Recreating - Alicia Key's Empire State of Mind Hairdo

BlackOnyx77 does a tutorial on this hairdo on Youtube and I favorited the video during my TWA months.  Well, now my hair is long enough to recreate it...though it's not as long as Alicia's (duh!).  Pictures of the hairstyle and BlackOynx's tutorial is posted below.  Enjoy!

In my interpretation of this style, I started by stretching my hair by using the tension method to blow out my hair.  The hair dryer was set on medium heat.  Then I created two cornrows on each side of my head.  In the crown and bang area, I did 5 individual braids and curled them on perm rods.  In the back of my head I created medium sized 2 strand twists and also curled them on perm rods.  I used Curls Goddess Curls gel and my creamy shea butter mixture on my plaits and twists.  After my hair was set, I used coconut oil on my fingers as I unbraided and untwisted my hair.  I used hair pins to pin my bangs in a side sweep and used my fingers to pull my hair slightly in the rear to hide my parts and fluffed for fullness.

Here BlackOnyx77 shows her version on slightly longer hair. 

Curly Nikki's Says Farewell to NC

For those of you who follow Curly Nikki's blog, you know that she is relocating from NC to PA.  Shea Moisture sponsored her last meetup in NC & the curlies showed up!    There were gift bags for the first 350 attendees, free appetizers, give aways and plenty of networking and great fellowship!

Check out the pictures from the event below.

Personalize a photo slideshow

I personally would like to thank Ms. Nikki Walton for all she's done for the natural hair community and for putting NC on the map in the natural hair world!  I wish her and her family all the best and pray that for her and her efforts, the best is yet to come!!

Say DEUCES to bad products! - Video

One of the Youtube vloggers that I follow, Charjay posted this spoof of Chris Brown's Deuces featuring some fellow vloggers.  It talks about the dangers of "bad ingredients" in natural hair products.  It's creative & hillarious.   So here's your Friday's 7 chuckles (a Katt Williams reference) ladies.  Enjoy!!

Coil Out Revisted

I got inspired this week to give an old style another try after seeing a Youtube video.  It took me a while to finish the style but I was quite pleased with the results and I was able to get two hairstyles out of it before my wash day.  I used Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding to  finger coil my hair.  All you do is take a section of hair and literally twirl it around your finger until you get a spiral curl.  Because I had an issue with my roots puffing up the last time, I took special care to twirl close to my roots and then coil all the way down the section.  This is how it looked after I finished coiling.

I then took each large coil and separated it into smaller coils by pulling the coil out, unraveling & lightly twirling the smaller section of hair to reestablish the coil. I made sure my fingers were coated with coconut oil so as not to cause frizz.  The finished look is below.

As the week ended my hair was getting more & more poofy.  I separated the coils a little more in the front and the back & I pulled the hair back on the sides to create this look.

Here is a comparision shot of my first ever coil out.

Finger coils  02.17.2011

Coil out  02.19.2011

Fro's on the Fourth!

So today, all naturals are supposed to wear their hair in a fro.  I don't usually wear my hair in a fro (haven't really since it was a TWA) but this weekend I did and I was surprised with how big my fro has grown!  Happy Independence Day!  I am so glad to be free (and I mean that in more ways than just relaxer free)!

I took my fro to the beach!

High Fashion Nails - Sally Hanson Salon Effects

 

This post has nothing to do with natural hair but I just wanted to share this find on my blog.  For the past couple of years celebrities have been fancying up their nails with a product called Minx nails.  Minx is a flexible polymer that is heated and then applied to your nails almost like a sticker.  They come in various high pigmented colors or printed with designs.  They have over 100 patterns and colors to choose from.  Cost for a full set, $50 - $60.  While I was at the NC Natural Hair Care Expo, the vendor with the toe jewelry had Minx on her feet.

So in looking for a cost effective alternative I found that Sally Hansen has a similer product.  Now they don't have 100 patterns, but they do have about 25 and the cost is $9.99.  Right down my alley.  I can apply it myself and it lasts 10 days.  These are actually nail polish strips so no heat is needed to apply and it will dry out if the strip is not applied soon after openning the packaging.  The best thing about it is that you don't have to wait for polish to dry and it's a great conversation starter.  On a couple of occasions, people have asked me if I was wearing Minx!  Pretty good, hunh?



This past weekend I purchased and applied the "Misbehaved" pattern.  Minx does have a similar pattern in their collection as well.  It's called Golden Lightning with Black Fishnet.  Check out the application progression below.

It comes with 16 strips so you can find a size that fits your nail.

After peeling away the backing, apply as close as possible to your nail bed.  It can be lifted and re-applied to make sure it's properly centered.  Press it down smoothly on the nail.

File away the excess.

All done!  On my thumb you can see where my nail bed isn't perfectly even.

Another shot.



Same hand after a week.  I've washed & styled my hair, done dishes, texted, they've grown out a little but still look fab!

Fly with Me Pattern - I wore this the day of the hair show.  It has a white background with butterflies.

Overall review, I love this product.  It has long wear and is easy to apply.  The price of $10 is cheaper than a standard manicure but I probably wouldn't wear this every week.  It's nice for a little change up though!



A Week of Twist Outs & An Apology

So first, the apology.  I am so sorry for disappearing for a week!  OMGosh!  I have had a very busy and tiring 3 weeks and I just needed to go off the radar for a while.  But I'm back and with pictures!

So this post is just a follow up to my twist-outs that I did last week. Some quick facts:
1. The Curls Goddess Curls - LOVE for giving hold to a twist out.  It held up in the humidity and did not flake all week, YES!
2. I did re-twist every night.  Sometimes with more twists, sometimes with fewer depending on how tired I was but I like the definition so I retwisted.
3. Once I untwisted the actual twist, I didn't separate any further.  Maintained my definition and helped to minimize frizz.  I just fluffed with my fingers at the roots to cover my parts.
3.  I moisturized once during the week with my water, glycerin, and aloe vera juice.  Kept my hair super soft.
4.  I noticed A LOT less shedding when I did my wash at the end of the week. A huge PLUS!

Here are the pictures:
6/22

06/23

06/25

06/26



I'm feeling good about how my twist out turned out this week.  I look forward to doing more as my hair continues to grow!