The "Diva" Bun

I recently visited Chicago for a work conference and wanted to wear my hair in a no-fuss style for the week. It was BLAZING hot and I didn't want my hair down in my face or on my neck because we had to do alot of walking outside, mainly from the hotel to our corporate headquarters. I also wanted to do some site-seeing in general and just didn't want to have to mess with my hair. I had co-washed and conditioned my hair and put it in medium twists all over my head. I didn't want to take the twists down so I decided to put my hair up in a bun. But, I wanted a HUGE bun (of course) so I got some of the "Marley", Kanekalon hair from my local beauty supply (just one pack). I got the one that matched my hair color and texture the closest and 2 strand twisted the whole thing into one big twist. I then twisted that big twist around my own bun on top of my head and secured it with bobby pins all around. The results? Instant LOVE! This style was easy to do, easy to maintain - I just tied my hair down with a scarf at night and then spritzed my hair lightly in the morning with some Jamaican Mango & Lime No Itch Growth Spray. This style lasted a whole week and could've lasted several. I love it and will be wearing this style again. It's perfect for these hot summer days and it looks fantastic and regal, I think. I got so many compliments, not to mention a really great twistout once I took the twists down!

Check out more pics from my Chicago trip on my Youtube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pstaver1?feature=mhee

Ciao for now! :)

I'm Baaaack!!! (Again)

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted on this blog. I've been busy. Alot going on. I'll try to do better from now on. O_o

Updates. Well, let's see. My hair has grown quite a bit since I last blogged. It was well past shoulder length (stretched) up until about 1 month ago. I had a little bout with SSKs (single strand knots) and nightmar-ish detangling so I had to trim my ends about a month ago. I think I trimmed a good 1 1/2 - 2 inches. So, no my hair is back to just past shoulder length, but, it's growing. I have TONS of products that I need to give away or use up, but I'm only feeling a few right now. I'm also currently engaged in the "Curly Girl" method, co-washing weekly and clarifying with a mild sulfate shampoo maybe once a month. I like the results so far. My hair stays moisturized, for the most part, and detangling has become almost a breeze after co-washing.

Right now I pre-poo with extra virgin olive oil and Aussie Moist condish. I know Aussie Moist has "cones" in it and the true Curly Girl method avoids cones, but, it works best for my hair and I do shampoo once a month to clarify so my hair is doing quite well. I follow up my co-wash with Kinky Curly Knot Today leave-in (still my staple leave-in), I detangle with this, in sections, of course, then add some shea butter to seal and finally just plain old Aloe Vera gel as a styler. This combo of products is WONDERFUL. I usually twist my hair up into medium/chunky sections and then style my hair in an updo for a couple of days to a week or longer until I get ready to wash again. I'm really feeling keeping my hair in twists. I also spritz it lightly every morning with Jamaican Mango & Lime No More Itch Gro Spray. I love this stuff. Great daily moisturizer, as it's main ingredient is water. I seal that with a light spray of ORS Olive Oil Sheen Spray. A couple of days before I wash, I might take my twists down and wear an AWESOME big twistout. I seem to have gotten my twistouts to look great just about everytime now. Really feeling good about my hair these days :)

Thinking about revamping my blog and Youtube channel or starting a new one. I think I want to focus more, now, on presenting info and pics and tips for just the average natural curly - as opposed to the "super-gurus". I love the natural hair icons and their beautiful heads of hair, but I know for me it really helps to see average, everyday curlies with hair like mine, styling and working their hair. Does that make sense?

Well, Above are a few recent pics. Also, check out my Youtube channel for more pics and videos!

http://www.youtube.com/user/pstaver1?feature=mhee

Ciao for Now!!
Pam

When You Can't Get Your Hair to Look Like "HERS"!

(The first two pictures are OBVIOUSLY not me - LOL, they are file photos taken from Google Image Search)

In the last year or so, since I started this natural journey, I have often become inspired and irritated both at the same time, by new hairstyles that I've discovered. I'll spend time searching the web for a really cute idea for my hair, particularly a protective style; find the one that I really like and study the technique to achieve the style; then gather up all the necessary tools and items to duplicate this style I just studied (*anticipation mounting*). I'll start out so excited, following all of the steps as closely as humanly possible, but soon thereafter the frustration begins to build as I discover that I just can't get my hair to do THAT! Either my hair is not long enough, TOO long in some cases, not the right curl pattern for some styles, too uneven in some instances or, the one that I hate the most, too freakin' THIN in the front! Grrrrrrrr!!!!!


Its taken me a little while to figure it out, but, because my hair is thinner and has a slightly looser curl pattern in the front, and because of the shape of my face, I have to modify a lot of the styles that I see to fit me, my head and my bone structure. I recently tried to duplicate a style that I found on You Tube that I thought was just sooo cute - I thought the You-tuber and I had similar hair texture and length so I figured it would look perfect on me. Fail, Fail MISERABLE FAIL!!! What looked super cute on her looked really stupid on me because my face is just too long and the hair in the front of my head is just too thin to wear all pulled back away from my face. I need to have some kind of distraction going on up at the front of my head- either a cute headband accessory, or a style with some volume or structure (a pomp, a flat twist, SOMETHING). I don't even like the way my hair looks parted down the middle, unless it's in a twist out style, framing my face with some height at the crown. Generally, though, I end up parting or styling the front of my hair to one side, no matter what's going on with the rest of my head.

I did have an epiphany just recently, though. Indeed, we're all here to help, inspire, encourage and offer support to one another. I would never have made it this far in my journey to natural hair without the Internet and the natural hair community. But, those ideas, advice and suggestions are not there for you or me to copy to be just like someone else. When I take other people's styles that just don't "work" for me and modify them to look right on my head, I oftentimes end up liking them better on me than the original style that I was trying to copy. I have that - "Hey, I just created my OWN style", moment. And that, my friends, is pretty cool and is what this whole natural journey is all about...discovering what works best for YOU -- no matter your hair-type, texture, thickness, (or lack thereof!) Just do you, boo;)

Ciao for now!
Visit my You Tube channel: "Over 40 Curly" www.youtube.com/user/pstaver1