Battle of the Foam Curl Mousses

Hi, loves!  I have been embracing my new cut and also my natural hair by find ways to wear it curly that do not make me feel like I look like a little boy (no, seriously...).  Ever since I got my hair cut, I was wearing it straight and while I was really, really loving it I missed my curls too.

However, I get a lot of shrinkage and I was on pins and needles when I thought about not wearing it straight.  I went online for suggestions and saw where a fellow naturalista raved about Nairobi Foam wrap for her wash-n-go's. Say what?!

It was late and the store was closed already but, I remembered that I still had some Creme Of Nature Argan Oil Style & Shine Foam Mousse 7oz under the sink.  I decided to try it out and prayed that it worked out.

I co-washed my hair with As I Am Coconut Cowash Cleansing Conditioner, 16 Ounce and applied the Creme of Nature mousse all over my hair saturating every strand.  I raked my fingers through, carefully separating my curls and then brushed the sides and back down.  I let my hair air dry over night and just fluffed my hair a little and walked out the door.

My curls were so defined with the right amount of hold and softness.  I love this stuff on my hair!

Fast forward to this week: I was in Target with my honey and I came across this Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Frizz-Free Curl Mousse 7.5oz.  I regularly use Shea Moisture shampoos and conditioners so I picked it up and decided to compare it to my beloved Creme of Nature Style and Shine Mousse.

I do not have any pictures of the after but, I'll just say that I did not get the results I was looking for.  I will say it is probably a good mousse if you have do not have a lot of shrinkage or if you have a looser curl pattern.

I liked how soft and light my curls felt with the Shea Moisture Mousse but, the next day I did not like how undefined my hair was and I had more shrinkage that I would have liked.  For now I'll stick with the Creme of Nature.  I am absolutely in love with my wash-n-go because of this product!

Next on my list to try? Nairobi Wrapp-It Shine Foaming Lotion, 8 Ounce


What do you use for your wash-n-go's?  Have you had luck with any foam mousses/lotions?

Short Hair Woes

Hi, loves!  You may remember me posting a few weeks back about how I went and got my hair chopped off to get damage I received after a stylist's straightening attempt left my hair straight up cinged.  My hair was breaking like crazy and my 3 years of hard work to go natural went down the drain in just a matter of days.

I got some Sengalese twists put in shortly after the cut and I took them out about a week ago.  I have no idea what to do with my hair and I really dislike the cut more than I thought I would. I have done wash-n-go's which are really cute for the first day but after that my hair feels and looks like a dry, Brillo pad (not really the look I'm going for). I have done finger coils also, which are pretty cute but after day 2 my hair looks and feels crazy again. With hair this short I can't just throw it up in a bun and be on my way like I used to.

I will say that wash day is essentially a breeze right now!  Besides that, I'm just not feeling it and it has seriously made me a recluse in the past few days.  Or when I leave the house, I don't go anywhere I can't wear my hat to.  Sad, I know.

I have always swooned over short, edgy styles on others and anticipated rockin' my short hair while I nursed it back to its previous length but it's just not working out *sigh*.  Guess I will be putting in some braids while it grows out some more.

Well if you didn't see it on Instagram, here is my official reveal:

Have you ever cut your hair drastically?  Did you like it at first?

Holiday Hair

I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving already! Before you know it Christmas will be here and then, New Years..eeek!  Lots of good home cookin' and fellowship will be had but, I am still trying to figure out what to do with this hair.  You may or may not already know about my recent hair fiasco that caused my hair to become severely damaged (if not you can read about it here).  Therefore, I am still nursing my hair but I still want to look cute at these upcoming gatherings, parties and for my birthday in about two weeks!

I plan to co-wash with Pantene Co-Wash, apply a Clairol semi-permanent rinse in Darkest Brown, then follow with Aphogee Keratin reconstructor to help keep this breakage at bay.  After that, my hairstyle for Turkey Day is still up in the air.  Here's what I'm considering:

My go-to twistout

Wash-n-go pony puff

Side pony puff

A goddess braid inspired by the beautiful MsDanti1

I would LOVE to do the goddess braid because I've never tried one before but, I'm not sure how that will look on me.  Guess I'll make my mind up tomorrow!

How will you be wearing your hair for Thanksgiving or for any of the other holidays this season?

Hair Talk: The Devil That is Heat Damage

Hi loves! Here I am again with another hair-related setback!  This one is even more devastating than the first.  The last one I talked about here when I had my hair colored late last year.  This time it is something I never really dealt with before in 3 years of being natural---heat damage.

I went to the stylist who did that crazy color job I talked about previously only because my other stylist was not available.  I figured it would not be another catastrophe because he had done my hair for 12 years prior to that and I was just letting him straighten it this time, not coloring it.  He had straightened my hair in the past numerous times and had always done a great job.  This time, not so much.

Red flag #1 was that after he shampooed and conditioned my hair, he immediately pull out his hand-held blow dryer and proceeded to use high heat on my sopping wet hair.  No attempt to detangle or anything.

I should have said something but, I didn't (lesson learned). After cringing and praying that my hair would be okay, when he was done he said, "I don't like how your ends are looking. I'll trim and we can do some protein treatments".  My color is growing out so, I just assumed that maybe it was due to damage from the color perhaps.

The day that I left the salon, my hair did not feel right.  There was no bounce, swang...nothing.  My hair felt limp and weighed down. My hair is pretty thick  and I only straightened my hair once every few months so, this time I knew that my hair had been damaged solely from this salon visit.

A few days ago, I decided to shampoo my hair and deep condition it with my Huetiful steamer and Carol's Daughter Treatment masque.  While shampooing in the shower, I noticed that when I was running my fingers through my hair too easily. I rinsed and rinsed some more hoping that my curls would come back.  I hopped out of the shower to take a look and I could not believe what I saw!  What the hell?

I do not have pictures of my wet hair because I was in tears! I have never seen such damage on my head before and I could not believe that my 3 1/2 year natural journey of being natural seemed like it was all in vain.  There were bone straight ends almost everywhere and the front of my hair was the worst where my hair was straight almost to the roots! In other areas, my hair was frizzy, dry and breaking off.

Here is what my twistouts and braidouts looked like before the heat damage situation:

Lawd, here's what it looks like now:

Do you see this? I attempted a twistout with perm rods on the ends and this is what I got! The thickness and texture I had is now gone and it has really made me feel self-conscious.  I know it's just hair but, it was mine.  I nurtured it, struggled with it and taught myself how to care for the past few years and I miss it!

My first thought is to go and get it cut short (like real short in the back and a little longer in the front) but, I don't know how that will look on me.  Then, I thought about getting some extension braids or twists put in to rest my hair for a while but I read somewhere that this is no-no on heat damaged hair because it could cause the hair to break even more.

I have no idea what to do but, for now I will be doing protein treatments until I can gather my thoughts and really wrap my mind around what I need to do.  I am also researching other blogs and sites for tips on getting rid of heat damage.  I need all the help I can get right now!

Have you ever had heat damage? What did you do to recover from it?

Hair Talk: Braidout Love

Tried something new....

....and I'm really feelin' it! This past weekend I pulled out my Huetiful steamer again and tried some gifted Carol's Daughter products because my hair was feeling super dry and in great need of some conditioning.  I never do braidouts but, I decided to try it out this time and I really love how my hair turned out.  What do you think?

What new style is next on your list? 

Hair Talk: Flexirod Love

For the past few months, I have started setting my hair on small flexirods for a curly look.  I usually do them on hair that has already been stretched from an old twistout or blown out.  I use about 42 flexirods (7 packs of 6) and a little Cantu Shea butter leave-in as my only product.  I sleep with them in and wake up to gorgeous curls that last about a week.  I love that the curls aren't extremely tight either but, have enough hold to last for a week or so.

Yellow flexirods (second to smallest size available)

3 day old flexirod set (excuse the Family Dollar bag in the back!)

 I used CourtneyNaturalHair's method of wrapping my hair around the flexirod instead of the way that I used to do it.  It works so much better for me!  Check it out!

Have you tried flexirods?