I've Big Chopped, Now What?

My big chop 12.20.2010

The weather is getting warm outside letting us know that summer is on the way!  In fact today in NC, the weather is forecast to be 90 degrees!  As the temperature rises, we have a tendency to want to shed; our clothes and our hair.  For those of you who are transitioning to natural hair, this may be the perfect time to get ride of those relaxed ends and do the big chop! Maybe some of you have already cut your hair.  You now may be wondering, I have this TWA, what do I do with it?   Well never fear, here are some tips for maintaining your TWA!

1.  Develop a simple maintenance routine!  There are many natural hair products out there, be careful not to go overboard buying products.  All you need is a sulfate free shampoo, a conditioner, an oil for sealing in moisture, and a styling product.  For a relatively inexpensive brand for just starting out I recommend either Curls or Shea Moisture products.  Both can be found in Target stores where there is a relatively high African American demographic.

2.  Combat dryness by moisturizing your hair regularly!  Many new naturals often complain of dry hair.  The best way to keep your hair moisturized is by applying water. This doesn't necessarily mean shampooing the hair every day (a common mistake that new naturals make).  It does mean however, that your hair needs water frequently.  Mist (don't saturate) your hair with a spray water bottle for moisture and a light oil (i.e. coconut oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil) to the hair to seal in the moisture.  Always sleep with a satin bonnet or on a satin pillowcase to keep dryness at bay as well.

3.  My hair looks dull, is it unhealthy?  Naturally curly hair reflects light differently than straight hair because it has bends and curls in it therefore instead of it being a totally reflective surface, its structure fragments light.  It is very rare for highly textured hair to appear "shiny", however you will notice that it does have a healthy "sheen" to it.  Again, the use of light oils can help with this.

4.  Utilize low manipulation styles on your TWA.  A few simple hair styles for your new TWA is a wash & fro (without gel) or a wash & go (which uses gel to define your natural curl pattern), finger coils & coil outs.

Finger coils on a TWA

5. Accessorize your new look!  Your TWA will naturally draw attention to your facial features.  Use the time to try a new bold make up look, feature your favorite jewelry accessories and wear flowers, bows, and unique headbands in your hair!

6.  Lastly remember, short natural hair DOES need care & maintenance.  Short natural hair is not  get up and go hair.  While you may not have to spend hours styling your hair you will need to care for your hair in order for it to have a healthy and neat appearance.


Do you have any questions about maintaining your TWA?  Leave a comment in the comment section below and I'll answer them!





NaturallyNita is a women's lifestyle blog.  After chronicling her natural hair journey 2.5 years ago, Nita realized that there were many other life  journey's where she could share her lesson's learned with others.  This blog focuses not only on natural hair but also health/fitness, business, finances, spiritual & personal growth. www.naturallynita.blogspot.com

Finally! A Wash & Go I Love!

Those of you who have been following my blog know that I have not been crazy about wearing my hair in the wash & go style with Ecostyler Gel because I don't like the crunchy feel of my hair after it dries.  I'd pretty much given up on doing a wash and go.  Well, I was watching a Youtube video this weekend (surprise, surprise) and saw one of the ladies that I follow talk about using Smooth & Shine Curl Activator Gel on her twists.  (Note:  This is the "new" formula, many of the reviews on Youtube are about the "old" formula with the blue label.  I wasn't natural when the "old" formula was out so I don't have a comparison.  All I can speak to is the "new" formula.) 

After I finished my shampooing routine, I added my the curl activator gel, detangled with my detangling comb and then used my denman brush to spread the product through my hair.  What I noticed was that my curls popped in very beautifully!  After I finished the whole head, I let my hair air dry for about 2 hours. It was still a little damp and I was getting ready to go to bed so I sat under the hooded dryer for about 15 mins and then went to bed. 

Imagine my surprise when I woke up in the morning and found that my hair was not crunchy, or stiff, in FACT it was soft, and moist!  Not wet, but moisturized!  It has been like that for 2 days! I love the curl definition and the moisture retention using the curl activator gel.

I will continue to use this product and I might try out other curl activator gels after this one runs out.  The only draw back to this product is that it does leave my hair a little sticky the first day of application, but I'm willing to deal with that for the amount of moisture that it adds to the hair.  Two thumbs up!!

Product ingredients:  Water, glycerin, propylene glycol, aloe barbadenis leaf extract, pathenol, hydrolyzed wheat protein,, hydrolyzed wheat starch, carbomer, Oleth-2-, aminomethyl propanol, methylparaben, phenoxyethanol, dmdm hydantoin, disodium edta, benzophenon-4, parfum, violet 2.

Three Hairstyles in One

I wore my protective style of the flat twists and the two strand twists from Tuesday thru Saturday.  I was very busy on Saturday though and didn't have an opportunity to shampoo my hair.  I wanted to jazz up the style so I untwisted the back and smoothed one side with the Mizani Butter Rich and pinned it with bobbypins.  On the right hand side, I two strand twisted a couple of extra frizzy sections with my Curls Creme Brule & Aloe Vera gel mixture (I love the way this defines my curls by the way...definate keeper!)  See below for the results!

Front twisted out

Side view

Side view of partial twist out

Rear view of  partial twist out

Left side view

Front

My First Protective Style - Updo with Flat Twists

Now that I'm achieving a little length, I thought I would try out my first protective style.  I got the inspiration for this style from Youtuber  Keke5284.

She blew her hair out prior to performing this style but I decided not to for 2 reasons, 1. I was concerned about heat damage & 2. I knew I was going to use a cream based styler on my hair and it would cause it to revert anyway. Her flat twists are way neater and smaller than mine, I definately need more practice, but I thought since it was only my 2nd time doing flat twists that it came out pretty ok!

I used the Mizani Butter Rich on my flat twists and the Curls Creme Brule and aloe vera gel mix on my individual two strand twists.  I will leave this style in until Sunday which will be my wash day.  This could become a staple protective style if I can get my flat twists a little smaller and straighter.

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Product Review & Hair Revelation

First, the product review.  I've been in search of two things in my hair regimen: a deep conditioner and a styler that defined my curls for braidouts and two strand twist outs but didn't leave it crunchy.  This week I found my deep conditioner.  I got it from Butters-N-Bars.  I bought the Hair Masque.  The product description states that it will condition and moisturize, leaving hair soft and manageable.  It contains Australian Pink Clay, Moroccan mud, raw honey, organic aloe vera juice, virgin hemp seed oil, organic virgin olive oil, and silk protein.   I applied the masque to freshly cleansed hair with a color applicator brush from root to tip & sat under a hooded dryer for 30 mins.




Clean hair with no product

 

Hair after masque applied.  Here you can really see the texture differences in my hair.  Look at the front middle (4a/b) in comparison to the temples (4c).

The conditioner did leave my hair soft and moisturized.  I will continue to use this conditioner every two weeks and let you know how my hair responds to it over time.

The second product new product that I used was Mizani's Butter Rich Deep Nourishing Hairdress.  I used this to set my braids for my  braid-out.  I first heard about this product on a fellow natural hair blogger's site, Robyn's Nest.  She, like myself, likes definition without stiffness, and moisturization. After using this product, I must say that it delivered these things.  My hair is soft, defined, and doesn't feel heavy.

THE HAIR REVELATION

As is evidenced in the picture of my hair above, I have several textures of hair.  Here are pictures of my braidout from last week and this week.



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The first row of pictures show my very first braid out with the Curls Creme Brule mixed with aloe vera gel for a soft hold.  The 2nd row of pictures was the 2nd day with Design Essentials Defining Creme gel.  The last row of pictures is with the Mizani Butter Rich Deep Moisurizing Hairdress.  After looking at all of the results, there wasn't much difference in definition in the 3 braidouts.  I also noticed that there are certain areas of my hair, that just simply lack definition no matter what product I use.  So instead of investing time in creating newstyling my TWA right now (each time I braid my hair it takes about an hour), I will instead focus on moisturization and curl enhancement until it gets longer. I will return to the braidout or a twist out later.

Playing with My TWA

As one of my goals is to learn how to care for and style my own hair, I've been playing with my TWA over the past month.  Here are a few of the easy styles that I did and liked....others I tried & failed (and ladies you will have hair style disasters, but I've learned it's nothing that a good headband and a little water & gel can't fix!)  All styles were created on freshly cleansed hair shampooed (yes, I use a sulfate free shampoo) with Curls Creamy Curl Cleanser and conditioned/detangled with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Moisturing Conditioner.  I use Giovanni Direct Leave In Weightless Moisture Conditioner as my leave in and seal with Organic Coconut Oil.

The "Wash & Go" (w/ecostyler gel)

While this style seems to be a staple style for most individuals with a TWA,  I haven't fallen in love with it. It seems the gel used to define my curls leaves my hair a little crunchy.  I'm going to keep working with different products until I get the curls defined without the crunchiness.  Any suggestions?  In this picture, I added the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and then put on a good helping of Eco Styler Gel with Olive Oil and rolled my finger tips over my hair almost in a massaging motion to make my curls pop.

Faux Puff with Finger Coiled Bangs

This has been my favorite so far!  I love it because my hair in the puff is sooo soft.  I say this is a faux puff becuase my hair isn't really long enough to put in a puff but with the headband, I'm able to sorta create one.  To achieve this look I added about a quarter size of the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie all over to damp hair sealed with Organic Coconut Oil.  I used a pic to fluff my hair out.  I sectioned off my bang area and put on the headband.  Then I used Jane Carter's Wrap and Roll setting lotion to finger coil the bangs.  It creates sheen and  a very soft hold.

2 Strand Twist Out

This style was a win and a fail.  It was a win because it looked great the first day.  It was a fail because I haven't mastered retaining the wavy pattern for more than 2 days :(   For this style, I saturate my hair with Jane Carter Wrap & Roll Setting Lotion and then 2 strand twist with the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie.  You'll see 2 different days in the pics below.  I love the definition and my hair is still soft and well moisturized.

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Finger Coils

My finger coils were also a win and a fail.  I use the same combo of the Jane Carter Wrap & Roll Setting Lotion and Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie just coiling the section of hair around my finger tightly and releasing.  Unfortunately, my roots puff up leaving just the ends coiled.  So I wouldn't just wear this style without an accessory, but with a headband, it looks pretty cool!

I'm currently wearing my hair in a semi-protective style so I won't be manipulating it quite as much.  I went back to visit Taji and got a partial two strand twist out with a few extensions in the bang area.   I'm going to try to leave this in for two weeks.  I'm maintaining this style by misting with Oyin Handmade Greg Juice and sealing with Coconut Oil in the morning. I'll retwist my hair at night as needed and sleep on a satin pillowcase at night.

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