Hair After Braids...

So...I took my box braids out a few weeks ago. They did not make it as long as I would have liked for two reasons. One, they were super heavy and I felt like I kept hitting my baby with them! I was constantly swinging them out of my face, so much so that I felt like vintage Cher. Two, the ends were cut very blunt and straight across. To me they looked like the ends of shoe laces when they lose that plastic tip. Not cute, imo. Alas, I spent the better part of two days undoing braids, in between baby feedings, changings, and naps.

After the take down, I washed my hair, conditioned and detangled. Before I got the braids, my regimen would then have me set my hair in two low buns to stretch and dry. But I decided to do two-strand twists on wet hair for a defined twist out instead.

Because I am dying to try some new products, but vowed to use up the old ones I have first, I pulled out my jar of Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding to set my twists.

I did medium twists all over, applying a generous dollop of product to each damp section. I only used my fingers to part but I used my denman to smooth. After twisting all the hair I poured a small amount of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) in my hands and smoothed it over all the twists. I sealed each end with a tiny spot of shea butter.

I air-dried the rest of the day and that night. The next day, I took down each twist and voila!

Here I am a few days later with a bun (and the baby!) I retwisted the front few twists to redefine in case I wanted to wear it down again.

(Baby and I both LOOOOOVE our green Moby wrap)

***My Hair Routine***

My hair routine is pretty simple. Let me start by saying I do not know what my hair "type" is. Personally, I do not like to get into texture-typing simply because it seems limiting to me. That's not a judgment for those who do, it's just not my thing. I will say that I have at least three different textures going on with the front "bang" area being the loosest. Remember this is the part I killed with the flat iron the first time around. The crown is the tightest and tangles very easily. The back and sides are not as loosely curly as the front. When wet, my curls generally are the size of a pen but when dry they almost look like small springs. It is not silky but very soft and of course needs constant moisture.

Weekly: I wash with Carol's Daughter Rosemary Mint shampoo only once. I massage my scalp with the pads of my fingers then rinse well. I use Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner while I shower and then detangle with my Denman brush. While detangling I section my hair into 6 setions and two-strand twist each one once all the tangles are out. When this is all done, I rinse all of the conditioner out, leaving the twists in.


Bi-Weekly: I deep condition under my hooded dryer for 30 minutes to 1 hour using the Herbal Essences conditioner. I sometimes add some extra virgin olive oil to my scalp where I have dryness issues. I put my hair in a plastic cap and let the dryer do its magic! Then I will rinse and style. (Don't do this enough but it is a goal for 2009!)

So....that's really it. I use raw Shea butter to moisturize and I sometimes twist using IC Fantasia Styling gel for two strand twists, coils and braids.

Later I will do a post specifically discussing which products I use and why I like them. I also want to try some new products I have seen on other natural hair blogs so I will keep you posted on those as well!