Thank you!!!

Thank you all for reading my blog! It means a lot to me!!

Much love to all my beauties!!

Stay beautiful xo

Hair Tip #6 - Untangling your hair

Happy Friday beauties,

Here is another hair tip for you ladies tonight. It's short, but hopefully it will tide you over until my next post!

Let's talk about an important topic: untangling those beautiful locks of yours. As some of you may not know, untangling your hair properly makes a major difference in the growth and quality of your hair. Using the proper tools (i.e. combs and brushes) and using the proper technique makes all the difference, in my opinion.

Here are a few things that have worked for me with both my natural and relaxed hair:

To untangle my hair, I tend to you a wide tooth plastic comb. It's soft on the scalp and soft on the curls. I normally use this type of comb while untangling wet hair to blow drying it.

When my hair is straight, I tend to opt for my handy soft bristle paddle brush. The tips are rounded as to not irritate the scalp, so it feels like heaven (especially when you have an itch, y'all know what I'm talking about). Again, with the bristle being soft, no damage is caused to the hair.

Now, onto the technique. It's always best to untangle the hair from tip to root. I know we were all conditioned to start from the top, but think of it this way: if you have knots in the middle of your  hair and you start untangling from the root, all you are doing is pulling your hair down, ultimately pulling good and knotted hair out. That's when you start seeing clumps of hair on your comb or brush. When you start from the ends, you are working out the knots all the way to your roots. By the time you reach the top of the hair section, no more knots! As simple as that.

Keep in mind that separating your hair in sections (four to eight on average) is always best. It minimizes the risk of creating additional knots.

Hope you enjoyed this short but sweet post!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my American readers, and to everyone else, enjoy your weekend!

-Stay beautiful xo!

Hair Tip #5 - Hair Products - Styling

Hello beauties!!

Sorry for the delay!! As promised, here is the third part of my hair routine series.

Once I have washed and conditioned my hair, I use curl activators or gel to bring out my curls.

My gel of choice is the EcoStyler Olive Oil Styling Gel extra hold. To prevent flakiness, I tend to mix this gel with some oil (usually my Doo-Gro) or some grease. Also, adding these to the gel keeps my hair from becoming too hard.  I tend to use gel when I want to get a 'wet', just got out of the shower look.

For everyday use, I tend to opt for curl activators. My ABSOLUTE favorite has to be the Softee Aloe Vera Activator Gel: For Extra Dry Hair. The difference between a curl activator and a gel is the softness of your curls after using the product. It also dries a lot quicker, in my opinion. Plus, since it's not a gel, the curls stay really bouncy.

Another curl activator that I have used in the passed is the Blue Magic Curl Activator. In all honesty, it's not my first choice, but if the store is out of Softee and gel, it does the trick. Though it says that there will be no flaking, I tend to find flakes the morning following the application, and I don't need anyone telling me that I have dandruff when I don't. I find that adding some hair lotion, grease or oil to the Blue Magic Curl Activator lowers the risks of flakes.

My method to apply the gel and curl activators is the same:

1. I start by making sure that my hair is still damp (I keep a full spray water bottle near me at all time).

2. I separate my hair in small sections, using professional hair clips.

3. I apply a generous amount of gel/activator on the section I'm working on.

4. I then pull out my curls with my fingers. From root to tip, I pull out the curls, and they will bounce back all defined.

5. Repeat the same thing for the rest of the sections.

When I'm done applying the product, I like to do a little shake and see where the curls fall. You can part your hair down the middle, or leave it messy, it's all up to you.

The next morning, to refresh your curls, you can simply spray your locks with water from your handy dandy water bottle. Just a few squirts and a little pulling of the curls and voila! Ready for day 2 :)

It used to take me 30 minutes to style my hair, now I'm done in less than 15 minutes.

Also, remember the smaller the sections the curlier the hair. So have fun with it!

Hope this helps beauties!!

Stay beautiful! Xo

Hair Update November 2012

Happy Movember beauties!!

As promised here is another hair update :) Winter can be pretty harsh season on natural hair, which is why I tend to wear braids or weaves (extensions) from September to March. People have different views on using extensions. Some say they promote hair growth, some say they don't. My point of view is that if they are done properly and not too tight, why not? Another thing that I noticed, is that keeping your braids or weave for 6 weeks or less reduces/eliminates breakage. Thankfully, my hairdresser is a natural beauty too, meaning she knows how to manage my locks with tender love and care! If any of you Montreal ladies need a referral  let me know, I would be happy to share her contact info. I will soon post pictures of different braid styles that she has done for me in a later blog. In the meantime, here are some pics of my hair taken yesterday evening :D

1. This picture was taken right after I removed my braids and untangled my hair with a wide tooth comb.

2. This picture was taken after one shampoo, a deep conditioner and two conditioners (some conditioner left over, of course).

3. This is my hair after using my hair gel to activate my curl.

4. This is my hair the day after (forgot to sleep with a cap on, but it still looks good). Keep in mind that my curls were not refreshed with water.

To obtain a lengthier look the following morning, I spray my hair with water and pull my curls down. But I also love my shrunken look :) 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and they will inspire you on your ongoing hair journey!!

Stay beautiful!! xoxo

Delayed posts

Hello beauties!! Just wanted to let you guys know that I will be posting two new posts by the end of the weekend! I have been a little under the weather and that is the reason for the delay ;) so keep an eye out for my new hair journey post and my styling post :)

Thank you to all of you who are sharing my blog with your friends and family. It means a lot to me. Please continue to share, follow and comment!!

-Stay beautiful xoxo

Hair Tip # 4 - Hair Products - Moisturizing

Moisturizing

Ola beauties!! Welcome to another installment of the 3 part hair care series J!! Today, I will talk about the different products I use to moisturize my natural locks.

The first step to keeping my hair silky, healthy and shiny (after a good conditioner, of course) is a good oil! A few years back, you would have had to pay me an extreme amount of money to oil my scalp or grease my hair. But I quickly learned that spending an extra 5 minutes oiling my scalp and sealing my ends went a hell of a long way.

Oils

In the last two three years, I've discovered two oils that I swear by. I've used them both on my chemically straightened hair and on my natural hair. The first one is the CHI Silk Infusion oil. CHI, for those who know the brand, is not the cheapest of products, but it works. The product is lightweight and doesn't give you that weird greasy feel, especially when your hair is straight. I put a quarter size amount in the middle of my palm, dip my fingers in it and massage my scalp. That's all I needed to do the trick. I do this process daily or every other day, depending on how dry my scalp gets.

Another oil that I absolutely love is my Doo-Gro Mega Thick Growth Oil. Thanks to the pointy tip, I use this oil on a daily basis. I apply the oil moderately to the scalp and use the tips of my fingers to massage thoroughly. Unlike the CHI Silk Infusion, this oil is slightly heavy, so putting too much can give you that greasy look. Keep in mind that this oil is a lot cheaper than the CHI, ranging between $3-$6, depending on the store.

Another oil that I have to mention is the Soft Sheen-Carson Optimum Oil Therapy – Featherlight Hot Oil. The bottle says: ‘Transforms dry damaged hair, Guards against shedding & breakage, Restores softness and elasticity with no greasy build-up’, and they are not lying. I first used this product when I first started my transition. I found it online, and thought I would try it out. Honestly, I wasn't disappointed. Like the name says, this product is extremely light; you barely feel it (which caused me to overdo it from time to time…oops). After two uses, I noticed a difference in how my hair moved and felt. I haven’t been able to find this product in my area, so I purchase it online at www.haircloset.com.

Grease

Moisturizing your hair would be completely ineffective without a good grease to seal the ends. To do so, I use the Doo-Gro Medicated Hair Vitalizer. Compared to other hair grease or pomades, it’s not thick. The best way to describe it would be ‘solid oil’. It has an oily feel as opposed to a gelatin feel like Vaseline. I apply this grease to the ends of my hair after oiling and/or putting some hair lotion. I part my hair in sections and seal the ends section after section.

Lotion

And finally, my hair lotion of choice is the Doo-Gro Mega Thick Anti-Thinning Growth Lotion. I usually apply it after towel drying my hair, before applying oil. It keeps my curls moisturized and bouncy.

Another beloved hair lotion is the Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil: Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion. It certainly does the trick when my Doo-Gro is running low.

I hope you will like these products as much as I do! If you have any questions about how to use these products or where I purchased them (especially if you are in the Montreal or Ottawa area) leave a comment or a message and I will gladly help you out.

The next post will be about styling your curls! Definitely the best part! So keep it locked ladies…

Until next time beauties! Xo