Natural Hair Calendars: August

We're SO excited to have been featured as retailer of the month, and even more excited that the calendars will be on our shelves in a matter of weeks!!

Download your printable, and any back issues you may have missed here!

30 days, 30 ways... Day 1

It's a new month, everybody!

August is always an exciting one for me: holidays, weddings, the "August Break" in the rainy season, and my birthday! Here's to a great month ahead.

So to kick things off with the style challenge, I'm easing in slooooowly. Very slowly!

I just washed my hair, so this is how I pinned up my twists this time

I think I now have a handle on making my wash day twists look like they were meant to be a style, and after this challenge I will probably revert to wearing these for days at a time without feeling any shame.

Something more exciting tomorrow. Have a good day!

This month I have mostly been...July

This month I have followed the usual yawn-worthy routine of...

...fat twists:

...to twistout:

...to "I can't deal with loose hair in this humidity, so need to modify this style pronto":

Yeah that flash was scary!

Eek!

...to slightly more creative updos:

...to "how do I delay washing by one more day when I'm on vacay and the only accessories I have are a hair band and a scarf?"

(NB: These pictures weren't all taken in sequence because I'm still not in the habit of photographing my hair regularly, but they were all taken this month and illustrate general hair schedule I follow)

Looking for pictures for this post, I thought to myself: it is all well and good having yards of the healthiest hair in the world (not saying I do, but you catch my drift), but what it the point if it is not particularly attractive to look at? The longer it gets, the more product it uses up... and for what? To tuck it away in some unimaginative updo? 

What really is the purpose of hair if not as a way of looking more attractive? It really is that superficial!

I realise I have improved recently, but I'm sure I can do better.

So I've set myself a challenge... 30 days, 30 ways.

For the next 30 days, I am going to find a new and imaginative way to style my hair. I'll take inspiration from my favourite youtubers and bloggers (yes Miss Fizzy, I will be stalking you!), tumblr... everywhere! I'll also try and come up with my own spin on things.

Now I'm well aware that the constant manipulation is likely to cause some damage to my strands, but as I mentioned in my post on protective styling, I am not very focused on length retention at this point in time.

I warn you now, it won't always be pretty. It won't always be exciting. But it's the thought that counts, right?

I do realise August has 31 days, but "31 days, 31 ways" didn't quite have the same ring to it, and I was too excited to wait until September. Also this gives me a tiny bit of slack as I can have one day off!

So wish me luck, brace yourself for an onslaught of blog posts next month, and drop by every once in a while to see how I'm getting along.

Have a good one!

Natural Hair in the Nigerian Diaspora...Temilola

Hi everyone, hope you're having a great week. 

As I collected responses for the "Natural in Nigeria" series, I thought it would also be interesting to hear the views of Nigerian naturals all over the world, and what they experience being natural compared to us back home, i.e. if it is easier due to the lack of constant harsh criticism that we sometimes face at home, access to a wider range of products, etc. 

I also felt that hearing from people who have a handle on their hair would be a source of encouragement to people who might be struggling with their hair journeys, and reading about other people's regimens might take them one step closer to developing one of their own.

Finally, I hope this series illustrates that Nigerian curls and kinks come in all sizes and textures, and they are all beautiful!

First up we have Temilola, who I met as I spent countless hours on the hair forums. Yet another natural hair-obsessed Nigerian? Say it aint so!

This is what she had to say about her journey so far:

Photo courtesy of subject

My name is Temilola, I am a law and business graduate from University of Buckingham. I am Nigerian and I just moved to Lagos last month, but I really don't know if its permanent.

My natural hair journey

Photo courtesy of subject

My last relaxer was 17th June 2009. I started transitioning in September and big chopped in march, So it has been almost 3 years since my last relaxer (I think its easier that way)

I had always wanted to go since I was about 14, but was discouraged by mum; she said it would break and I was so scared of having short hair.

I just made up my mind to stop relaxing it towards the end of 2009. I used to relax my hair twice or thrice a year before so it wasn't difficult to just stop.

Before moving back, I had been to Nigeria once since going natural. I came in December 2011 for Christmas.
The humidity, my goodness! At times it got up to 91%. Everything shrunk to my ears even with flat twist outs LOL. So I just stick to buns and updos now.

As for the experiences with Nigerians, it has been pleasant. My mum started transitioning in Dec and big chopped last month.

A few times people have stopped me in the street to ask what I do to my hair. 
They ask if I'm Fulani, mixed, have a weave of if I have dreadlocks depending on the level of moisture in my hair . They all say they want to 'try' it. I hope they do!

Challenges encountered since going natural

My biggest challenges have been detangling and maintaining moisture, but the women on Naturally Curly were really knowledgeable and I was able to find remedies for those issues.

I didn't have a problem with accepting my hair nor did I experience negative reactions from other people.

My natural hair idol

There is a lady on YouTube called Mahogany Curls. Her hair is absolutely gorgeous.

My regimen

Photo courtesy of subject

I wash my hair every 7 days in 2 sections with diluted Dr. Bronner's castile soap focusing on my scalp.

I condition with Tresemme Naturals conditioner. I detangle in 4 sections, using my fingers first then following up with a wide tooth comb or a paddle brush. All this takes about 20 minutes.

I usually rinse my hair mid-week and just condition with Paul Mitchel Great Hair conditioner and lightly finger detangle.

For leave in, I use any of the Naturigin conditioners, it is natural, thick and moisturizing (sold at TKmaxx)

To style I use Ecostyler gel (blue) for Wash n Go's and for buns I use Sof n Free styling gel (clear).

I use a protein conditioner as needed.

Photo courtesy of subject

Thank you so much for your responses, Temilola. And congratulations to your mum for her BC. Glad to see all the mums are joining in as well!

My quick wash and twistout

See this is the great thing about natural hair. You’re always discovering and learning… and if you’re anything like me, forgetting and re-learning.

Towards the end of last month, I started to get tired of twists and updos, and my general failings when it comes to styling.

After bemoaning, in my braidout post, the fact that I couldn’t get a twistout or braidout to last for more than a few hours, and spending months trying to crack the humidity code, I suddenly remembered how I used to do it back when I first started my healthy hair journey.

I only started doing braidouts on mostly dry hair when I was out of Nigeria for work, and discovered that they yielded much bigger, much more stretched out hair, however it suddenly hit me that when I used to set my twists or braids on wet hair, the result would last for at least 3 days. So I decided to give it a whirl again.

I divided my hair in 4 sections. Cowashed each section, rinsed, re-applied conditioner and finger detangled gently. (And to dispel rumours that every wash session has to take all day, this took a total of about 20 minutes. Note, however, that I skipped the deep conditioner stage). 

I rinsed my hair still in 4 sections, got out of the shower, undid each section, applied my leave-in and twisted into smaller sections like I normally do, but this time I added my styler at this stage. I waited a few minutes between shower and applying my leave-in, with my hair wrapped in a t-shirt, and that prevented the “dreaded drip-drip”. Pretty soon I was left with this (One hour total from the beginning of the wash, by the way):

Products used to style were Kinky Apothecary Whipped Batter and Pink Ecostyler

I left the twists in for about 2 days pinned up like so:

When it was time to take them down, I rubbed a tiny bit of jojoba oil in my palms and on my fingertips and lightly coated the twists with them.

I was left with this:

Yes yes, a trim was definitely in order. Has since been addressed but more on that later

Now I did this when I happened to be staying at my Grandma’s for the weekend. She lives in what can only be described as rainforest, and is literally the most humid part of Lagos I have ever been to (well, technically it is on the outskirts of Ogun State).

Several hours later though, my hair still looked like this:

Much later that night:

A close-up of the definition that night:

The next morning, after putting my hair in 2 loose “pineapples” and covering with satin scarf):

Pineappling hair overnight definitely stretches it out, making it bigger and fuller the next day

Ravaged by humidity near the end of the second day, but still going strong:

Yeeeeah...so it wasn't just my hair that was ravaged by the heat and humidity. Eek!

I only left it out for 2 days, as I then decided to experiment with an updo, but I am sure I would have made it to day 3, albeit much bigger and fluffier, and with much less definition, but still all good.

So there you have it, peeps. If it aint broke, don’t fix it. 

So in addition to the tips I gave in my braidout post for a longer lasting set, namely:

1/ Avoid humectants

2/ Use a product with hold

3/ Pay attention to your nighttime routine, and

4/ Do not use a liquid moisturiser in-between

add

5/ Style on damp to wet hair

to the list.

I was also able to demonstrate how wash days don't ALWAYS have to take hours.

I think I will go back to wet styling for the time being…well, until I’m distracted by something else again that is.

Until next time!

xx