Marley Twists Redo

So, my Marley Twists held up all week for the most part. Only four got loose at the roots so I had to redo them mid-week. Fortunately, my hair is long enough so there was never any fear about them slipping off my head to be left behind at my desk, the grocery store or the gas station.

I'd never done anything like this before, so first I watched a ton of YT vids to see how to best approach this. The general consensus is to add the hair to blow-dried or stretched air-dried hair. But, this weekend I opted to redo them and had much better results on wet hair!

Prior to reinstalling, I washed my hair as usual, applied Giovanni Direct Leave-In Weightless Moisture Conditioner and  OBI Natural Hair Care's Curl Enhancing Custard to one inch sections of my hair and then twisting in the Marley hair.

I LOVE Marley Twists!

Immediately I noticed a remarkable improvement compared to last week. This time around, my roots are tight and the Obi product, which has a gel-like consistency, helped my own hair blend with the Marley hair. Doing this on wet hair also shaved two hours off last week's time of six hours! While my hair air dries overnight, I suspect I won't have any slippage or loosening of the roots as the week goes by although I liked the loose, fuzzy roots look better.

So, when it's time to do my Havana Twists, I think I'll be doing them on wet hair. Anyone else prefer to add extensions to wet hair?

Flexirods Can Be Fun!

For the past week, I've been on all the social sites, researching Flexirods. So, before we plummet into winter temps, I decided to try my hand at them , too! Armed with 6 6-packs of 5/8-inch rods in two different lengths, this is how I did my own Flexi set.

After my weekly protein steam deep treatment, and washing and conditioning, I finger parted my hair from ear to ear, split those sections in two and clipped them all out of the way. To keep my hair damp, I spritzed with aloe vera gel mixed with distilled water and began applying Giovanni Direct Leave-In Weightless Moisture Conditioner to the first section followed by an old favorite, Organic Root Stimulator's Carrot Oil.

I've always loved the smell, and how soft and shiny it makes my hair.

All of my research revealed a cream "moisturizer" is one of two ingredients needed to get bouncy spiral curls from a Flexirod set. A lot of people use Miss Jessie's Quick Curls or Curly Pudding, but I've never used the first and the latter doesn't agree with me. So, I used what I knew worked for me!

After applying the Carrot Oil cream, I then applied a little bit of As I Am Naturally's Curling Jelly. I still had two sample packs they'd sent me, but only needed one pack for my whole head. I'm not a fan of gel, but I only used enough to give my hair a little bit of slip.

Then, I brushed the section with my Denman until it was as smooth as possible before applying an end paper to the end of my hair. Last step was rolling the hair in a vertical direction from bottom to top and fold over the ends of the rods to secure. It's very important to maintain tension while rolling.

My research also revealed that some people sleep in these things overnight or sit under a hooded hair dryer. I know I didn't roll the rods that tight, but after a few hours, they started hurting my head so I knew sleeping in them wasn't an option. I also don't own a hooded hairdryer, so this is what I did:

I grabbed a plastic grocery bag, stretched it out a little, put it over my head and stuck my hair dryer inside on the low/hot setting. In a few seconds, hot air was circulated all over my head and my hair was dry in about 30 minutes!

I was a little nervous to remove the rods because the hair has to be absolutely dry before you remove them, but I was excited about the shine and how smooth my hair was. A few spots didn't have enough tension, but for a first try with rollers of any type, I was pretty pleased with the anticipated results.

Just look at that silky shine!

With the Flexirods removed, I see a few trouble spots, but I think the effort is definitely worth it. I just need to get more rods and maybe some smaller sizes, and to maintain tension on every single section of hair. It's obvious I took more care with the Flexirods on the lower half of my hair and less on the upper half, so next time around, I know what to do and my Flexirod set will be perfect. I left the hair like this overnight, but will post a pic of my hair tomorrow after I've separated the curls and fluffed my hair!

I am so digging these curls!

Tune in tomorrow for the final results! I'm praying I don't turn out looking like Little Orphan Annie, so...

The final results!

I think I'd like to try this again, but I definitely need more rods as I put too much hair on a some so my hair wasn't smooth in a few spots. The true test is how long this look will last! Stay tuned, though! I just got a package from Finger Comber today! I'm using two of their styles for my winter hair and I'll be placing another order for a third winter hair style!

Counteracting Heat Damage

With temperatures plummeting, I decided last week to flat iron my hair one more time this year before my hair goes into hibernation. Normally, I'm very careful when applying heat, but I did miss a few steps and did a doozy on my hair. When all was said and done, I don't think I could've paid my comb to get anywhere near my roots and my ends (going up three to four inches towards my head) felt rough and crispy.

Unable to properly comb my hair and panicking about the damage I might have done to the hair I'd worked so hard for over the last two years, I spritzed it down, slapped in my hair butter and wore the most gorgeous bantu knot out I've ever achieved for the rest of the week. How's that for irony?!

After much Googling, YTing and reading product reviews, I resolved to hot foot it to Sally's Beauty to save my hair although I am fully aware that heat damaged hair cannot be saved. But, I just couldn't fathom cutting off three to four inches of my hair after working so hard to take care of it for the past two years! 

So, here is my 911 Regimen to Rescue Heat-Damaged Hair:

• I parted my hair in four sections, spritzed each section with a random conditioner mixed with water and detangled. Then I applied Queen Helene Professional Cholesterol.

I prefer LeKair Cholesterol with Aloe, but Sally didn't have it and I had a 911!

• After steaming with the Cholesterol, I hopped in the shower to wash my hair with ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair. I was shocked how well this worked. My hair felt clean and indescribably different, but not stripped. And, I only had to apply it once!

I used so little of this, I think this bottle is going to last a whole year.

• After just one shampoo application, I then applied ApHogee Keratin 2 Minute Reconstructor and left it on for five minutes. This product has more slip than you can ever hope for and it left my hair feeling smooth and soft.

Again, a little bit goes a long way!

• Post-shower, I wanted to add a little extra oomph to my hair so I spritzed each section with ApHogee Keratin & Green Tea Restructurizer. The idea is not to saturate the hair with this product, so I just spritzed each section a few times after a brief comb-through. Ideally, you're supposed to apply heat to your hair after applying this, but body heat works fine too according to the directions.

I have mixed feelings about this as it made my hair feel a little weird.

• The final steps in saving my hair was to apply my Giovanni Direct Leave-In Weightless Moisture Conditioner to each section and then separating each section so I got two twists out of each section. Then, I put huge bobby pins on my roots, pulled all my twists to the back of my head and banded them into a pony tail with two scrunchies to stretch the hair as it dries over night. I also tied a satin scarf on my head so my edges lay down. I'll twist my hair tomorrow when my hair is dry.

You're probably wondering if any of this worked and while it's too soon to tell how much damage was done, I can assure you that my hair is going to be just fine. My curls returned as soon as I washed my hair and I had more curls than I've ever had by the time I rinsed out the conditioner. Only one small section was wavy versus curly, but my hair's always been like that. I had not one single shaft of straight hair! 

So, ApHogee gets two coils up! My hair was left feeling soft and smooth, and has lots of shine and sheen and I haven't even applied my hair butter yet! I also was shocked that only ONE hair was in my detangling comb when I detangled a second time and that NEVER happens! I am definitely going to use this as a one-time monthly regimen.

NOTE: While my hair loves protein and is treated to some type of protein treatment every week, a lot of people have protein-sensitive hair. If you are protein-sensitive, I'd do a strand test first. Also, ApHogee products are designed to work together to repair your hair, so I wouldn't recommend subbing or swapping out products when using ApHogee. And, please thoroughly read AND follow the directions when using these products.

P.S. Assuming the worst, I was planning on using ApHogee Two-Step Protein Treatment but I'll save that for another day and hopefully that will be a day when I want versus need to use it!

This is a heavy-duty treatment not for the faint of heart!

Loose Twists with Giovanni Direct Leave-in Conditioner

I've been getting a little bored with my hair as of late, so I hopped on YouTube to find some inspirational ideas. I initially tried the Shea Moisture/EcoStyle method, but that was a HUGE no-no!

My search led me to Urban Bush Babe's Cipriana talking about loose twists. In case you don't know, loose twists are exactly what the name implies...you twist your hair as usual except you twist the hair tight at the roots and ends and loose in the middle. I wasn't sure if I should do my twists on wet or dry hair (I always do mine on wet hair), but a little chat with Alicia James revealed I should do this look on dry hair.

Beginning with freshly washed hair, I veered off my usual regimen and applied something new-Giovanni Direct Leave-In Weightless Moisture Conditioner. I think I'm in love and why have I not tried this before?! 

Direct Leave-In is a rich cream with a consistency similar to hair milk. Applied to wet hair that was allowed to partially air dry, Direct Leave-In has tons of slip, and left my hair feeling baby soft and very fluffy (which I love). It also gave me some definition, too. Best of all, I didn't feel this product in my hair, even while my hair was still wet! Direct Leave-In is also "organic" and void of all the icky stuff. 

As with any leave-in, I was nervous about trying this as I can always feel the product in my har, but Direct Leave-In did absolutely everything it was purported to do. I will definitely keep this in stock. Direct Leave-In gets two coils up!

Front view of loose twists

With Direct Leave-In in my damp hair, I decided to passively blow dry my hair-no tension was used to blow dry my hair with the intent of getting it straight. I just wanted my hair dry. Then, working in small sections, I applied Wash Day Bounce Butter on each section before twisting my hair tight at the roots, loose in the middle and tight on the ends.

Side view of loose twists

Overall, this took less time than wet twisting, even though I have three times more twists than usual. And, after sleeping on this with the fear of some unraveling, they're just fine the next day. I most definitely will keep this style and I love how it looks and how light my hair feels. This method and style gets two coils up!