Lost week - protective styling.

Somewhere along the way I have missed a week where I put my hair on a protective style for the week... I don't know how but I thought I'd post about it as I like to have a record of what works (or doesn't as the case may be) on my hair.

As an avid blog reader and YouTube stalker... erm I mean viewer, I'm always on the look out for new tips, tricks and b/vloggers over the past few weeks I've come across a few ladies with super long hair who have their hair in protective styles for the majority of the time and a couple of them have a weekly routine/regime{n} of washing their hair then putting it into a protective style for the whole week. 

I've been wanting to keep my hair as free from as much manipulation as possible but as I'm not ready for my next long protective style stint I decided to give the week one a try.


Preperation:
 

After the whole washing and deep conditioning process, I reached for some smoothing leave ins (Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Cream (I'm down to the bottom of my last bottle *sob* when it's finished I wont be able to get it again) and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum) as I wanted my hair to air dry as smooth and stretched as possible.

Working in four sections I took out my wide toothed comb and soft bristle denman- it felt so weird using these in my hair as I've been only finger detangling for so long.
I parted my hair down the middle, put my hair in two ponytails winding the hair round itself and left it to dry. 
My hair was soooooo smooth, it reminded me of very early in my HJ when I wanted my hair as straight and smooth as possible to emulate my relaxed hair (what a change!)

Style:

I opted for some cameroes/cornrows (around 7/8 in total) and added a little extension hair in an ombré type effect. 

I smoothed the front down with some CURLS Passion Fruit Curl Control Paste and tied my scarf on.
In the morning I just took my scarf down and I was good to go!!

I pulled all the plaits/braids into a side ponytail. Some days I wound the braids round into a side bun.

Protective styling: Cameroes/Cornrows/Canerows

Maintenance: 
 
I enjoyed the freedom the plaits/braids gave me and I loved that it shaved so much time in the morning. I just used a little gel and paste each night and let it set overnight.
When my hair started to get messier, I had to gel in the morning instead but it was still so much quicker than styling my hair from scratch each day.

I oiled my scalp every night with my hairlicious and moisturised with the
Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Cream when needed, I wanted a light moisturiser that wouldn't be too heavy nor cause excess build up.



I enjoyed wearing my hair in plaits/braids but may well leave out the extension hair next time round.

Review: Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus- Curl Enhancing Smoothie andHold and Shine Mist.

Here's a video reviewing two of my fave hair products. I've been using them for the past 6 months or so and absolutely love them, I actually put off buying the smoothie for ages as the price put me off but I heard such great things and my hair was in its rebellious stage and needed a huge moisture injection, so.... I closed my eyes and picked it up.... 3 tubs later I have ended up picking up some of the other products in the line too. After I loved the smoothie so much, I was on the look out for a moisturising leave in/spray so decided to give the Hold and Shine Mist a try. Let's just say I'm now finishing my second bottle.
I hope you enjoy the Video and it's helpful.

Wash Day - wash and go with lots of pics.

Woooww!! We are in June already!! JUNE!! the year is half way through..... whoahhh.

This wash day I was able to style my wash and go and let it dry a little before I had to go to sleep. I also managed to take some photo's of each stage too.

I started off as usual with an overnight pre-poo of Raw Organic Coconut Oil, I sectioned my hair into four, applied liberal amounts to my scalp and hair from root to tip and bantu knotted each section then covered with my scarf.
When I took my hair down, I had the prettiest bantu knot out!!

Why does that happen when I'm gonna wash my hair? it looked like I had styled it, no worries it gave me an idea of how I can stretch/refresh my wash and go later in the week.
It was half term week so no school run meant I could go straight into washing my hair. I used my L'Oreal Professhinnel Serie Nature Riche Macadamia Shampoo - {Its nearly finished so I am thinking about what I will buy to replace it *sob* I love it so much, why oh why didn't I go back and get another one when they were available? If anyone has any moisturising sulphate free shampoo suggestions please do let me know x}

My hair is getting curlier week by week, My mum and family seem to remember me having curly hair as a child but I can only remember it being tough andhard to manage, by the time I was old enough to style it myself it was terrible as I really didn't know how to look after it and just wanted to relax it to be like the other girls who had straight hair and thought that I would be able to manage it better. Fast forwarding to my adult years, I do seem to remember that I used to leave the time between relaxing my hair for ages and my regrowth was curly but I thought it was because the relaxer ma have changed the way my hair grew (yeah I wasn't clued up lol) anyway.... history over back to wash day.....

tea rinse mix.

I rinsed with a tea mixture of sage, star anaise and "relax" and a few drops of chamomile eo. The tea mix stewed to a much darker colour and smelt amazing!! I will make mix to drink -minus the eo's.

Deep Conditioner Mix.

I wanted a moisturising deep condition so grabbed La Aplanadora Macadamia Oil, Kanechom Karite Butter Hair Moisturising Cream, Coconut milk powder, ORCO and added rose, rosemary, cinnamon and jasmine eo's.

I applied the mix to my hair in sections, bantu knotted, covered my hair with my gold conditioning cap and scarf and got on with my day.

Conditioner in hair.

In the evening I rinsed the conditioner out of my hair and did a cold water rinse (I must buy some ACV) and removed the excess water, rubbed some ORCO through my hair and then wrapped it up in a vest.

Hair rinsed out.

After my hair had dried a little, I took my leave ins and sat with hubby and watched a couple programmes while I styled my wash and go and left it to dry for a while.

Leave ins for wash and go.

 I think this was my most defined wash and go so far, I don't even know what I did differently lol. I do know that hair can "remember" the way you style it and recreate it in a way or maybe my hair is just happy when I leave it to curl up as it likes and leave the comb out of it. I am thinking of plaiting it up for a week though as I want to leave it alone. I will miss my curly fro I bet.

I allowed my hair to dry more before bed and the back was completely dry, the middle was a little damp at the roots and the front mostly dry.

Air dried wash and go.

I decided to band my curls to stretch them for the morning, I placed some gel at the front and tied it down with my scarf.
The next day I clipped one side up with a few hair pins and styled it with some fibres tied into a headband. My mummy returned from Jamaica so I went to see her, oh how I missed her while she was gone, I always do lol, I go to phone her and remember she's not in the country. It was lovely catching up and getting lots of hugs (yeah I'm a big baby) She really liked my hair and complimented me loads, awwwww.

Styled wash and go.

I'm joining in with the wash day experience again and can't wait to have a look at all the wash day posts.