Using a Curl Wand on Natural Hair

Tags

Curl Wand, CurlPlease, Curls, easy, Hair, How To, Jilbere, Love, Natural Hair, Products, Style, Tips

I recently purchased a Jilbere Curl Wand from Sally’s Beauty Supply. I picked it up for about $55. I chose Jilbere over any other brand because of the good results I’ve had using my 1″ and 1/2″ wide flat irons that I own by Jilbere. It was kind of awkward finding the best position for my hands to hold the wand, but around the 3rd or 4th curl, I had a nice routine going. I started by washing and conditioning my hair. Then I let it dry about 85% using a cotton T-Shirt wrapped around my hair like a turban. I took the turban off, sectioned my hair into 4 quadrants, sprayed each section generously with Aveda Brilliant Damage Control Spray and clamped them into place.

Before blow drying each section, I applied a quarter sized amount of grapeseed oil from root to end. Grapeseed oil is a natural heat protectant with a high smoke point of around 400 degrees. I made sure to be thorough with my blow drying so that the curls would be as smooth as possible and would require less direct heat contact with the wand.

The Curl Wand also came with this really neat glove to protect your fingers from the hot curling wand. I opted to go with out the glove because it hindered my grip on the hair and I didn’t like it.

First, I took 1″ sections of hair and sprayed the 1″ section generously with medium hold hair spray.

To curl the section, grab the center of the length of the hair firmly, position the curling wand base (the wide end) at the base in front of the section of hair and wrap your hair forward and under around the wand until you reach the end of your hair. Then, hold the end of your hair tought around the end of the wand and count to ten.

 Release the hair from the wand and Voila!! Gorgeous curls abound!

I’m soooooo happy I purchased this wand!!! It did a great job! This style is perfect for special occasions and doesn’t take long to do at all. It’s also an easy style to touch up. The only con is that, if you don’t flat-iron your hair before using the wand, the style won’t last long. However, flat ironing before “curl wanding” takes away the body and volume. Either way, I love this style! This is great date, wedding, and any occasion hair! Two thumbs up!

 TIPS!

• Don’t grab big sections of hair
• Be generously with the MEDIUM HOLD hair spray BEFORE curling
• Spraying Holding spray after you’ve curled the hair will cause frizz because of the moisture of the spray
• Used a humectant/anti-frizz serum on top of the grapeseed oil if you have some available

Enjoy!

Lina

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The Life and Death of a Twist-Out

Tags

CurlPlease, Curls, Ecostyler olive oil gel, Hair, Natural Hair, Twists

I wrote this post to remember all of the fallen twist-outs of the world. Their beauty gives us so much fierceness and bring so many compliments to the lives of Naturalistas all over the world. The world needs more fabulous twist-outs that bring sunshine to our lives. I’m going to take this opportunity to share the life and death of my dear friend Twist-out number 157.

She was born late one Friday night to freshly washed hair and Ecostyler gel…Saturday she gleamed with grape seed oil and shine bright like a diamond. 🙂

She was well taken care of and was lovingly pineappled on Monday night to preserve her good looks. She always tried to keep herself up, She was in her prime…

Although the storms of life came and sprayed her a bit, she was still in high spirits and pulled herself up by the boot straps into a high pony tail and pretty head band on Wednesday…

Although she was highly optimistic, when the rain came, she was never the same. So she had to do what she had to do. She tucked and rolled on Thursday…

Saturday she visited her dear friends Ecostyler Gel and Banana Clip for a pick me up.  Banana clip was always there for her in her time of need to lift her up and Ecostyler gel to smooth things out when things got too frizzy…

She took her last breath on a groggy sad Monday morning. She leaves behind her only child, High Bun. She will always be remembered through her loving descendant Bun…

And there you have it. It’s so hard, to say good-bye, to yesterday… :-)…Hope this is as funny to you as it is to me! LOL

Have a good one!

Lina

Happy 1 Year Blogaversary to CurlPlease!!! It’s Giveaway Time!!!

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1, Blog, Blogaversary, CurlPlease, Curls, Happy Anniversary, Love, Make up, Products

I can’t believe it’s been a year already! I’m so happy to have shared my musings about natural hair with all of you and I hope that I’ve helped and inspired someone on their natural hair journey. I am so thankful for my readers, subscribers and everyone who reblogs my posts and spread the word. I will continue to blog and post about all things girlie, fierce and natural! Happy Blogaversary!

To commemorate this lovely occasion, I’ll be giving away some beauty products that I love over the next couple of weeks! Starting with My favorite lip pencil by Nars called Dragon Girl! To enter the giveaway, comment on this post and a winner will be selected randomly after the cut off date. Each commenter will be entered into the drawing once. The contest will close on 12 am Saturday, March 2nd, 2013.

My lipstick is a Dragon Girl by NARS and my liner is a cheapie Wine color from the beauty Supply store. I also have on Ambering Rose Blush by MAC

 I LOVE this lip pencil and you will too! Comment below for the chance to win!!

Thanks for reading!!

Lina

Silk Wrapping Natural Hair

Tags

Curls, Hair, How To, Natural Hair, Roller Set, Tips

After doing a roller set on my hair, I try to also do a silk wrap to smooth it. After removing the rollers, I generously apply grape seed oil to the uncombed curls. If you have some available, I also recommend applying some sort of humectant, or silkening serum. Next, I use a paddle brush with wide teeth to brush all of my hair in a circular motion around my head, wrapping my hair. After “wrapping” my hair, I use a soft bristle brush to smooth the wrap. then apply good old Saran Wrap around my head covering my hair completely.

After the Saran Wrap is on my hair, I sit under a hooded dryer for about 15 minutes. I do not recommend sitting under the dryer for more than 15 minutes because your scalp and hair may start to sweat causing reversion. After 15 minutes is up, I come from under the dryer and let the Saran Wrap stay on my head until it is completely cooled allowing the cuticles of my hair to close.

After the Saran Wrap has cooled, I remove it and use a wide tooth comb to gently comb the wrap down, being sure not to comb the hair too much.

I love the sheen, and smoothness that silk wrapping gives my hair. I recommend silk wrapping to anyone looking to relax tight curls from a roller set.

Happy Wrapping!

Lina

Quick & Easy Roller Set Using the Ponytail Method

Tags

CurlPlease, Curls, easy, Hair, Natural Hair, Roller Set, Shampoo, Style, Tips

One Friday as I sat on my couch lurking on Youtube, I came across a tutorial on a rollerset using the ponytail method. After watching a few more, I decided to give it a try. I was truly surprised at the results. Because of the ponytails, I was able to install my rollers in half the time that it takes me to do a traditional roller set. The set looked so smooth and dried fast (Hooray!) and I loved it. This is a good method to have in your arsenal.

Here’s what you’ll need:

24-30 Bouffant rollers (I used the snap on type), Foam wrap, a wide tooth rat-tail comb, narrow tooth rat-tail comb, a spray bottle filled with water (to re-wet hair if needed), scissors, Rubber bands, Two hair roller hair nets, and an electric hot comb.

I started with washed and deep conditioned hair. Then I sectioned my wet (but not dripping) hair into three sections ear to ear front, crown and back. I each section make 2 inch by 2 inch pony tails such small rubber bands. I used rubber bands because the small cotton scrunchies would 1. cover up too much of my hair at the base and it wouldn’t get dry and 2. You would have to slide them down your hair to get them off and I don’t like the thought of possibly ruining my curl.

Note: In order for this method to work and your roots to be smooth, the pony tails must me pulled firmly, not painfully tight, but snug so that the rubber bands don’t slide and so the roots will be straight.

For Each sectioned ponytail, apply foam wrapping lotion to the entire ponytail, split the hair in two, detangle with a wide tooth rat-tail comb, and smooth the ends with a narrow tooth rat-tail comb and install a roller.

Note: Each sectioned and split ponytail should have 2 rollers.

Continue rolling until your ponytails are all rolled…

Put a hair net over your rollers to hold them firmly into place and keep them from hanging and sliding. I needed two, because my rollers were kind of big.

I sat under a hooded dryer for 2 hours, and then kept the rollers in for a while as I watched TV (and because I fell asleep :-)). You can also let them air dry if you prefer no heat.

After checking a few for complete dryness in each section, I removed all of the rollers.

Starting with the back sections, I used pair hair scissors and cut the rubber bands from each ponytail, being carefull not to cut my hair. After removing the rubber band from a section, I touched up the area (the roots) where the rubber bands had made a crease with an electric hot comb to smooth it out.

Setting the hair with the roots pulled taut really helps achieve the coveted smoothness that makes roller sets look so wonderful. I really like this method, and it really stands a chance to replace the traditional mohawk rollerset.

Try it! Enjoy!

Lina

My Wash n’ Go: The Difference a Year Can Make

Tags

Before and After, CurlPlease, Curls, Ecostyler olive oil gel, Hair, Natural Hair, Pictures

I ran across a picture of my hair in a Wash n’ Go from January 13, 2012 and compared it to another picture I took in December 2012. What a difference a year makes!

January 2012

 

 December 2012

 

Natural hair grows!!! There is not some magical product that makes it grow, its consistency…Wash, detangle, seal, protect. I trimmed my hair once in 2012.

Peace!

Lina

Winter Protective Style: Two Strand Twists Updo

Tags

CurlPlease, Curls, Eco Styler, Ecostyler olive oil gel, flat iron natural hair, Hair, Love, Natural Hair, Tips, Tricks, Twists

I was lurking on YouTube Friday night searching for some inspiration to do my hair and came a cross a fab naturalista’s YouTube page by the name of xgoldn. She did the simplest style with two strand twists and I had to give it a try. I usually shy away from two strand twists because… 1.) My head is HUGE and my twists don’t provide enough volume to camouflage my noggin. 2.) I feel some type of way about wearing them hanging at my workplace [sue me.] 3.) Styling twists is just something that I haven’t mastered. However, xgoldn put it so simply that I was inspired to give it a try. Check out the tutorial here!

To start, I co-washed my hair with Pantene Relaxed and Natural Conditioner and let it air dry. My twists have more volume, and don’t unravel when I let my hair sort of fro out before I twist it.

I parted my hair into four quadrants and started in the back right section, two strand twisting 1/2 inch sections of hair. For each twist, I misted the section of hair lightly with water, detangled the ends with a wide tooth rodent tail comb, after that I applied about a finger tip full of Ecostyler olive oil gel to the section of hair, brushed the it with soft bristle brush paying close attention to the ends and then twisted the hair from root to end.

When my entire head was completed, I did not tie the twists down. I left them loose and hanging so that they could fully air dry and slept (with no bonnet) on a satin pillow. I find that leaving my twists loose helps them stay plump and not get flattened by a scarf or bonnet. I needed them to stay full if I was going to wear them in a style.

In the morning, I liberally oiled my twists from root to end with grapeseed oil. Like xgoldn did on her YouTube video, I parted a section (from off-center of my head to ear) for my bang in the front of my head slightly bigger than hers and made a bun. Then I started to make the bang as she did but found that a few of the twists in the front of my head where too short. Instead, I opted for a loose flat twist in the front, tucked it into the bun and secured the flat twist/bang with Bobbie pins.

To make the flat twist/bang, you just start with 2 small sections (about 2-3 twists each) of twists and twist them around each other, grabbing one twist from the loose section at each turn. The key the “swoop” of the bang is to always keep the twists pulled down in front of your face while making the flat twists and don’t make it too tight. 

I smoothed down a little baby hair in the front with some ecostyler gel and a soft bristle brush and pulled a single twist out to hang in the front just for kicks. I so love this style. The ends of my hair are tucked in with make it a great protective style and it looks professional which is perfect for work. My favorite thing about it is that the bang gives me a little forehead coverage for my big head! 🙂 Yay me!

Thanks for Reading!

Lina 

 

 

 

Winter Protective Style: Turbans

Tags

Accesories, CurlPlease, Curls, flat iron natural hair, Hair, Love, Natural Hair, Style, Tips

Depending on the region or country you live in, winter can be harsh on natural hair. There’s low humidity (sometimes), and the winter can leave your coils and kinks dry, hard and brittle. I’ve decided to think of some protective styles that I’ll be rocking this winter to protect my marvelous mane…Style 1: Turbans!

Me sweating to death at Mayan ruins in Belize. 🙂 See how I wrapped my turban in my previous post here.

 

Check out these beauties in turbans!

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She is gorgeous!

I can’t wait to try these different styles. Turbans are so easy to throw on and are a life saver on bad hair days or just to preserve twists or straightened hair. Although, I wouldn’t be bold enough to rock this at work, this will be a weekend staple for me.

 

Have a good one!

Lina

How to make a Natural Looking V-Part Wig

Tags

CurlPlease, Curls, Eco Styler, Hair, How To, Love, Natural Hair, Style, weave, Wig

Yes! I am still alive and blogging! 🙂 I have been doing so much ripping and running in the month of October. This month I got in a car accident (not my fault and I’m ok. Thank God!), my mom has been recovering from surgery, Homecoming was this month, and  the ever popular Magic City Classic (AAMU vs. ASU) was this month. I am always on the go, which is how I like it, but sometimes it cuts into my blogging and my hair projects that I have going on. Girls just wanna have fun!

 In September (YES it’s taken me that long!LOL) I started a project to make myself a wig after visiting a beauty supply store and seeing these cute U-part wigs on the mannequins. I was disappointed when I didn’t see any that would be believable for a Naturalista’s hair texture, so I set out to make my own. Boy oh boy was I astonished at the wonderful results!!!

Here’s What I used:

1 Wig cap, 1 Pack of 12-inch and 1 Pack of 14-inch Milky Way Que Water Weave in color 1B, Weave glue, a Mannequin head, 8 small side combs, scissors, a needle and black thread.

Put the stocking cap on the mannequin head to check the fit and to find out how to position the cap. Leave some slack at the top of the cap (will be cut off at the end) because when the V-Part is cut, it will increase the size of the wig, otherwise it will be too big.

Take the cap back off of the mannequin and put a plastic grocery bag on top of the mannequin head to protect it from the glue and then put the wig cap back on.

Starting in the back with the longer length hair first, measure, cut and glue the tracks to the weave cap and be sure to take your time and set the glue with a blow dryer for each track so that they don’t slip. Don’t glue the tracks on like a bee hive (in a circular motion to the center) or it will be harder to cut the V part and the cap will be weak in the V-part and hard to sew the side combs into.

 

When you get to the top of the wig, close the part tightly (no scalp showing) with a single track in a U orientation around the slack of the wig cap. Cut the slack of the wig cap off. There will be a small hole at the crown, but that’s ok because you have to cut a part anyway.

At the crown only, camouflage the deepest part of what will be the V-part by cutting hair from the track, dipping it lightly into a dab of glue and placing it on the crown and blow drying it.

See the hole where the slack of the wig cap was cut above.

I used extra track to fill in gaps in the front of the wig where the band of the wig cap is located. You can fill in the wig as you please. At the top of the wig, cut small pieces of track and glue them over the part to add more strength to the part for the sewing the side combs. I did not fluff the wig until I put it on because I didn’t want to over fluff and make it too big.

Carefully cut down the center of the part until you reach the crown. Using a needle and black thread, sew the side combs to the track. You can go around the spine of the comb or in between the eyelets of the comb like I did below. I sewed two combs on each side of the V-part and two combs in the back.

See how the wig gets much bigger after the V-part is cut.

To install the wig, I  flat twisted my entire head, separating a front section, and edge sections to the right and left side to be left out.

 

Used Bobbi pins and fold the ends of the twists up to the roots and pin them down to roots as securely as you can. It doesn’t matter in wich direction you pin them, it will look like this stretching a twist out method.

Leaving the top and edge “leave out” twists free, secure the combs in the V-part around them.

 

Take down the left out twists. Spray the generously with water and apply Eco Styler olive oil gel to the entire shaft of the hair to blend the leave out with the wig. Part the left out hair as you wish! Enjoy the FIERCENESS!!!

I got soooo many compliments on my hair this weekend from men and women. Everybody thought it was mine! I haven’t taken the wig off since I put it on! LOL! I hope you like it too!

Oh Happy Day!

Lina

Fresh Press

Tags

blow o, blow out, CurlPlease, Curls, flat iron natural hair, Hair, Love, Natural Hair, press, Products

I pressed my hair last weekend and I am sooo happy with my growth! According to the chart below I am below  (BSB) shoulder-blade length! looks like I only have 5 inches to go to get to my goal of waist length hair (in it’s pressed state). 

Pressing my hair is a long process for me and very meticulous, but it’s worth it to prevent heat damage after pressing.

First, I wash and detangle my hair while in the shower and rinse all shampoo and conditioner out. Then I cover my hair with a T-Shirt to prevent it from drying out while I prepare to deep condition.

Second, I deep condition my hair for 45 minutes to an hour with  AVEDA Damage Remedy. It is pricey at $26 a bottle, BUT I swear by this stuff!!! It’s the only deep conditioner I use in my preparation to press.

Third, RINSE WITH COLD WATER!! Cold water closes the cuticle of the hair and helps eliminated frizzies.

Fourth, spray my hair generously with AVEDA Brilliant Damage Control Spray. I put the T-Shirt back on my hair for about 15 minutes. After removing the T-Shirt and before blow drying, I apply a generous amount of grapeseed oil to the shaft and end s of my hair. %100 Grapeseed oil has one of the highest burn/smoke points of natural oils and is a natural heat protectant.

I Then, part my hair into 4 quadrants and secure them with clamps, and I blow dry my hair with a Conair Silver Bird Blow dryer on high a heat high speed setting. I know many won’t agree with the high heat but my opinion is, the straighter I get my hair with indirect heat, the less direct heat (flat-iron/pressing comb) I need to get my hair pressed.

I think I kinda like my blow out!

Lastly, Quadrant by quadrant I part my hair in 1″ sections, press the ROOTS ONLY with a Conair electric pressing comb on a medium setting, and press the shaft and ends with a Jilbere 1″ wide flat-iron on a medium setting.

 It’s so hard to get a pic of my hair’s full length because I have to turn my head to see the camera. LOL. Oh well…

For the first night of my press I always wrap my hair to help my hair “embrace” the pressed state. LOL. On the second night I start my flexi-rod preservation method. Read about my night-time roller set routine here.

Oh Happy Day!

Lina