Janelle Monae

I did a quick and simple protective style on my daughter's hair, I call this the Janelle Monae. All you need to create this style is a few bobby pins or those little clips with the teeth(the one that looks like a mini comb), a hair brush, and any accessory of your choice. Start from the back of the hair and twist the hair upward toward the front of your head, insert the bobby pin or the clip to hold the twist in place. Stop about a third of the way up to create the puff in the front, and remember the pin down the excess hair.

Curlformers vs Flex rods

So since I took that vow to never apply heat to my baby girl's hair a few months back, I was on a mission as to how one could achieve beautiful curls without heat. This brought me to the discovery of curlformers. Depending on the results that your looking for curlformers and flex rods can produce two different style of curls. Flex rod curls to me tend to be a bit tighter and controlled while curlformers tend to be more lose and free. If installed properly both heatless curling mechanism can create beautiful volumizing curls. How do you use them?, well its very simple. With the rods you can wet the hair with water, wrap lotion, hair smoothie or etc, then just take the rod and carefully wrap your hair around the rod and bend the rod to hold the hair in place( hair can be wrap horizontal, vertical, or diagonal ). The curlformers are as easy as 1 2 3, just take the hair damp or dry and place it into the hook needle and pull though the curler.  For my wedding I curled my daughter's and my niece's hair with flex rods and needless to say I was pleased with the results. Whichever you choose it is a personal preference, so have fun creating fun and stylish curls.

I curled the girls hair with flex rods and a bun in the back 

FLEX RODS

CURLFORMERS

Protective styles and new products

My goal is to attain more volume and thickness for Niah's hair 

I've added some new products to my daughter's hair regiment, which are Cantu shea butter no dip hair and scalp oil, Shea Moisture yucca and baobab thickening shampoo and volumizing conditioner. What I love about these products are they make her hair very soft and moisturize. You can find any of these hair products at your local beauty supply stores, Walmart, Target, or Walgreens. Lately I've been doing a lot of protective styles and extra tlc, because I want to simulate rapid growth. My goal for her hair is for it to double in length by this time next year and most importantly for it to be healthy. What I've notice about her hair is the back growths a lot faster than the front so,every now and then I trim the back so it can be some what even with the rest.  

Mini twists and length test

One of my favorite protective style is mini twist. I like these because there fun and very easy to do, plus this style can last for awhile with care You can keep protective styles in for awhile just remember to co-wash in between, she had her twists in for three weeks. Below are pictures of a few other protective styles.

Twist out and bun  (always add accessories for a finishing touch) 

Bigger twists which  I eventually twisted out  and accentuated with a bedazzled headband

Heart front beaded mohawk with twisted ends 

                                                                                 

Don' t forget to moisturize your scalp and massage your scalp for 30 minutes at lease twice a week  :)

                                               HAPPY SCALP= HEALTHY HAIR 

Mo/Fohawk

This is a quick and simple on the go Mohawk... every now and then I give her hair a breather from the protective styles. 

Mohawk 

Pre- Pooing 101

               After doing some  researching , I learned that pre -pooing is a very vital step in the natural care hair community. Below is a brief paragraph that I found on  http://www.curlynikki.com/2012/06/why-you-should-add-pre-pooing-to-your.html about why and what is pre- poo.  Every time we shampoo and condition our hair or even add significant amounts of water to our hair the hair shaft needs to expand in order to accommodate the extra water. When our hair dries the opposite occurs – the hair contracts. Repeating this process over and over again can create damage to the hair cuticle initially because it can be chipped off. Subsequent damage can be caused to the hair fiber leading to split ends and breakage. Textured hair tends to absorb more water during this process than other hair types and is therefore more susceptible to damage. This contraction and expansion of the hair fiber is known as hygral fatigue. How does this work? When coconut oil is applied to the hair as a pre-shampoo or pre-wetting treatment a small amount of the oil can be absorbed into the hair and can penetrate under the cuticle when the hair fiber swells. Coconut oil has a strong affinity for hair proteins and can protect the hair by binding to these proteins. This reduces the protein’s ability to bind to water molecules resulting in less swelling, less contracting and less trauma. 
         This site was very informative and I now know why this needs to be apart of me and my daughter's hair regiment. 

Organic Coconut oil  is one of the top recommended oil for pre- pooing so I went out and purchased it from my local Pathmark for $9.99. I also purchased Jamaican  coconut
black castor oil,  which I plan on adding with the coconut oil , along with Jojoba oil as my pre-poo regiment. 

Two strand twist & out

I did the usual wash, deep conditioner treatment, and moisturizing of  her scalp.
Then I did a two strand twist set, which I did while her hair was damp. I find it
better to add the olive oil to her hair while its wet.

Two strand twist out...there are so many different styles you can do with this twist out.

After math

I love Bantu knots because its fun & very simple to do. You can wear your knots on the go, or untwist them for a more fun and playful look.

This is what her hair looks like after I took out the Bantu knots... I applied a little bit of water
& olive oil to her edges, brushed it and then finish with a headband. Niah loves her accessories.