Frugal Fridays: A great solution for dry hair.

When most people talk to me about natural hair and why they won't go natural. The first thing they usually state is it's because products are too expensive, I often laugh. The truth is you don't need expensive hair products to maintain your hair. My hair drinks products like a sailor so I try to get the most bang out of my buck. That's why I'm starting "Frugal Fridays." To showcase products that I use that do not break the bank and get the job done.

First up on the list is my probably my favorite product E V E R. Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Moist Deep Conditioner.

I've been using this deep conditioner off and on for probably 3 years. I try to trade out my products so my hair won't get use to one thing so I've used many deep conditioners, this one will always be my favorite. I usually recommend it to anyone who suffers from dry hair because it really helps. I know the product claims that you can use it for 3 minutes but me being me I usually let it stay on for an hour. After I'm finished I wash it out and my hair feels like BUTTER. Honestly this stuff is a miracle. What's also a miracle is the price. Aussie is found at most drugstores and chain stores such as Wal-Mart and Target. I usually pick mine up from Wally World for the low price of $2.97. Yep, this is available for under $5, talk about a miracle. 

Well that does it for Frugal Friday. If you use this conditioner or plan to let me know in the comments how much you like it!

Until Next Time,

Krystal 

New Years Resolution: I'm NOT using Shampoo anymore!

Hello Everyone! Happy New Year!

Now I'm not one to make resolutions, if I want to change I just simply do it. However I think this resolution has been a long time coming... yes, I'm not using shampoo anymore.

I was a couple of months in the natural hair game. 

Now here's a little background on my decision. Back when I first became natural waaayyy back in 2011, I rarely used shampoo on my hair, I probably on used it once a month. Any other time I co-washed my hair. Now this was met with a lot of skepticism from my peers.

"Krystal, you mean to tell me that your hair is clean and you don't use shampoo." and I would simply reply "Yes."

Now in addition to me only co-washing I also had a stellar regimen. I co-washed, deep conditioned, did protein treatments, hot oil treatments. I did the WHOLE nine yards and my hair was in perfect condition and my hair grew.

This is my hair at 2 years natural.

Now as my hair grew my patience didn't. I went through so many changes, with my job, school, moving... basically a lot was going on. So naturally somethings have to suffer. My hair unfortunately was one of them. I then decided to go the cheap way of washing my hair.
I started to shampoo, condition, and leave-in condition for all of my washes and THIS was the result...

Almost 4 years natural 

That picture was taken this past June. No that isn't old hair. I know to some my hair doesn't look that bad but trust me it was. If I ran a stick through my hair I'm sure I would have started a fire. It was that dry. I usually have a more visible curl pattern which isn't here because my hair is so dry and frizzy. After a few months of looking like this I decided it was time for a change. 

My Solution 

Well my solution was simple, I'm not using shampoo anymore. I also had to decide what I was going to use in the place of shampoo. I decided this back in September and let me tell you since I've decided that my hair has been flourishing. I wish I had more photos (I don't take that many selfies nowadays) to show you all my results buttt I will have some pretty soon. I've decided to make this a series for the month of January so stay tuned. 

• My next post will go into detail about why shampoo isn't the best thing for your hair.
• After that I will explain my alternative to shampoo, Apple Cider Vinegar, in more detail.
• Next I will talk about my second alternative which is Black Soap. 

So again, thank you for reading this post and come back to read the others. 

Happy New Year! 

-Krystal 

Hair Inspiration Sunday!

Why hello! Long time no speak. Lol. Well what better day to blog than to post some hair inspiration?
Well I know that many naturals follow natural hair Instagrams and have Pinterest boards dedicated to natural hair. Because of that it's often that you'll run into the same picture constantly. One picture that I always ran into was this one.
 

I always marveled at this hair style and I always wondered who was the woman rocking it she is gorgeous! Well this year after watching Dear White People (which is a GREAT movie and you should see it if you haven't) I finally found out who she is.

Teyonah Parris is a talented actress who currently stars in Starz original series Survivors Remorse and she is also the star in Spike Lee's newest film Chi-Raq. In addition to being a great actress she rocks some of the greatest natural hairstyles I have seen. Here are some of her looks.




I love how versatile she is with her looks. Teyonah proves that having natural hair doesn't put you in a box and you really have a lot of options. I look forward to imitating some of this hairstyles in the near future!

My Bantu Knot Out

If there is one style I hear that naturals can't get right it's the bantu knot out. Admittedly I've never had a problem with it. It was my go-to style when I was transitioning, because I could never get a twist out or braid out to look right.

I stopped doing bantu knot outs when I became natural for one reason: My hair was too thick. The secret to have a great bantu knot out (IMO) is that your hair has to be 90%-100% dry when you take it out. I find myself getting away with letting twist outs and braid outs being wet when I take them down. But not the bantu knot, for some reason it won't curl properly when it's not dry.

Now you can say a solution to this dilemma is, "Do your hair when it's dry." Eh...another thick hair girl problem, I personally cannot style my hair when it's dry, it's just not a pretty sight. All my styling is done on wet hair. It's easier to detangle and manipulate my hair into a style when it's wet plus it cuts down on breakage drastically. I will continue to always style my hair after a wash.

So recently (9 months ago. Lol) I decided to do my first bantu knot out in years. But I wanted to try something different. Instead of twirling my hair and making the knot, I decided to twist my hair and make it into a knot. This video is what I followed when doing my bantu knot out, keep in mind I did mine on wet hair.

Here's how it went--

Here are the knots, these took me about an hour to do.

A few shots of me "vouging" it up. Note: I kept the knots in for a day, because I do not own a hair dryer and I wanted to make sure they were completely dry when I took them down. 

Annnddd here are the results. 

I really loved this hair style, it gave me a 1930's Claudette Colbert look. 

I was flicking it up while sitting in a Chinese restaurant. Lol. But I didn't care, my hair looked great. 

Products: The products I remember using for this hairstyle was Coconut Oil, Cantu Leave-in Conditioner and  Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie.

How Long did It Last: This hairstyle lasted me a good two weeks, my hair tends to hold styles very well. 

Will I do the again: Eh...Maybe, maybe not. This style was done last October and I haven't done it since then. I love the results but it's a bit too time consuming for me. 

Well that does it for this blog post. Thanks for reading! -Krystal 

Yes, It's Her Real Hair: Sasha Tania

I've always said I wanted to do features with my blog and look, now I have my first feature! I would like everyone to meet Sasha, a native of New York and now a resident of Florida. Ever since I met Sasha I've loved her hair and I'm so glad she agreed to be featured on my blog. Thank you! 

And now everyone I would like you to meet our Friday Feature: Sasha Tania 

1. Introduce yourself!I am Sasha Tania, a 22-year-old aspiring model and natural hair blogger. I am a recent graduate of Florida A&M University. My parents are from Jamaica and England but I was born in New York, and raised in Florida. I am the youngest of four children.

2. How long have you been natural?

I have been natural for three years, it will be four in August!

3. What are your favorite products?

Right now, I cannot live without Carol's Daughter Black Vanilla Shampoo and Conditioner. My Favorite styling products are Camille Rose Naturals Curl Love Moisture Milk, and their Aloe Whipped Butter Gel.

4. What are your go-to styles?

I try and do protective styles as much as I can. My favorite protective style are two strand twist, its so convenient and when I get tired of wearing twist I take them out and wear my curls.

5. What are styles that you can't seem to get right?

Anything involving hairpins! My hair pushing them right back out no matter how big the pins are. I swear I have use at least ten pins per section.

6. What's the funniest encounter you've ever had with someone, involving your hair?

When someone randomly touches, or sniffs my hair. I think its so strange, it happens a lot. Its like they're checking to see if its real or not.

You can find more of Sasha and her gorgeous curls at

 

Youtube- www.youtube.com/ssblissfulbeauty

Facebook-www.facebook.com/sashasnaturalhair

Blog- www.sashasnaturalhair.blogspot.com

Instagram- @Sashatania

Straightening My Natural Hair: Q&A

Since I've been natural I've gotten my hair straightened a total of 3 times. It's not that I don't like the results or a natural hair Nazi against straightening (I actually like my hair straight. Yes, I said it. Lol)But I dislike how long a typical straightening of mine last (which is about a week, depending on the humidity), how long it takes to straighten it (which is over an hour) and the fact I can't style straight hair to save my life (which is reason why I went natural.) Well despite these three major issues I loved the few times I've had my hair straightened and enjoy those couple of weeks to the fullest. Now the above picture went viral on Facebook a couple of months ago and quite a few women asked questions so I'll take this time out to answer the Top 7 questions that are usually asked when I have straight hair.

 

1. What do you do? Well I do not straighten it myself, that's a no-no. I prefer to let a professional handle my hair so I can get the best results. There's no way I can get my hair to look like that. I suggest that naturals go to a salon to get their hair straighten, if they're not sure how to get the results they want to achieve.

 

2. What salon do you go too? I am a student at FAMU so I go to the salon on campus. It's called the Rattler's Edge. If you are in the Tallahassee, FL area you can pay them a visit. I've never had a bad experience with them.

 

3. What type of flat iron was used? A Chi. Sorry I don't know the brand.

 

4. How long have you been natural? My last relaxer was February 2011, I big chopped September 2011. So transitioned about seven months and I've been natural for two years.

 

5. How often do you trim? Not like I should. Lol. Since I've been natural I've trimmed my hair a total of three times and that was whenever I got it straightened. I DO NOT recommend that, because I usually have an inch of hair taken off.

 

6. What's your hair type? I honestly don't know. If I had to guess I'll say majority 4B. My hair is the front is of a looser curl pattern but yet it's still pretty coarse.

 

7. How do you make your hair grow? I really have no answer to this. I can tell you I do not take any supplements, vitamins included. My diet is OK, I eat sweets way too much. Lol. For the first couple of years I was natural I didn't wear my hair out. It was usually in twists, nowadays I wear my hair out more.

This is a photo from my third straightening. Which was April 2014.

Side view of my results.

Front View of my results.

 

Sunday Funday!

Let me get this out, I am horrible at taking "staged" pictures. I feel like my poses look too "posed" and I look downright goofy. Hopefully as I progress with this blog my poses look better. But as of right now let me revisit my weekend through these few pictures. 

I had such a great day Sunday, it was a day filled with church, food, fun and friends. What better way to start your week?

So about my hair in this post, ehh this is how my hair looks when I do nothing to it. I recently took out a sew-in a couple of days ago. I decided when I took out my corn rows I liked the curl pattern so I let my hair stay in the "after sew-in" phase. Honestly, while it may look nice that's probably not the best thing to do with my hair. Especially when you consider I may have a lot of shedding hair piling up. We shall see how much shedding I have when I wash my hair. I believe that'll make for an interesting post. Lol

                                                                          Close up

I love my stance

Hello!

Wanted to get a little hair twirl action. Lol

Thanks for reading! -Krystal