My BEST Bantu Knot Out

In my last post I mentioned that I gave myself a much needed trim, well thank goodness I finally came to my senses and snipped those terrible ends off. My hair feel great and my styles are coming out much better! I achieved my first decent looking Bantu knot out after trimming and OMG, I was shocked at the results. Like, seriously!  I have never achieved a good Bantu knot out, ever! I credit that to my trim because I would try BNOs when my ends weren't quite up to par. Bad ends = bad Bantu knot out, I'm convinced. 

So, here is what I did. I blew my hair out to prep for the trim, I used a higher heat setting this time, versus my cool/warm setting because I needed my hair "straight" enough to trim. Grape seed oil was my heat protectant of choice, as always. Now before some of y'all ask, no my hair was not bone straight. See the below picture for an idea of what I was working with.

Before the trim. My ends were in bad shape.

Hair Color Care

If your hair is chemically treated it is very important that you take EXTRA care of your strands. Hair color is fun and fabulous until your hair starts breaking off in your sink due to lack of attention, NO BUENO! Since my hair is dyed now, many of you want to know if my regimen has changed. No, it hasn't but the products I use to wash my hair have shifted. I also try and be VERY gentle with my strands. I actually just gave myself a nice little trim today, that was WAY overdue. My ends were gross! Even though the TGHBPSC has ended protective styling has REALLY been my best friend these days. Length retention, when your hair is colored can be hard so I try to keep my hair in styles that don't need to be manipulated much, i.e. the bun. 

(I used the grapeseed oil as a heat protectant for my blow out so that I could trim my ends.)

As far as washing goes, I think I've washed my hair maybe 3x since having it dyed red. I started off using Garnier's shampoo/condish for colored hair but found that it was way too harsh for my curls. My hair felt clean after washing but it also felt like straw! I ended up switching to Desert Essence's Italian Red Grape products which are much better and gentler on my hair. I am able to purchase my DE products on the ground at Roots Market but you can probably find them a tad cheaper online. Each product is close to $7 a tube versus the $4 I was paying for the drugstore brand. In this case I am paying for quality and I don't mind.


Side note: DE's products are sulfate free, paraben free and VEGAN! Just an FYI for my vegetarian/vegan readers.

Blowout Regimen

A lot of you want to know the steps I take to blow out my hair. I get the question often so I decided it was time to dedicate a post to it. My blow out process is fairly easy but kind of time consuming since I don't use high heat. My setting is on cool/warm air and does take quite sometime to dry but I rather the process take forever versus getting heat damage. 

Under the jump you can find the tools and products I use to achieve my blow out. 

Enjoy!

Alex

Wash and Go Fail

*peeks around curtain, slowly* Please don't shoot! LOL I know I have been M.I.A for a week or so but let me explain. Finals, studying, more finals and shopALS orders have had me extremely swamped but class is over and I am on a mini vacay to Brooklyn, NY! Well I'm not there yet, I'm headed there. 


Side note: exciting news, I am blogging from the Bolt bus. Thank goodness the WiFi is working. Last time it wasn't. 


Anyways, let's talk hair. I have been extremely satisfied with my curls lately. Y'all know that my bush does what she wants but I have been keeping her well behaved in a bun for quite sometime now. Since finding out that my hair can be bunned, I have worn this style faithfully for weeks. My bang area has been twisted and untwisted for a T.O. every night, which was working quite nice for me. Then I decided to switch it up but that wasn't such a good idea.

Today's Hair: Beautiful Bun

So, I am hooked on buns and I plan on wearing this style until it's PLAYED OUT, get used to it! No but seriously, I really think this is the easiest protective style on the planet if your hair is "bun'able" (collar bone length or longer). Today, I decided to spruce up my bun by wearing it a little higher than normal, lately I've been wearing it fairly low with the my bangs twisted or tucked. I wanted something a little more sassy today so I two strand twisted the bang area with a spritz of water and some of Original Moxie's "Just Gel" product. I will be doing an in depth review on that gel soon, I really liked my results.

See that definition?! To die for! The OM product gave me light hold while still keeping my strands soft and easy to manipulate if need be. I didn't experience any flaking, crunchiness or residue from it either, which is a huge plus. Get this, I only let the twists set for about 20 minutes or so... I am shocked at how neat my twist out looked. Through out the day, I experienced ZERO frizzies! 

How did you wear your hair today?

xoxo,

Alex

PS. Read my full Original Moxie line review, from earlier this year, HERE.

Captured Curls: Danyelle

I have been trying to get the gorgeous woman and her BEAUTIFUL curls on my blog for weeks now; I FINALLY caught up with her and I am super excited to share this feature with you all! Everyone, meet Danyelle, a super stylish natural with the BEST brows on the planet hands down. I really enjoyed reading about Ms. Danyelle's natural hair journey and I think you will too. Click the jump for more!

Please, introduce yourself!

Hi I’m Danyelle, a 25 year old Floridian. I’ve been natural all of my life and I’m loving it!

What is your current hair care regimen?

I don't always stick to a set schedule but usually I shampoo every 7-10 days with Shea Moisture Black Soap shampoo or Herbal Essence Hydraliscious Shampoo, then condition with Peter Coppola Almond Latte Protein conditioner (for my color & fine hair), and deep condition with whatever DC I have on hand (currently it’s Shea Moisture Anti Breakage Masque). Sometimes I’ll pre-poo with Castor/Grapeseed oil and Shea Moisture Purification Masque. Also, I conditioner wash every 2-3 days with either Andalou Naturals Moisture Rich Conditioner or Mill Creek Jojoba Conditioner.

No matter the style, I use Curl Junkie Beauticurl/Kinky Curly Knot today (+jojoba & castor oils) as a leave-in. My go to style are flat twists, either on wet/dry hair and the styler product may vary, but lately it's been Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk or As I Am Double Butter cream. In addition to flat twists, I also do wet set buns with my leave-in and Eco Styler gel. Finally I seal my ends with a little shea butter.

Since I get my hair pressed almost every 2 months in the cooler season, I don’t do my curly hair routine. I just use a small amount of Aveda light elements smoothing fluid every 3-4 days if necessary, but for the most part I just leave it alone and my scalp will produce it’s own oils to add shine to my hair.

Natural Hair Style: Cinnabun Updo Tutorial

Many of you all wanted to know how I achieved the above style yesterday after posting on Twitter. I made a super quick and easy video tutorial yesterday just for you! Click the jump to watch.

xoxo,

Alex

Essence.com Feature

Today, myself and a few other AMAZING natural hair bloggers/vloggers were featured on Essence.com. Super exciting, right? If you haven't check our Ultimate Natural Hair Holiday Gift Guide, click HERE to check us out! 

Thank you Essence and their awesome editor, Nicole Melton!

xoxo,

Alex