Mini Twists After 2 and a Half Weeks

I really like the way her hair turned out after two weeks.  The twists have puffed out a bit.  The biggest ones are a little smaller than the circumference of a pencil.  The ends did unravel a bit, but nothing terrible.  My major concern was because her hair isn't well cared for it would start to dread up.  That really hasn't happened  The parts that I had made aren't visible now.

The responses she got from her hair were interesting.  One boy said she had dreads.  Another girl wouldn't let up on her thinking it was weave.  People in the projects don't understand spending all that time on a girls hair knowing in 4 weeks it will need to be taken out.  If I had used weave with braids it could have lasted at least 2 months.

I'm sad I didn't get to try too many styles with the twists being that I was gone for the 2 and a half week she had them in.  I will let the braids go for another week and a half and take them out next Saturday.

I don't have any pictures of her hair, but here is a cute video of her goofing off.  You can see how her twists are looking.

Criss-cross Ponytail

I was right about the last style (Braided Crown).  It looked nice the first day, but after that it was a hot mess. I saw Bre on Monday visiting another one of the kids houses she just happened to be at and her mother tried to fit it, but didn't know how because of the ribbon.  I decided I wanted to do this elaborate hairstyle to kind of be able to cornrow the crown by doing little overlapping braids so it wouldn't fall it but it turns out I'm really not that good at braiding to be able to do that.  I settled for criss-crossing cornrows into a ponytail.

This was my first attempt at criss-crossing braids.  I really have only ever done straight cornrows.  Her hair was already in the first set of cornrows along her hairline from the braided crown style so I left those alone and I took out the ponytail of free hair.  I added moisturizer and extra virgin coconut oil to seal in the moisture.  Then I took my detangling comb and detangled her hair by small sections first with the comb then with a brush.  This usually doesn't take me that long but it I did need to work a little harder detangling this time because I was working with dry hair, almost 3 months of new growth, and it wasn't in cornrows for a week.

Next, I followed the part lines I made around her hairline and working in sections of 3, I parted off and clipped down hair.  When I had the whole head in sections of 3 I took out one section and parted off 3 cornrows to match the 3 cornrows on her hairline.

I had extended the middle cornrow straight to the center of her head.  Then I took one of the side braids, crossed it over the middle and continued braiding down to the center of her head.  I did the same thing with the other side.  I had one cornrow left after crisscrossing every three cornrows and braided it straight.

Bre and I made our very own curly ribbon ponytail holders and added that to the style, especially since her ponytail is so short.  There will be a post coming soon about how to make these out of regular fabric ribbon.  She liked the style.  It would have turned out better if somebody experienced was doing the braiding and was able to braid it tighter to the scalp.  In some ways it wasn't a bad thing that it was loose though since the new braids matched the week old braids.

Goody Ouchless Extra Small Hairbands Review

I picked up a pack of 50 pink Goody Ouchless Hairbands at Meijers a couple weeks ago.  They are fabric covered elastic bands about the circumference of a dime.  I used them at the ends of the straight cornrows down the back of Bre's head.  Her hair had been in lots of beads and rubber bands for the past month and I wanted something that would not tug on the ends and give them a little break.

The ouchless bands were a little difficult to twist around her hair.  They don't have as much give as a rubber band which is expected.  I was afraid the bands would come off during the week and I wouldn't be around to fix it so I did wrap a regular rubber band around the top of the hair band and left it extra loose.  It turns out I didn't need to do that.  To my surprise they all stayed in quite nicely.  Bre is fairly hard on her hair too.  When she is at her mothers she doesn't have a sleep cap on and she doesn't get any touch ups.

I will be using these bands again as they were much more gentler on her hair and still served their purpose.  They come in a rainbow assortment and a pink assortment of colors and cost about 2 or 3 dollars for 50 bands.  The bands can only be using without beads.  They are too thick to fit under regular sized beads.

Cornrowed Crown with Ribbons

Keep Me Curly had this beautiful style done on one of their daughters that I absolutely adored so I decided to try it out on Miss Bre.  Of course we did have to adapt to the fact that Bre does not have long natural hair.  Her hair is short, and relaxed.  We are about 2 months in to transitioning to natural but we decided to attempt the crown look.  Here was the result:

Instead of doing a puff, we did a ponytail.  She had a kiddie relaxer 2 months ago and it gave her a little bit of wave left so I wanted to use that and puff it out but Bre wanted it straightened so I put some heat protectant in and straightened it.

Like I thought, her hair was a little too short for this style.  On Keep Me Curly the "crown" was the ends of the cornrows braided together around her head.  Braiding did not work so I decided to do a 2 strand twist which gave me a little more length to work with.  I attempted to tuck the ends into the beginning of the braid.  I also added about a dozen bobby pins to secure the ends of the braids so they don't come out of the twist.

Next I threaded some ribbon in the twists on the crown.  To do this I used a yarn needle I got at Walmart (basically a big plastic needle) and some skinny ribbon (also a 47 cent Walmart purchase!)  I let Bre choose the colors.  First she picked out red and white.  I said that's a little Christmas-y are you sure you want that?  She said no and picked out red and green. hahahaha.  So red and green it was!

All in all she really liked the style.  She is wanting to wear her hair down so I don't think she was too jazzed to have to wear most of it in cornrows again.  I have to say as much as I loved this style on Keep Me Curly, it really wasn't right for us.  Give this style 2 or 3 days most of the twisted crown will come undone, bobby pins will be out and the ponytail will be saggin.  I don't think I will be taking the whole style out of her hair next week but it will have to be altered so she can wear it for another 2 weeks without it looking a hot mess.

Mini/Micro Twists

I am on spring break this week so I had a chance to have Ray over to do hair.  We were looking through some pictures and she got really excited when she saw the Mini twists on Beads, Braids, and Beyond blog so we decided to imitate her little girls hair and give her a whole head of mini twists.  We washed her hair with Just For Me shampoo and deep conditioned it.  Usually when I deep condition her hair I use a heat cap but since she was in the tub we opted for no heat and just put it into twists and let the conditioner soak in.

(Picture was taken right after I twisted her hair so parts are more visible than other pictures)

Once I had her hair washed, deep conditioned, and detangled, I parted her hair into 4 sections.  These sections allowed me to put it into 2 ponytails, or a half up half down style with clean, straight parts.  Unfortunately the direction in which I twisted her hair pulled it so the back part was peaking through her hair.

After having the 4 sections twisted up,  I took down one section at a time and starting at the bottom I sectioned off a small row I gathered just enough hair to make a small box or rectangle.  I did not part off each rectangle to be perfectly uniform.  The boxes along her hairline are larger than other boxes because there is less hair.

I twisted each hair but left it a bit loose at the roots.  When I got to the end of the twists I rubbed some creme wax into the end and twirled and twisted it around my finger.  I had a hard time forming coils.  Her hair for some reason wanted to stay straight.  I figured maybe it was because I was using a creme wax instead of a gel so I used a gel and got the same result except not as strong of a hold so I kept on using the creme wax.  Once the ends dried I saw more curls, but definitely not small tight coils as I was hoping for.

The because of the lack of coils I'm afraid this style won't last as long as it should in her hair.  I think it will probably start to unravel, especially because she loves running her fingers through it.

After all the twists were put in I sprayed Talih Waajid mist bodifier to moisturize.  I tried adding extra virgin coconut oil in her hair before twisting, but found the twists were unraveling so the only moisture her hair got before her twists was from the deep conditioner which was ok with me.  Her hair felt extra healthy this week.

This was her first time having her hair down.  She was so excited to have this style she gave me a big hug and couldn't stop shaking her head and singing "I whip my hair back and forth" all day.  It was so cute!  I have to say it looks nice, but I'm still disappointed her hair did not want to coil for me.  It took me about 6 hours including washing her hair and playing in the tub.

Meet Ray

(left in picture)

Age: 9

Hair type: natural her whole life

Style in Picture: about 10 twists with ballies and barrettes

Ray is in the 2nd grade.  She is an active kid and a bit of a tom boy.  She wants to go jogging and work out with me this summer.  Her idea not mine.  She doesn't have a favorite hairstyle and has been ok with whatever I do to her hair.  She does like to pick out the accessories though.

Protective Cornrow Style

This Friday I went to town getting out all the twists and beads Bre's mother put in the bottom section of her hair.  I had a few twists where when I put slight pressure on the ends of the braids, the ends broke off along with the last bead.  I will be trimming Bre's hair within a month.  Here are all the beads that came out of the back half of her head:

I wasn't planning on washing Bre's hair but it had residue from the grease her mom used so I washed her hair with just for me shampoo and deep conditioned her hair while she played in the tub.  While the deep conditioner was still in her hair I detangled and sectioned the back into 3 parts and clipped down.  When I rinsed the deep conditioner out I took out one section, rinsed, and clipped it back moving on to the next section.  This keeps the hair detangled until styling.

I did 10 straight cornrows down the back and no beads.  Before I braided a rubbed a good amount of extra virgin coconut oil into her hair.  I ended with these small fabric covered ouchless hair bands I got at Meijers.  Above of the ouchless bands I put small loose rubber bands because I wasn't sure how well the ouchless fabric covered ones will hold with no sleep cap on.

The cornrow style I put at the top of her head held up nicely.  Putting two rubber bands around the ribbons held the ribbons in her hair although they were drooping a bit when I saw them.  The ABC clips did come out and the 2 cornrow bangs I gave her are a little puffy, but I expected that since I did them loosely.

I used the following products in the morning to moisturize:

This was my first time using the Talih Waajid mist bodifier.  I got it because it was so thick and yet still a spray, but I'm contemplating on watering it down a bit so it soaks into the braids.  Next week I will see what condition her hair is in and water it down if I need to.  I also used an olive oil "growth serum" in between her cornrows.  I got this a while back when I actually believed attaching the words growth serum to a bottle of olive oil was better than regular oil olive.  I'm really just trying to used it up and will  most likely put melted extra virgin coconut oil in a bottle and rub that between her cornrows once I use up this product.

I Love Hair Ribbons!

Ribbons are a great and inexpensive way to accessorize hair.  As a child I use to tie a ribbon for a headband or to decorate a ponytail.  Ribbons can work with curly hair just as well as they did with my straight(ish) hair.

Ribbons will not damage hair.  This is important.  We never want to cause breakage with what we put in a child's hair but it happens.  Some people soak rubber bands in oil before they put them in.  Some people never buy hair bands with metal pieces on them.  Still others won't buy bands with elastic and opt solely for the fabric hair bands.  The great thing about ribbons is that its fabric and has no elastic or metal pieces.  While you may need to use a hair band with the ribbon, the ribbon itself will not cause breakage.

Ribbons can be changed out easily. Whenever I'm doing a style with ponytails I usually use ribbons to decorate because it is so easy to untie the ribbon and put in a new one that matches the child's outfit the next day.  Beads are so adorable in little girls hair, but unfortunately it takes more than 30 seconds to change out beads.

Ribbons are versatile.  Ribbons can be used for headbands, pony tails, lacing between cornrows, etc.  Use can also weave them into a few breads for a fun look.  Even how you use them in a ponytail is different.  I've done a simple bow around a ponytail with one strand of ribbon.  I've also taken a hair elastic and tie different colors or ribbons in knots all around the ponytail for a cheerleader type of look (this is Bre's favorite since she wants to be a cheerleader).  Or if you want to get a pre-made one children's clothing stores usually sell korker hair bands with curly ribbon wrapped around the elastic.

Ribbons are just plain cheap! I've never paid more than $2 for a spool of ribbon.  You could buy a complete set of ribbons ready to match any outfit in your child's wardrobe for under $20.  I haven't found any hair accessory that cheap yet.

Half Up Half Down Style - Two Ponytails

This week my lovely Bre actually asked me to do her hair!  When she is wearing a protective style like cornrows and twists we usually redo the style every two weeks.  On the off weeks we moisturize and change up the accessories in her hair to give it a different look.  Even though we did hair last week I decided to go ahead and do a different cornrow style.  We did two pony tails with ribbon.

I thought it was a little too much bling in this girls hair, but she LOVED it and was so excited to show her mom so I just left it all up in there.  She's always loved the bling though.

The first thing I did was take down her old style, put a generous amount of deep conditioner in and detangle her hair.  We rinsed out the majority of the conditioner and made one long slanted part which sectioned off the two ponytails.  I clipped one section back, sectioned off a bang and clipped that down as well.  I made straight cornrows going into the ponytails.

This was the end result of the ponytails.  I really liked it, but the parting was off.  You could tell it was approaching 10 at night and this little girl needed to be up at 7 so I hurried up and 2 of the cornrows suffered because of it.

When I did her bangs the cornrows were not lying down with rubber bands at the ends so I added some cute small clips to weigh them down.  I left the rubber bands in her hair because I won't see her for another week and if the clips came out she would have nobody to put them back in or rubber band the braids to keep from unraveling.  This way at least when I see her the braids won't be unraveled.

Stop back in a week and you will get to see all those beads come off!  She will have had that style in for 5 weeks.

Half Up Half Down Style - Large Cornrow Laces

As you may or may not recall I posted about Bre getting half a head of mini twist with 10 beads on each strand.  The top half however went unfinished.  One of the the styles I did with her was lacing cornrows which she (and everyone who saw them) loved!  I now have requests from children to do this style to them as well.

Sadly I cannot take credit for this brilliant idea of weaving ribbon into cornrows like a shoelace.  xxprettyma has a tutorial how to do it below.  I made the cornrows a little loose so it wouldn't hurt my baby's head.

I deep conditioned her hair and detangled it with the conditioner in.  I never have any complaints as long as I load up her hair with conditioner.  Lately I've been using a heated cap during the deep conditioning process.  I'll be updating you on the results of that in the next few weeks.

Next, I divided the hair into 6 sections and parted each from the center of her head.  I used coconut oil and cornrowed the sections and ended each with a braid and as many beads as I could get unto each strand to match hundreds of beads her mom put in her hair.

I used the xxprettyma's method of lacing and laced her hair (we did pink for Vday).  She was excited about the lacing but did say it hurt even when I loosened the braids.

Pictures of Cuteness after Kid's Church:

Bre and her brother decided to "wash" my car as I filled up.  I couldn't really see out my windshield it was so clouded with dried dirty water, but I wasn't about to use the windshield wipers when my babies were so proud they "helped" me do chores.