Thanks for stopping by! This is my corner of the blogosphere where I'm keeping track of
styles/techniques/products, lessons learned, my to-do list, and favourite links.
Feel free to offer any comments, feedback, or advice - I'm learning as I go !


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

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!!



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

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!


Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge

What can I say? Participating in the first ever Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge has been nothing short of FROTASTIC!! An amazing group of mommies (and one big sister) swapped tips, tricks and frotos while we challenged ourselves to keep our little ones' hair big and free for four days.

Here are JJ's styles for the 4 days - we went from a shrunken 80's-style 'fro on day 1 (top left), to a stretched via twists for Day 2 (top right), to an even more stretched via banding for Day 3 (bottom left) and finally a zig-zaggy texture (also achieved through banding) for Day 4 (bottom right; more details to follow soon).


Please head on over to the BBH voting page to take a look at everyone's amazing four days of fabulous big hair! You really don't want to miss this!!



Monday, July 2, 2012

Happy Canada Day!

Quickest post ever - just to say Happy Canada Day!
Canada Day Hair!!
JJ started with a 2-week old (and oops! not blogged-about) style with cornrows up and to the side on each side, and box braids in the middle.




The ((fuzzy)) side braids were pulled into flat two-strand twists, and the ((fuzzy)) middle box braids were pulled into piggy-back ponytails with red and white Pony-O's.
Chasing the Canada Day Cake at the parade!
Now we are getting ready for the Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge so JJ's Canada Day Hair is on it's way out!

We are so looking forward to 4 days of BIG hair.....!