April Carnival - Copy Cat Style!

We are super excited to be a part of this month's Hair Carnival, coordinated by the very talented Untrained Hair Mom.

This month, it's all about the copy cat styles, but with a twist (well, many twists in our case)! We have been sworn to secrecy as to whose style we would be copying, so this weekend is the great reveal!

The blog I had the pleasure of copying is Baby Bella Hair. I remember "meeting" blog author Tracey waaaaaay back during the Beads Braids & Beyond one month protective styling challenge in the spring of 2011, and I have been following her blog ever since. Her daughters Kae and Lea are just too cute! They are also close to JJ's age, and have hair textures similar to JJ's, so this was an easy match!

JJ and I looked through the Baby Bella Hair styles and narrowed it down to 2 styles for this post.

The first style was the one that Lea wore after her 26 days of mini-braids. You can see the original style here at Baby Bella Hair, and here is a photo from the original post:

Look at those shiny twists! As soon as JJ saw this photo she HAD to have this style! We started with clean, detangled, hair.

I'm sure I have mentioned that I love twists, and so does JJ. What amazing, versatile hair she has that it can go from fluffy, cotton candy hair in the left side of the photo (which I also love!) to the twists on the right:

This style was a hit (despite her funny face in the first photo - concentrate on the hair, not her annoyed look)! The first day we put clips at the ends of the twists - both for decoration, and to help the ends look a little more tidy. Because I usually used 1 clip per 2 twists, the twists kind of twisted together, for twisty twists, as you can see below:

The next day the clips came out, and the twists untwisted, for basic, still very cute, slightly kinky twists:

Later in the week, JJ added her own extra accessory, and insisted I include this photo - she was very proud of herself!

Thanks, Baby Bella Hair - we loved this style! 

But WAIT - that's not all - JJ chose another style, this one was a mommy style that Tracey did on her own hair!

SOURCE: http://www.babybellahair.com/2011/06/mommy-monday.html

JJ loved the cornrows up and to the side, and here is our take on the style:

Thanks, Baby Bella Hair for TWO great styles!

Be sure to check out the Baby Bella Hair blog and also like Baby Bella Hair on Facebook! 

Also check out Tracey's amazing handiwork at Clash of Designs and like Clash of Designs on Facebook.

Finally - be sure to check out the great reveals of all of the other Copy Cat Carnival participants!

A Month of Yarn Twists

Hi everyone!! First, I'd like to thank you for your patience as I try to balance family/work/life/blog. Blogging has certainly taken the back-burner, but I do have a line-up of exciting hair stories to tell. Slowly but surely, I'll get them out!

I wanted to start by sharing how JJ's sparkly twists for New Year's Eve ended up becoming a longer-term protective style.

When I started the yarn twists, I figured I would leave them in for a few days post-NYE. I wasn't planning on leaving them in too long, because I figured they'd be a bit too "flashy" for everyday. But as you may remember, JJ cut off a big chunk of her own hair on NYE, while I was taking a break from finishing up the twists...

So I decided the yarn twists would stay in a bit longer to buy some time (hair growth time!) before figuring out how to camouflage the short hair in her next style.

Luckily, the sparkly-ness of the yarn twists was quite subtle. The subtle but sparkly twists stayed for all of January! I washed them as per Rory's detailed instructions about washing yarn extensions at Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care. I also spritzed frequently with diluted Taliah Waajid Protective Mist Bodifier or live clean Exotic Nectar Argan Oil leave-in spray.

Here are JJ's yarn twists, not too fancy for the mall!

The beads stayed in for about a week.

Once the beads were out, I knotted the ends.

After about three weeks, I could not take the fuzz at the front anymore! The front yarn twists came out, and I did five simple flat twists towards the back. The back yarn twists stayed in.

Too much fuzz!

Flat twists at the front

After 4 1/2 weeks, I undid the knotted ends. The twists were super easy to unravel and the yarn actually seemed to help keep the two strands of the rope twists very distinct. There was no tangling of the two strands together as I unravelled the rope twists; usually JJ's hair does tangle with long-term 2-strand twists.

I left them as a yarn + hair twist-out for a day (sorry, forgot to take a photo of her whole head!). 

The next day I took out the yarn, by simply sliding it off of JJ's hair. Again, I was surprised at how non-tangled JJ's hair was, at how easy it was to simply untwist the strands, and at how moisturized her hair had stayed. 

And the patch of cut-off hair gained some length! 

JJ's hair went straight into another protective style - cornrows and box braids - for the month of February. Hopefully I'll catch up on blogging about February's style before too long - but here's a sneak peak in the meantime...

Next up: Little Brother K's new "loc-hawk"!!

JJ Cuts Her Hair

Stop. Rewind. All the way back to New Year's Eve. JJ had requested something sparkly in her hair for the party we were going to. We decided on sparkly yarn twists. She loved them - they were exactly what she wanted.

But there was drama!

It's taken me a while to write about this - partly because my life is extra-busy right now - but also because it was soooooo traumatic ):

Mid-morning on Dec 31, the yarn twists were almost complete. There was just one small patch left to twist - right at the top of her head - maybe 4-5 twists' worth. We had been watching Shrek for the billionth time, and a good song came on. JJ asked to have a break to get up and dance, and I agreed. I let her dance, and I took a break to make a phone call and finalize our party plans.

I was vaguely aware of JJ checking her hair in the mirror, and was also vaguely aware of her saying something about how she didn't like the look of the puff of untwisted hair at the top of her head.

After a few minutes, I was off the phone and JJ was back in her "hair chair". I went to add in some yarn to one of the final twists and my heart skipped a beat. I had in my hands a section of short hair, it was only about an inch or two long!? I immediately thought "Yikes! Major breakage!" and I sat for a minute, trying to figure out how this could have happened. Her hair had been in small twists for all of December...a PROTECTIVE style - how could such a large section break off?

I hadn't even processed my next idea in my head when I asked out loud..."Did you cut your hair?". JJ smiled at me. She looked almost proud of herself (??!!!) and said "Yes!". She looked over at the scissors I'd been using to cut the yarn, and back at me again, still smiling....

In the few minutes that I had been on the phone, and with little brother, big brother and Daddy D all in the room, JJ had somehow managed to cut off the last bit of hair that was to be twisted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was in complete shock. I asked "Where's the hair??" and JJ pointed to the kitchen floor. Yup, that was her hair. A fair amount of it, too. EEEEK!!!!

Channeling as much of Daddy D's "go with the flow" attitude as I could muster - and thanks to some much-needed words of wisdom and support from awesome facebook/blogger friends - I pulled myself together and finished the style. I was actually very "lucky" that I was in the middle of yarn twists! I was able to re-do some parts so that most twists had at least some long hair left in them. In the end, there were 2 or 3 twists that were mostly yarn. In the photo below you can see a more-yarn-than-hair twist. The circle shows where JJ's hair ended, and I matched the length to her non-cut hair. Yeah, that was a lot of length...GONE.

BUT...No one even noticed! And we had a great New Year's Eve.

JJ and Uncle E - Cheers!

The yarn twists ended up becoming an unplanned long term protective style.  I decided to leave them in because JJ loved them, but also to buy some time (hair growth time!) before figuring out how to camouflage the short hair in her next style. The twists actually stayed in for the entire month of January!

JJ is definitely not the only child to have cut her own hair. I know I've seen and heard other stories out there. Anisa from Braid With Me cut her hair twice! You can read more about Anisa's accidental hair cut here at Beads, Braids and Beyond.

How about you? Did you - or your child - ever cut your/their own hair? Please share - I love stories!!!

Thank you for reading - it has been very therapeutic for me to finally write about that fateful New Year's Eve. Check back soon for more on the our month of twists, and how we've handled the camouflage job for 2012 so far!

Sparkly Twists for New Year's Eve

This year JJ wanted a special style for New Year's Eve. She requested a  "sparkly" look. This look was initially inspired by a photo shared on Hair-Raising Adventures' Facebook wall, of Des from Girly and Curly.  In the photo, Des has some gorgeous braids with sparkly Bling String woven in.

gorgeous, hey? see more at Girly and Curly!

Although I wasn't able to find Bling String here in Canada, I happened to come across some sparkly yarn (Vanna' s Glamour™in onyx) at Michaels, and figured I could incorporate this somehow into JJ's hair. When I showed the yarn to JJ she absolutely loved it. We looked through some blog photos and decided to take the plunge and do some yarn twists, inspired by Boo's recent yarn twists at Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care.

I pretty much followed the tips detailed at Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care in this post on tips and tricks for yarn extensions. I added 3 strands of yarn per twist; folded over to make 6 strands of extra yarn thickness per twist. Volume-wise, there was more hair than yarn per twist. In terms of length, the sparkly yarn was just long enough to add some beads to the yarn ends. I was not looking to add length other than what was required to add the beads to yarn, versus hair. The sparkly effect was subtle (and kinda hard to see in photos), but was exactly what we were going for.

some stray ends visible just above beads

As you can see below, I added some flat twists on JJ's left side. She loves to wear her hair "up and over". For NYE I gathered her hair into a ponytail on the right side.

Although she is **not** smiling in the photos below (need to work on that posing, JJ!)....JJ was very pleased with the look, and it was perfect for the New Year's Eve party we attended!

There's a little bit more to this story - some drama!!! But that will have to wait for another post - stay tuned....

JJ with Uncle E shortly after midnight!!

Happy New Year everyone - All the best for 2012!!

Little Brother's Two-Strand Twists

K has a head full of two-strand twists!!

Lately Daddy D and I have been trying to decide what to do with K's hair. 

Do you remember his little mohawk?

Well, it's all grown out.

And it's long enough that it is getting very tangled, very quickly. The tangles are significant, so day after day of loose hair is becoming a less viable option. 

Another issue is that K is a bit "tender-headed".  He will tolerate finger detangling, but the only comb/brush he will tolerate is the Tangle Teezer, I think he likes the way it feels on his scalp. That being said, the jury is kind of out on the TT (for example, see this poll at The Natural Haven).

Daddy D still leans towards locs - which opens a whole other can of worms about locs on young children, and is definitely not something the extended family would embrace. In fact, as I've mentioned in previous "boy hair" posts, they have made it very clear to us that their preference is for short hair on boys. 

Sooooo, we could cut his hair.  It wouldn't be the first time. 

In fact , K had very short hair at one point:

But he has also has a pretty big 'fro:

And a long time ago...... before he could run away from me, I used to actually "style" K's hair. 

We decided to ask K his opinion. Since everyday loose hair was out, we gave him the choice of a hair cut or twists. He chose twists. 

I had no idea how this was going to work out, as he has literally not sat more than 2 minutes for any kind of hair time in the last 2 years. 

But it went very smoothly, and with a couple of TV shows, some snacks, and some breaks for jumping around I did manage to twist up his whole head. I think it must help that he sees JJ having her hair time every weekend - he actually seemed quite proud to be getting his hair done, like his big sister. 

He loves it!!!

Which means, further decision making is on hold, for this week, anyway! 

Any opinions on boy hair? On inviting young children to be involved in decision-making about their hair? On family pressures? On locs for children? I'd love to hear from you! 

JJ's Signature Style: Two-Strand Twists

About a year and a half ago, a simple google search led me to discover the existence of "hair blogs". The very first blog I found was Happy Girl Hair, and it was through blog-author Katie's posts that I first learned the basics of caring for JJ's hair.

One of Katie's posts around that time was about "signature" hair styles. I remember wondering if I'd ever be good enough at doing JJ's hair that she would have a signature style. Surprisingly though, it didn't take long for me to learn the joy of two-strand twists, and luckily, JJ loves them too!

A headful of two-strand twists is definitely JJ's signature style. I've become pretty quick with them, and I love the versatility they offer. JJ can wear them down, or her twists can be easily gathered in half-up half-down or pigtail styles. I usually do smedium-sized twists (note: I love this term for the size between small and medium - I first saw it used at Mainly Braids by the amazing and talented Shay. Check out this link for an awesome braid-out with smedium braids). We usually leave twists in for 2-3 weeks but I do have to pay careful attention to JJ's ends. I usually unravel and re-twist just the ends every 4-6 days or so to avoid tangles/loc'ing).

Here are JJ's recent twists:

Before twists: big hair

Halfway done. I usually do a (relatively)
straight part in the back so that I can easily throw in some pigtails. 

Done! 

JJ prefers the side part at the front so she can have some bangs hanging down.

Her bangs are actually getting really long...! 

As you can see, she loves to swing her twists around.

But wait!! It's not like JJ is the only cute kid out there who sports some awesome twists. Check out these blogs for even more twistspiration:

Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care: Love Boo's twists! Be sure to check out this post about how to do two strand rope twists.

Charlotte's Avenue: Twists are definitely Choca's signature style! Here is one of my all-time fave posts about Choca's twists.

Baby Big Hair: Chloe is another master of the two-strand twists! This is one of my favorite posts:  "lets do the twist"!

Greek Ghana Mix: The adorable GG rocks some great mini 2 strand twists here and an update on the 2 strand twists here.

Finally - be sure to check out this recent Blast at Baby Big Hair which gives the inside scoop on actor Yara Shahidi's beautiful, shiny twists.

Making the Most of a Hairstyle

I always find it interesting how one style can evolve into another. A little while back, I got a month's worth of styles that originated from these cornrows into pigtails. 

After 3 or 4 days, I used pipe cleaners to give the style a new (curly braid) look:

After another 10 days, the top part of JJ's head was looking fuzzy from a combination of car seat, napping, falling-off sleeping caps, wrestling, etc:  

I left the braids in at the front and the back, and just took out the top cornrows. I'd been applying my home-made shea butter/coconut oil/shea oil mix to JJ's braids regularly, and her hair felt lovely and soft when I took it out of the braids.

top cornrows halfway out - look at that soft, shiny hair! 

JJ spent abut 5 days with a big pony puff  -  somehow I forgot to take pictures beyond this one:

So now we were almost three weeks in from the original style. The bang braids and braids in the back were still looking decent!

I took out the very bottom row of braids but kept the back cornrows in and incorporated them into a new style; cornrows into tucked-in twists. Some of the "bang" braids also still looked okay, and ended up getting included in the new style too.  

cornrows at the back going on week 4

original bang braids going on week 4

Both JJ and I are happy when we can stretch out a style. Although we both love hair time, it's nice to change up a style little at a time to minimize the meltdowns we both have when things take longer than expected. And JJ's hair grows well and stays in good condition with less manipulation.

Win-win!!