Type 4 Shrinkage: My Hair in all its Shriveled Glory

Just to look at my hair, you would never know that I am almost 3 years in the game of my journey through Natural Hair. Shrinkage is a "B" and then some!! It keeps me from having the voluminous hair that I long for without the use of heat. Some people actually see my hair as big hair...I can hear them whispering about "all that hair" when I walk past them. When I look in the mirror, I swear I can see straight through it! LOL!

The pic below is my true curl pattern from a wash n' go. The front is pinned with bobby pins. You see how tiny my fro is...

The pic below is a twist-out done on dry hair using the Mizani Butter Rich. A little more volume, but it still looks sparse to me...lol!

I believe it's time for me to try banding or braiding to stretch my hair out as much as possible before setting with the twists. I WANT BIG HAIR without using heat to get it!! But 3 years in, I am a little tired of the extra work it takes to make my hair do what it don't do...lol! I officially have Natural Hair Senioritis :(

What have you ladies tried to keep things fresh in the "relationship" with your hair??? DISH!!

Mizani Butter Rich: Dry Twist Out

Here are some pics of a dry twist out that I did using Mizani Butter Rich that I bought at the World Natural Hairshow. I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE this stuff! It softens my hair right on up for easy twisting. The consistency is somewhat watery when applied but you can feel the natural oils as you twist and when it dries. I would not recommend this if you are blowing your hair out with a blow dryer for a twist out because it dampens the hair quite a bit.

This style was achieved on a one day old wash-n-go. I didn't part, just grabbed sections as I went, applying the Butter Rich and twisting to the ends. I allowed it to dry overnight under a silk scarf, but my hair was still a little damp the next morning. When taking the twists down, I didn't fluff or separate for this reason to avoid frizz. Here are the results...

The next night I re-twisted in larger sections as Tdavis recommended. I literally took four twist and twisted them into one (without messing up the original pattern) and it took maybe 5 minutes. The next day my hair was bigger ( a little..dare I say...WILD, even) and I think I liked it more that way. Trying to get 3 day hair out of this set re-twisting with EVOO each night and applying Eco gel to the edges.

Oh, yeah! I finally got my hands on the EcoStyler with Argan Oil. More on that later. Have you ladies tried Mizani Butter Rich? It retails at about $19.99 per jar at most local BSS.

Good News/Bad News

I got good new and I got bad news...

The bad news is, I don't have my personal computer anymore.

The good news is, I just saved a lot of money by switching my car insurance FROM Geico... (j/k...but for real, I did save $$ by switching to Nationwide!)

No, the real good news is that I will be getting another laptop for free due to a class action lawsuit that I was eligible for. I bought an HP laptop in 2007 that had a graphics chip made by NVIDIA that has been the cause of problems ever since. They have to replace my laptop (a whole 4 years later!) but it will take close to 8 weeks to get it.

I appreciate your patience if my posts become somewhat sporadic until I'm back in business. It really does feel like I've stepped back into the stone ages. There should be some time to do some quick posting at work to keep you all up to date on products and techniques I'm working with. Meanwhile, feel free to catch up on the whole blog or re-read some of the favorite posts (listed to the right).

*Smooches*

Queenofthe4s

GLAM Weekend: World Natural Hair Health and Beauty Show

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the World Natural Hair Health and Beauty Show, hosted by Taliah Waajid Black Earth Products. The show has grown exponentially...so much so that I don't think anyone expected the increase in show attendance. Thankfully the my girls, Tdavis and Ebabs-J, and I decided to attend on Sunday which was a lot less crowded. On the downside...most of the national retailers were completely out of product at 2:00om (the show was scheduled to end at 7:00pm). I was sooooo disappointed at that At one point, the Ms. Jessie's reps were passing out empty bags with no samples in them..tisk tisk. Now they should have known better along with SheaMoisture, Jane Carter Solution, and Hair Rules. They missed out on some serious money and I felt that it left potential customers with a bad taste in their mouths.


I did get my hands on some Mizani that I have been wanting to try. I got the Butter Rich and Coconut Souffle, along with some natural soaps, and some more African Oyl from Black Earth Products. I also got a lime green tee that has a fro and says "Black Barbie." It's too cute!


All in all, we had great time. We made a full weekend of it having dinner, drinks, and getting all GLAMmed up for the show. Tdavis provided us with some awesome make-overs, I styled our hair, and Ebabs-J had us covered with the liquor :)

Here are some tips to working the show and getting the most of the deals there:


1.) Attend and purchase as a group. A group of 4 to 5 works perfectly as most of the vendors have deals like 5 for $20 ect. Everyone pics their product and combine the purchase. Make sure to have cash broken down into 5's and 1's to make this process a lot easier. Most vendors only take cash, and no one wants to front you on their check card during group purchases...#imjustsaying


2.) Walk the show before making purchases. - Usually there will be several vendors selling the same (or similar) products. Take the time to check them all out to compare quality and pricing before making a purchase.


3.) Decide the best date/time to attend.- This is typically hit or miss, but I will never...ever...EVER attend a show at the start of the first day. You are just *asking* for chaos. There may be people lined up for hours to pay for one day tickets and you will be tired before you hit the exhibit floor. About 3 hours after the start time is pretty safe. Most shows it's best to attend on the second day as vendors are not as tight with the product samples and you can find some last minute close out deals. Vendors would rather sell product than pay to transport it back (if they are not local).


4.) Have fun! - Rally the girls (and the liquor if ya'll drink), the makeup, and the hair products. Get dolled up, go to the show, and WERK!

Smooches-

Queenofthe4s