Teen K Month 7

7 months of growth

Teen K went from bald to curls! She did her big chop back in December and has since been letting it grow back. The original plan was to use no color but, as you can see..that went out the window. Her routine is a work in progress. She washes it about once a week and then we do a deep condition. We combine a conditioner and any oil on hand then she puts a plastic cap on and sits under the dryer for about 20 minutes. We are back and forth with products but, I always encourage her to rub in an oil after her product.

O...I forgot to mention she is now blonde. I have to admit I am responsible for all her hair color jobs. I had previously told myself I would not take part in damaging her hair again. Once I knew she was dead set on having some color I decided I would rather do it than have her attempting. I also took the time to do a good deep conditioner over night where she slept with the conditioner, oil and plastic cap. She then washed it out the next morning in the shower.

We still struggle with dryness with her for now. Her curl type is much different than Baby KDs. Her curls are much looser and larger. Any suggestions for routines or products we should look into?

Corn Roll Twists

This style was another one of my loves! I was inspired by all the styles I was seeing online with the braid and twist combo. I decided to give it a try. I started off with freshly washed and moisturized hair. I then banded her hair overnight with leave in and oil. Banding the hair stretches out the natural curl pattern without using any kind of heat. I then made a part towards the top of her head that went ear to ear. After tying off the top I made another part going side to side towards the bottom of her head. I then corn rolled the bottom layer. As soon as the hair lifted off her head I began a two strand twist. I repeated these steps for the top layer of braids. Working with the top section of hair I made a slanted part and french braided each side going towards the ear. At the point the hair lifted off the head I began my two strand twist. I then gathered each side into a ponytail loosely with a black rubber band.

Each day we moisturized with a home made daily spray. I am still playing around the ingredients and will share as soon as I find one I am satisfied with. Has anyone ever made a home made daily spray? Were you happy with the results? What did you use?

Around day 5 we started having tons of frizz so I decided to attempt a twist out with this style. It was not as moisturized and defined as I would have liked it to be but, it pushed us through two more days until wash day!

One Simple Braid

This look was inspired by Kandy Land Kurls and her circle braid. When I first seen the style I thought it was the most simple elegant style I've seen in awhile! I started off with freshly washed and conditioned hair. I then used a leave in and an oil. Because Baby KDs hair is so thick I parted it first in four squared off sections. I then worked with each square braiding the hair into a french braid and attaching it to the next square. When I came to the final square on the side of her head I just finished the braid all the way to the tip. You could end the braid in any square you wanted to! The only product we used was a shea butter oil mixture.

Baby KD loves to play dress up. She says she is a real princess. lol. This style was very quick and cute. It was not a long term style for us beings it did not last a whole week. It did hold up great for about 5 days. What is your go to style when you need something quick?

She Turned 4!

The final week of the challenge fell during the week of Baby KD's birthday. She requested princess Belle hair (her fave princess of all time)! The only thing I could come up with was a half up and half down style. I started with freshly washed and conditioned hair. Leave in conditioner and oil was added. Usually I would band overnight for a style like this but, being pressed for time I went into styling after washing using a Shea butter oil mix.

 I made one part going ear to ear. After tying the back half off I did simple corn rolls up top. I then pulled them all into a ponytail with an ouch less band. To still be in compliance with the challenge I did two strand twists in the back. I then for her birthday did a twist out.

I am so grateful to have had the chance to participate in the protective style challenge. I gained so many tips from the ladies on that page! It was a wonderful forum full of knowledge! I can tell for sure her hair has retained some length and her moisture has improved. Those were my objectives for participating and they were met! I still find myself looking on the page for any updates. Have you ever did a protective style challenge?

Week 4 Challenge Style

Week 4 of the style challenge. Yes! I love a quick cute corn roll style. For this style I washed and conditioned her hair. We then used a leave in and an oil to seal. So far it seems like any oil works pretty good for us. I am still on the hunt for my favorite oil though! What oils do you use the most? Where do you include an oil in your style routine?

Both sides look identical including the one braid going front ward by the ear. To style we used a Shea butter/ oil mixture. I made a part down the center of her head and tied one side off. I then braided from the middle part to the side of her head (after parting off a section for the ear braid). Once all the braids were done I braided them into two french braids. One on each side of her head. This style lasted one week.

Braided Mohawk Twists

This by far was one of my favorite styles doing on her! Well, this and the heart braids. See that post here. This was our style for week 3 of the protective style challenge. I had been seeing so many BEAUTIFUL pictures of these babies with mo-hawks! I loved them and knew I wanted to try one.

After doing our regular wash and condition routine I banded her hair overnight with leave in conditioner and olive oil to seal. This is what her hair looks like after banding. It stretches out her natural curl pattern and for us makes it easier to manage.

For this style I parted off a front section to create a bang. I then made an off center part straight down the middle of her head because I wanted it to be a side mo-hawk. I braided each side towards the part and then two strand twisted her hair to the tip. I used no rubber bands. The product we used to achieve this was a oil/Shea butter mixture.

Again, with this style we got lots of frizz by mid week. I took all the twists and braided them into one french braid. It always looks cute when you decorate their hair! In this picture she has a flower clipped in the back.

Box Braids w Corn Roll Bang

We began by washing Baby KD with a sulfate free shampoo. Right now the one we are using is the Aveeno brand. I then conditioned with Hello Hydration by Herbal Essence. I usually like the way her styles come out when I band. But, because we were going into a simple corn roll/box braid, I skipped the banding process.

After her hair was washed and conditioned I used Knot Today as a leave in. In the past I raved of Knot Today but this time around it seemed a bit thin for her hair. I go back and forth on leave in conditioners so, I will give this one a few more chances. What is your favorite leave in conditioner?

I started off by sectioning a front bang and a portion of the side to go back. After tying off those pieces I began to part squares and do medium size box braids. To do this style I used a Shea butter mixture. I bought 100% Shea butter at my local beauty supply.  To that I added Knot Today leave in and argon oil. I then used my kitchen hand mixture to blend it up. It came out a nice consistency that was able to glide onto her hair. I will in the near future create a post on how I do our Shea butter mixes.

After finishing all of the box braids I corn rolled the front into a bang and the side straight back to keep it out her face. This was a very quick style and it lasted a week.

I am learning to enjoy bows and headbands. I have always been a huge fan of beads! The protective style challenge got me used to skipping the rubber bands and beads which in return her hair is thanking me.

Mini Twist Experience

Wow! It has been awhile since I posted anything. I have luckily been keeping up with our hair care and taking pictures. I am going to re-cap some of the styles I have been doing since the protective style challenge we participated in for 5 weeks.

I have to say...I am in love with protective styling! I learned so much threw the challenge from all the other participants. It was a great way to share ideas and gain some knowledge!  Just when you think you've researched it all, you learn something new.  Our first style stayed in for two weeks because, we actually put the mini twists in a week before the challenge started.

These twists held up pretty good. If you would like to see the steps I took to achieve this style please see here.  Each day I moisturized with Bee Mine daily spray. We got frizz really quick which is not uncommon for her hair.  Please share what you do to combat frizz!

Each night she slept on a satin pillow case. Some nights I would pull in a bun to stretch and some nights I just let the twists be free. Her hair seemed to like the freedom of the twists.

In the end we did have a problem. Her hair was stuck together at the roots when I tried to take the twists down. I heard other people talk about the hair locking up. I think this is what happened. So, in the end we had more shredding than I was comfortable with and it seemed like it took a long time to completely de-tangle her hair.

Has anyone ever had this problem? What did you do to overcome it?