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.