Update!!

Well, since getting a little press at Today.Com my long-forgotten blog has been coaxed into a (quick) update. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, it was fall 2012. What can I say? Life has been very busy. JJ continues to love having her hair in protective styles that we leave in for 2-4 weeks. Lately she has been asking for cornrows, and I have been getting braver/more creative with designs/patterns. Here is her current style:

I am not making any promises, but I am feeling re-inspired to share....so maybe I'll be back without letting a year or so slip by. Next stop - the long forgotten Facebook page :)

Memories of Summer

Hi all! It has been a very busy end-of-summer and start-of-school for us. I have lots of updates but... so far these have only been written in my head. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite photos from our very busy summer - K and JJ at Toronto's Afrofest in July. The hair news in a nutshell is that JJ has been in protective styles for months now. Her hair is in great shape and has grown, including that patch she cut off back in December! K has sported lots of different looks since I last posted about his "loc hawk" and all of these styles definitely deserve a post of their own... coming soon(ish)!

July Copy Cat Carnival - Fishtail Braids on Natural Hair

I have been looking forward to participating in July's Copy Cat Carnival, hosted by Untrained Hair Mom. JJ has been wearing her hair in a protective two-strand twist style since she wore her hair big and free for the Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge, and I have been psyched to try something new.

I was paired with Baby Bella Hair (blog author Tracey). This is a fabulous blog that I have been following since it first started. In fact, I previously copied two Baby Bella Styles in April (go check these styles out too!). 

While going through the Baby Bella blog for the July Carnival I found this Fishtail Pigtail style:

See the original Baby Bella post here

Fishtail braids are one of those things that have always been a mystery to me, and I decided to add a new skill to my repertoire by giving this a go. I took the Baby Bella advice and headed to YouTube to wrap my head around how to do a fishtail braid. This video did the trick for me and I was on my way!

After trying a couple of times on my own mid-back length, 3B(ish) hair, I decided this would work best on hair that was straightened (as Tracey did), or at least stretched. I banded JJ's hair with old tights cut in strips and left the bands in for 3 days to achieve as much stretch as humanly possible (for more general information about banding, see this post by Precious Curls). The ponytail on the right side shows how much stretch we were able to achieve without heat. 

I swear the part looks more centered in real life!!

And here are JJ's fishtail pigtails:

And a close-up of the braid - not too bad for a first try....

JJ loved these pigtails as did everyone at school. I was very happy to be inspired once again by Baby Bella Hair and also to challenge myself to try something completely new to me!

as per JJ's request - she likes the upside-down photos!

Be sure to check out lots of other great Copy Cat styles below!!

ZigZag Banding on Natural Hair

I loved every minute of the inaugural Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge. It really was a challenge for both JJ and I to leave her hair big and free for four days - in fact, I'd safely say it's been at least two years since her hair spent that much time "out"!  It was great for both of us - for me to see that with the right preparation, hydration, and night-time routine it was possible; and for her to have a good little stretch of embracing her big hair.

JJ's favorite style of the challenge was a fairly well-defined "band-out" for Day 4:

I started on dry, previously stretched hair. JJ's hair was well-moisturized from a combination of avocado oil and Yes To Carrots Leave in Conditioner. I finger detangled in small sections, added copious amounts of Queen Helene Royal Curl Shaping Creme, and used a Denman brush to distribute the QH creme. I then took one-inch strips from an old pair up tights - cut into horizontal strips - and banded each section of JJ's hair with the tights. I secured the tights at the base by looping around a few times, and then I moved downwards as I banded to create a criss-cross pattern. The bands stayed in overnight.

Confused? Don't worry. It just may be one of those techniques that defies written explanation. Because of this, big brother helped me put together a little You Tube video of our ZigZag Banding technique for you to watch! We are very new to videos so please overlook quality issues (thank you). 

When the bands came out, JJ's hair was zigzaggy, like this:

Before the zigzags were separated , they looked like this:

And once the sections were separated they looked like this:

Later in the day (extreeeeeeme humidity in Toronto) the pattern was less defined, but JJ was still lovin' her hair! 

Thanks again to to Chloe at Baby Big Hair for organizing the challenge and to all the participants for great tips and tricks, and inspirational styles and photos!