Wash Day Recap: I got 99 problems but my Fro ain't one of them

Ok, I don't have 99 problems but I thought the title was super clever and wanted to use it for today's post. As someone of you know, I celebrated my 1 year natural anniversary on Sunday. To celebrate I undid my twists and let my fro out all day Sunday. The plan was to do my normal wash day and then twist my hair for the week, which has been my routine for the past month or so.

[1] Pre-pooed with Hair Trigger for about an hour.

[2] Shampooed with Tangles and Beyond Rhassoul Whip Poo . I normally only shampoo once a month by I ran out of my Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Co-Wash Cleansing Conditioner. I didn't realize that until I put the Hair Trigger on my hair.

[3]  Protein Treatment : ApHogee Intensive Two Minute Keratin Reconstructor . 

[4] Deep Conditioned with The Antidote by Tangles and Beyond for about 40 minutes. Unfortunately we don't have a microwave at our current place but I can't wait until we move. I'll be able to incorporate heat  again. This stuff is amazing! It's my first time using it but so far I love it!

[5] Detangled-- I wish I could say that I did but didn't. The good news is I didn't really need to. The Antidote made my hair soft and manageable, I honestly didn't need to detangle it.

[6] Tea Rinsed - I'm seriously slipping on my tea rinses. In my defense, we are leaving Monterey in about two and a half weeks. So needlessly to say life has been a little hectic. We already have most of our things packed #wearereadytoleave . Unfortunately my tea rinses have suffered because of the upcoming move.

[7] ACV rinse  No rinse this week because I didn't find my spray bottle until the next morning. But it will be back on the next wash day.

[8] T-shirt dried for about an 30-40 minutes.

[9] Applied my leave-ins: Jia's Caribbean Dream Cream  and Tangles and Beyond Deep Moisture Shea Butter.

[10] Stretched my hair-- I don't know if it was because of my hair anniversary or if I was just tired, but I didn't twist my hair. Instead I used my hair ties to stretch my hair over night. 

When I woke up the next day I was too tired to do anything to my hair so I decided to wear my fro out. My hair is longer, which means my fro is bigger. I was self conscious about wearing my hair out at work because it's not how I usually wear my hair but with the some pep talks from my hubby, I strutted into work proud of my fro.  I was surprised on how many compliments I received from co-workers, many of whom said they would love to see my hair out more.

My fro at the end of the day yesterday

A close-up 

Last night I stretched my hair again using hair ties. This morning I wanted to do a couple of braids but my hair was out of control. That's the problem with wearing the fro, once it's out it is hard to tame it (at least from my experience). Instead of fighting with my hair I rocked a frohawk today.

How was your wash day? Don't forget to join the linkup and share your #WashDayExperience.

Wash Day Recap | Easter Sunday Edition

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you had a nice Easter/ Resurrection Day with your family and friends. My goal was to wash my hair on Saturday but I decided to be lazy and pushed it back to Sunday. Because we're far from our family and friends, we planned a Skype date to connect with some of our family on Easter. Now, we originally set the Skype time for the early afternoon (West Coast time) but the call happened while I was in the midst of washing my hair. Oh, well.  Here is a recap of yesterday's wash day:

[1] Pre-pooed with Hair Trigger for 45 minutes.

[2] Co-Washed with Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Co-Wash Cleansing Conditioner in sections. 

[3]  Protein Treatment : ApHogee Intensive Two Minute Keratin Reconstructor . I left it on for two minutes and then rinsed it out. 

[4] Deep Conditioned with Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque for about 15-20 minutes. As soon as I put the conditioner in my hair, we got the call to push up our Skype date. So, I had to shorten this part of wash day.

[5] Detangled with my hair in sections with my Denman Brush for about 5 minutes. I did a quick detangle with the brush before washing it out

[6] Tea Rinsed - No tea rinse again this week. My plan is to start the rinses up again this week.

[7] ACV rinse  After our call (which lasted about an hour), I sprayed my scalp with the rinse and massaged it in for a couple of minutes.

[8] T-shirt dried my hair for about 30 minutes while walking the dogs. Yes, I had a my t-shirt on my head during our walk. Luckily my hoodie covered it up pretty well, it just looked like I had a really large head. Lol. 

[9] Applied my leave-ins: Jia's Caribbean Dream Cream , Tangles and Beyond Deep Moisture Shea Butter, Marguerite's Magic Restorative Cream   . I also detangled a little here because my detangling session got cut short.

[10] Styled my hair-  No surprise here, I opted for my three strand twists again this week. This week, I'm pinning them back a little just to spice it up a bit.

How was your wash day? Join the #WashDayExperience linkup and share your experience.

Wash Day Recap: Three Strand Twist Updo

Happy Monday!

I had a  three day weekend with the hubby and it was so hard going back to work today. I'll post pics of our little adventure sometime this week.

Yesterday's wash day was another knot free success. I now have two knot free wash days under my belt and it feels great! For a look at my first step in tackling knots, check out this post.

Here is a quick recap of my wash day:

[1] Pre-pooed with Virgin Coconut Oil and JBCO  for about an hour. I used this time to finger detangle and get rid of shed hairs.

[2] Co-washed with Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Co-Wash Cleansing Conditioner in sections. 

[3]  Protein Treatment : ApHogee Intensive Two Minute Keratin Reconstructor . I left it on for two minutes and then rinsed it out. 

[4] Deep Conditioned with Perfect Moisture Deep Conditioner by Tangles and Beyond  & Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque  for about 45 minutes.  I ran out of the Perfect Moisture Deep Conditioner, which made me so sad. But, this Saturday is Tangles & Beyond's March drop is this Saturday and I'm hoping to snag a 16 oz bottle. Wish me luck!

[5] Detangled with my hair in sections with my Denman Brush with the deep conditioners still on my hair. 

[6] Tea Rinsed - I skipped the tea rinse but I plan to do one on my next wash day.

[7] ACV rinse  I sprayed my scalp with the rinse and massaged it in for a couple of minutes. I wrapped my hair in my t-shirt letting it soak up the excess rinse.

[8] T-shirt dried my hair for about 30 minutes

[9] Applied my leave-ins: Jia's Caribbean Dream Cream , Shea Moisture JBCO Leave-In Conditioner, JBCO, Tangles and Beyond Deep Moisture Shea Butter and Argan Oil.

* I may have mentioned this before but Jia's Caribbean Dream Cream and the Deep Moisture Shea Butter smell delicious! This is probably my favorite part of my wash days these days because it leaves my hair so soft. Plus, the scent from these two products linger and I love getting a whiff of it during the day. Lol.

[10] Styled my hair- I went with the three strand twists but this time I pinned it up with bobby pins.  

Nothing special or complicated. I wanted a hairstyle that was easy and would last a week even with my workouts.

   How was your #WashDayExperience? Join the link-up and share your experience.

February Mini Challenge | Updo #4: French Roll/ French Twist with Bang

Happy Monday everyone!

Can you believe it is the last week of the February mini challenge? Crazy, right?! This week I wanted to have a little of my hair out, to spice it up a bit. So I chose the French Roll/French Twist with Bang by BlakIzBeautyful. I love her tutorials because they are easy to follow and the hairstyles are cute.

        


I'm going to wear this style for a few day, then take it down to moisturize it and put it back in the same updo. I had less tangles on wash day and perhaps adding more moisturize during the week played a part.

Front

Back

Side 1

Side 2

                                           What are your favorite updo styles?





Until next time!


~Adventures of a Nappy Chica

February Mini Challenge | Updo #3 Inspired by NaturalMe4C

Happy Monday Everyone!

At the end of yesterday's wash day, I still didn't know how I wanted to wear my hair this week. I had a few styles in mind but didn't know if I could pull them off. When choosing a hairstyle, I try to be realistic about my styling abilities. I try to choose quick and easy hairstyles for my hair. This week I went with a hairstyle inspired by NaturalMe4C:


          


     
Now, my results are a little different from the tutorial but I still love it.  One of the things I've learned during this challenge is that it's okay to adjust a hairstyle to make it work for you. My hair is shorter than NaturalMe4C's hair, so I tweaked it a bit.

My plan for the rest of the week: I plan to wear this style the rest of the week. To keep my hair moisturized I will spritz my hair every night and in the morning. I noticed I had a lot of single strand knots yesterday, which means I need to change a few things this week. I'm going to wear this style until Wednesday and then take it down to moisturize it. I'll redo the style and wear it until my next wash day (Saturday or Sunday).

                                              What styles are you rocking this week?

February Mini Challenge | Updo #2: Braid & Tuck + Help Me Choose My Next Updo

So far I am really loving this updo/protective style mini challenge. It has really forced me to try new hairstyles and allowed me to see the versatility of natural hair. I thought my hair had to be longer to do updos but so far I've found some great styles for my current length. When I saw CaribBeauty's braid and tuck tutorial, I knew I had to give it a try.

This might be my new favorite hairstyle. It was quick and easy. And it actually looks like I have braiding skills, which I don't. Now, my hair doesn't look exactly like the tutorial but I think it's pretty close. I love that this hairstyle can be worn for work or for a night out on the town. Plus, I don't have to worry about styling my hair every day.

The upkeep for this style has been fairly simple so far. I spray my hair at night with my Black Vanilla Leave-In Conditioner and apply JBCO to my edges. Then I wrap my hair in my satin scarf, put on my bonnet and call it a night. I'm on day two of the style and it still looks great. I'm hoping I can stretch this style to Friday.

I'm already thinking of my next updo. Does anyone have suggestions on styles that might work for my current length? I'm looking for something that is easy to do and will last at least for about a week. I would appreciate any help!

                    What are your favorite updos for twas? Feel free to comment below!

Until next time!

~Adventures of a Nappy Chica

February Mini Challenge | Updo #1: BlakIzBeautyful's Two Strand Twist Pin-Up

Although I love wearing my hair out, I've decided to wear more low manipulation styles to help retain length. My goal is to mix up my styles as much as possible and avoid wearing my hair out until the end of April. So imagine my surprise when I found out there was a updo/protective style challenge going on this month.

Here are the rules for the challenge:

-Style hair in an updo each week in February
- The style MUST be an updo. Faux bobs don't count
- Do Not repeat a style
-  Manipulate your hair as little as possible

Go to Great Lengths to read more about the challenge


My last wash day was this past Friday and I attempted to do a Roll, Tuck & Pin. It didn't look great but I was too frustrated/tired to attempt anything else. So, I left my hair like that until yesterday evening. After the Superbowl, I decided to try this tutorial from Jenell B. Stewart (BlakIsBeautiful) from Kinky Coily Curly Me. Before twisting my hair I added Marguerite's Restorative Magic Cream and Alikay Natural's Rich Hair Parfait.



                          


Now, my hair didn't turn out exactly like Jenell's but I still love the style. Her tutorial is quick and easy to follow. I feel like my hair is in the weird/awkward stage but this style gave me the boost I needed. If you're in that awkward twa stage or getting bored with your hair, try this hairstyle. Believe me, you won't regret it. And even if your hair is shorter than mine, you can still wear this style. Just be sure to use more bobby pins. It took me about an hour or so to do the two strand twists last night and about 10 minutes to pin it up this morning.

The goal is to keep this updo until Friday, if possible and I will continue moisturizing my hair daily.

What are your favorite updos/protective styles? Do you have any twa updo/protective style recommendations for me? If so, please feel free to comment below! 

                         
Until next time!

~Adventures of a Nappy Chica