts of my hair. My hair needed it. Nothing's better than healthy hair. I don't want long hair that's damaged. Not cute. Here are the pics. Hope you enjoy.

Hmm, I should have prob gotten one of the 3 people that were there to take the picture for me verses twisting my neck in awkward positions to get the pic. Well, I got more pics to add when I do another cute natural style. Until then, my hair will be in this style for at least 10 days if not longer. Today is Day 4.