Big + bouncy | updated

Sorry kids, you need to see how it looks front-on, and ignore my Carnival mention, I meant to post this a week ago *does dance*

Has anyone else tried curling rods for stunning, soft curls? Because I just tried them and ooh honey, I am in love! The softness, the curl, the bounce! 

In the past I would have achieved this look by using straighteners or  tongs, but these days I’m not about damaging my hair in any way, shape or form, so I tried curling rods and I’m converted.

The only major downside to achieving this look, as with most natural styles, sans heat, is the time issue. Thankfully I was off work, but it literally took all day: my sister put the rods in my hair around 10am. We left for dinner at 6.30pm. I walked the dog (outside!), in these rods, nipped to the supermarket, pottered around the house and quickly collected something I’d left in the gym. They were in my hair the whole day. But damn it was worth it. 

Longevity is also an issue: this look lasted all of an evening. Eight hours drying time for one evening. The sacrifices naturals make is real, but still, I loved this look! 

How I did it: allowed my hair to get slightly wet in the shower, worked ✨GROWTH✨ leave-in conditioner through my hair, separated it into sections, which I brushed out so they were smooth, then wrapped each section around the rod and BOOM, hair done, set and ready to dry for the rest of the day. 

The KEY here is that my hair was slightly, and I mean really a tiny bit, damp: when it dries, it holds the curl, unlike if you did it on dry hair.

I absolutely love how it looked afterwards. I’ll be rocking this look again shortly, I’m just currently headed to London, fr Notting Hill Carnival (!) whooooy! Where beautiful hair ain’t necessary: I want it big and crazy 👊🏾🇯🇲✨

GROWTH

Excited to announce that my product is here: GROWTH is a blend of Shea butter and Rosemary essential oil, an exclusive blend proven to stimulate the scalp, repair, replenish, soften and heal hair to reveal a gorgeous crowning glory.

I am thrilled to share it with my followers: if you’d like some, let me know (!!!)

Results can be seen in all of my photos where I’ve tagged GROWTH, or my home-made product: this is what I’ve been working on, it’s finally here, and I can’t wait to spread the hair joy with others and help them realise how gorgeous their hair can be, naturally. 

Travel hair, Crete

I’ve been island–hopping lately…

Now is all that travel good for the hair? I’m not entirely sure, but I know it does get dry from the recirculated air on a flight, the mixed UK temperatures (standard) and then hot, wind-less temps when I step out of the airport into a new country. 

Sigh. Keeping your hair healthy let alone looking decent is an effort, but I’m determined to make it easier. As per, the practice is always more difficult than the method, and my recent trip really tested this theory: my twin sister and I were heading to Crete, Greece for a wedding, in the middle of July. Yep, this actually happened, sweat and all.

In a bid to keep my curls stunning, I packed my rich GROWTH leave-in hair conditioner, but I couldn’t bring my castor oil because I only brought my small carry-on. There wasn’t any need to worry however, because we happened upon some superb Cretan olive oil. My God it smelled fantastic. 

Okay so many people turn their nose up at putting runny olive oil on their scalps compared to highly-prized coconut, castor or shea, but it’s was a bloody dream. 

The locally-made oil was a bit thicker than the stuff I’d bought at home, and it softened my skin something ridiculous, so I put it on my scalp. 

The difference was unreal. My hair looked beautiful for the wedding, and even during a few salty beach trips my hair stayed gorgeous. I felt and saw the results the most however, when I came home and rinsed my hair after using it on my scalp for one week. My God, my hair was like silk. Literally silky soft to the touch. 

Olive oil: something from the Gods. Note, my sister and I also found wonderful organic brand too, it was just a smidge pricey for the amount you get, and the amount, with my hair, I’d use. Nonetheless a great hair oil, just a darn shame there wasn’t more of it. 

More travel hair tips coming as I mooch around this little earth. 

The Afro One

My big sister is a natural. But I remember the day my sister went blonde. Her hair broke off. 

Go back five years and she’d been dying her relaxed hair about 5 different shades of red from purple-tinged to a deep burgundy. Then she decided to go for blonde highlights. That’s when her hair broke off. 

It was a turning point, a lot of naturals have that moment, and whilst it’s somewhat of a cliche, when your hair literally snaps from the damage you’ve done, well, it’s a wake-up call.

The top photo shows the results of a china bumps twist-out my twin sister and I did on her hair using Crete olive oil and my rich leave-in hair conditioner, rich in rosemary and Shea.

To clarify, my big sister’s hair was damp from giving it a thorough rinse in the shower. We separated the hair and started with oil at the roots, giving it a brief massage to stimulate growth, then again starting at the roots worked the leave-in conditioner through her hair. We finally finished it off with a bit more oil in the hair from root to tip, to seal it in. We wound the hair pretty tightly, and the secured it with hair grips. 

Now my big sister insisted that she  should sleep with her hair like this otherwise it wouldn’t dry. Afro hair is different to mine, my sisters curls are tighter than mine, and she has high porosity, so retaining moisture and maintaining her hair is more trying than my own. It’s a different approach, so I couldn’t help but wonder how her hair would look and feel after a china bump 48-hour twist-out. 

The results were gorgeous. Her hair was big, soft, and held its shape. But once we came home we thought we’d give some curling jelly a try to see if it made any difference: 

My big sister has never used curling jelly before and this time, whilst she practised the same method of oil and leave-in conditioner, a variation on the LOC method, she used a well-known curling jelly to see if it was up to all the hype.

In my big sister’s opinion her hair  was more springy, the jelly seemed to lock in the moisture and her curls were more tight than a twist-out without the gel.

I love these gorgeous curls and the tightness of a twist-out. 

My sister’s hair has grown so much since that big chop where it was no more than 2 inches long (!) Her hair is now a big and beautiful softness that I am in love with. She has embraced her natural self, shrinkage and all, and I couldn’t be more in love with her journey (even the struggles, the constant effort, the beauty)

Stunning, striking, strong. Grown. 

Travel hair, Abu Dhabi

Squinting due to the Arabian sun burning my eyes has always been a look, afforded those who travel often. Yeah that’s me below. 

post-pool

shrinkage begins post-dip

I’ve been away – the states and the UAE – sorry for the lack of posts, life has been going at 100mph, and won’t be slowing down any time soon. I love travel, but my British hair isn’t used to such heat and let me tell ya, the frizz was real. 

How’d my hair cope in this heat? It wasn’t a major struggle thanks to my extra thick protective leave-in hair conditioner I packed in preparation, but damn did I go through it quickly.

I bought two 500g pots of the stuff with me – enough to share with my two sisters for two weeks. 

This protective cream is formulated for those in dry climates whose hair suffers as a result, so if you’re holidaying for two weeks or more in some gorgeous part of the world and don’t want horribly thirsty locks, I couldn’t recommend this more.

Like most people who holiday I was in the sea, feeling like a mermaid with beautiful natural hair, until a wave took me by surprise and temporarily drowned my dreams. Hair salty, gorgeously dripping down my back (for all of 20 minutes thanks to the blistering heat), 

I will say one thing though. The heat made for a superb, intense heat method a lot of people practice when they wash their hair: a couple of times I washed* my hair, and enjoyed my normal routine of castor oil infused with rosemary and lavender applied to my scalp, then applied my protective leave-in conditioner to my basically soaking hair. Bikni on, I’d laze for half an hour on the terrace, and womp 30 minutes later my hair was practically dry and gorgeous curls ensued.

I did this a few times when I was Orlando, Florida.

And whilst it’s a bit annoying walking with damp (okay, wet), hair, if you live in a hot country, it’ll dry. For those that don’t, don’t practice the wet hair look (it could drip on to someone’s paper on the tube, or down your back as you’re walking to work, a vile feeling, trust meh. 

Other than the air-dry ‘technique’ and my using the extra rich leave-in conditioner, there’s not much else I could be arsed to do: I was on holiday. No magic required, after allowing the leave-in conditioner to sink in for at least 3 hours, my hair looked beaut. 

I stretched it too, because I just wasn’t in the mood for that real shrinkage look. 

 Thank God for expertly made, organic products that work. 

About time

Hello, it’s been a while …

Apologies for the delay, life has been going at 100 miles a minute lately and I’ve been in and out of the country as well as up and down it. But kids, my hair has stayed so pretty after I discovered a new way to make my curls gorgeous and lock in moisture. Details and results below: 

Can I just have a moment though? My hair’s really grown! Yes! Anyways, post-shampoo (where I literally rinse my hair under the shower head, no actual shampoo touched my scalp). I apply Jamaican black castor oil to my scalp. I’m not as thorough as I could be about this, but I do it almost all-over.

Yes I did spill a bit of oil down myself, let’s not dwell on it, shiny means moisturised in my books anyway…so I then get a small amount of my extra thick hair conditioner (what I used in Abu Dhabi in the 40-degrees heat, more of that in my next post), and work it through my hair.

As you can see, whilst I’m working it through and somewhat stretching my hair, it still shrinks – I suffer too, trust me.

My thirsty locks need extra-thick leave-in conditioner, especially when I’m in different cities, where the temperature drops/rises, so the product might look a bit thick for some people, cool, I know what my hair needs though, and this is it.

This video explains it a bit better:

So you’ve don’t the above? Great, the last time I practised the next step was bed time so I used it straight away, but if you have a few hours (like I did this time), allow the leave-in conditioner to sink in for at least two hours whilst you’re doing what you’re doing. When it comes to snooze time, grab a plastic bag.

Wrap it as best you can, as you would a scarf around your head. The plastic won’t absorb any product, meaning it stays nourishing your curls.

The results are stunning. Annoyingly I only took one decent photo because I was rushing that morning, sorry, but thoughts? I love how defined the curls were and soft my hair was!

Promise Ill take a better shot next time

And a random action-shot.

Thoughts below please; have you used the plastic bag method? Am I being really slow with this? It works better for me than wasting my product on a cloth or silk scarf that absorbs the leave-in conditioner whilst I’m sleeping. Thoughts fellow beauts. Thanks.

Spring

Isn’t sunshine just glorious? Golden gloops of happiness come shining down and make everything look wonderful. Fact.

Spring has broke through this side of May, and I feel like a sunshine buttercup.

During such loveliness and sudden warmth I don’t want my hair on my face, it gets in the way and I don’t need that, thanks.

So I like it back, off my face, but not always in a bun and I’ve been fawning over styles at the 2016 Met Gala and well as constantly being inspired by insta women rocking cornrows since I did my braids.
So in a bid to satisfy my lean towards freshness, a clean, youthful palette, I thought I’d strip it back and do some pretty cornrows, in a gypsy-style look. I say gypsy because I always find a middle parting more of a bohemian, just-been-chillin-in-the-forest look.

This took me 10 minutes: seperate hair, brush until smooth, put virgin coconut oil, shea butter and three drops of Rosemary essential oil in your hair, and canerow.

And I absolutely love it. I always favour a neat, pared-back look.

Happiness in a hair style, eh? Do you ever braid your hair and feel like a gypsy queen? Or an indie doll? I do.

B r a i d s

  

So it seems like everyone is celebrating the cornrows these days: the tight, neat plait is being hailed as a 90’s throwback, married with sport luxe and a generous dose of rude gyal with Fila, Kalla and Le Coq Sportif. 

Yeah, plaited hair is having a moment. I just wanted a change and ahh these mermaid-length braids are doing it for me. 

  

I feel like a mix of a Native American woman keen to keep her hair functional, off her face, easy to manage, and a long-locked Disney princess meets Nubian queen. If long braids make me feel like a mix of cultures (Disney, is like, American culture, right?!) then yes, I like this look.  
Ahh, new hair feels…

Shoutout to my big sister who made me want braids in the first place, all the girls on Insta I fawn over, Zoe Kravitz, who made me see that long, lived-in braids are just bloody cool, and all the naturalistas trying out protective styles, keeping their hair strong and who aren’t afraid to experiment.  

  
Yes I’ve used synthetic for a bit of length, but I just want to look like my big sister, who rocks long (typically thicker) braids, and who iI love and respect dearly. She also resembles Bey’ in Formation (hanging out the car, schwinging dem locks) when she’s got braids in. 

  

Whether or not you like the braids, you have to appreciate the effort; I did it myself and it took me seven hours over the weekend, (a very long morning), but I’m really happy with it.

I haven’t been anywhere near a hairdressers in about eight years because I just hate them. I’m sure I can do my hair myself, especially my natural hair. I’ve done weave myself before, straightenes my natural hair, tonged and put extensions in, so braids, were an absolute breeze, just a bit achy on my fingers and time consuming.   I hated it at first – do you guys ever feel like that when you have new hair? I was like meh, do I hate it? Do I actually feel disgusting? After talking with my sister about it, who mostly laughed at me, I realised I was being a silly sod, and forgot that new hair takes time to get used to. Two days in and I am feelin’ myself.

  
Thoughts? Do you guys switch it up and for the first hour/day decide that you hate it? And then, once you’ve played with a few partings, and become used to this long/ short/ curly/ straight head of hair, you love it (and realise why you changed it to this style in the first place).

  
I do, and I’m now pretty damn happy. Unsure how long I’ll keep these braids in, but either way, big smile so my gums show and don’t care about potential wrinkles forming, kinda beam. 

Length: How I got it

Length is something hard to come by, and once you get it, you hold on awful tight, not so tight that you break it mind, but with a strong enough grip that you retain that sought-after length. That’s what I’m doing anyway. How, you ask? With my all-natural hair conditioners, the one that got me to this very stage: Length.

Length isn’t just about long hair (I mean it really is!), but also helping to restore moisture to dry locks, hair that is broken

I have two natural hair conditioners, but Length is what I swear by, what I’ve given to others who have raved about how much stronger and healthier their hair looks and feels. I mean it when I say I believe in the strength of nature, the proof is quite literally in the (big hair) poof.

At the base of Length is shea butter, along with other carrier oils, which have been proven to stimulate growth, repair cuticles, and soften hair.

Black castor oil

 

Black castor oil is an antiseptic, anti inflammatory oil, derived from the castor plant. It stimulates prostglandins which are in certain parts of the body including the scalp. Some say this is the reason why it triggers hair growth. I won’t make such claims, but it’s got my hair this long.

Avocado oil

 

High in fatty acids and vitamin E, avocado oil penetrates the hair shaft, allowing hair to retain oil post-shampoo, smoothing cuticles, so it doesn’t feel dry because the cuticles are quite literally smoothed down by oil which is absorbed by hair, forming a protective layer on every strand (straighteners come try it! Jokes, no heat. Whatsoever).

Now, what’s really helped my hair are the essential oils I use in Length. It is rich in lavender, rosemary and cammomile essential oils from those gorgeous flowering plants.

Lavender calms tense scalps and relaxes stressed hair thanks to its properties. But it’s not just a relaxing oil.

I recently read a study where alopecia areata patients massaged their scalps daily for 7 months. Half of the patients used lavender essential lavender oil during the massage, and reported considerably hair re-growth over the control group that simply used scalp massage alone. I’m not taking this as gospel, but it’s interesting no?

Pensive. Yup, that’s a nipple.

Rosemary, rich in antioxidants is a natural stimulant and has been purported to boost hair growth. I don’t believe the hype, but my research shows that rosemary is in fact an anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial oil, so any itchiness, dryness, or soreness (dandruff/ psoriasis), will be obliterated once you use this (I’ve suffered in the past and now boast a dandruff-free scalp!).

Rosemary also promotes blood circulation when applied to the scalp. I’m really not a fan of ridiculous claims, but my hair hasn’t been longer.

Cammomile soothes sore scalps and naturally softens hair thanks to its high concentration of a-bisabolol which promotes granulation (healing), is an natural anti-inflammatory oil and is also a great tissue regenerator.

I washed my hair yesterday and put Length all over. Note this is about 10 minutes post-shower (with nothing in my hair), and below is 15 minutes after working the product through my hair.

Holding on tight; this is my hair, I’m looking after it, I want it to be long, strong, healthy and just beautiful because it’s one less thing I have to think about.

Deets on my other product coming soon. Until then, feel free to ask me all about Length.

Unwashed

Curls are a bit wild this morning, hair is big and dry; I haven’t washed it for a more than a week. 

  

I won’t lie, it feels scandalous not washing it on my normal wash day, but ooh it looks good.

 
I was supposed to wash it yesterday morning, combating the bushy, dry, slept-on hair. But instead, I put Length in my hair, my heavy hair conditioner, worked it through for about five minutes and put it up in a bun. 

  

If I’m honest I just needed a bit of moisture to help it get in a bun, but I was tentative to take it out this morning expecting conditioner blobs on dry hair, but this morning it looks like this:   

  

No particular shape but I like it nonetheless. 

  
How’s your unwashed hair looking, naturals? Because I am feeling this!