Sunday Styling II

My Sunday styling didn't quite go according to plan this week. It had been my intention to set my hair on Soft Spikes after washing and I actually gave it a good try. The trouble was that my locks wouldn't stay on the curlers; each time I thought I had a curl set, it would unravel. Now I have thought about this and my conclusion is that my hair was too wet (and possibly suffering from a little shrinkage). I think that at the length my hair is currently, my best bet is to put the Soft Spikes in while my hair is dry and then to give them a light spritz with water to help them set.
So this week's styling option has been the ....erm...very little styling option...otherwise known as the freestyle. I have been enhancing this look with hairbands and hairties; speaking of hairties, I have two new ones that I have to share with you soon.

Sunday Styling

As I promised (myself), I made a bit more of an effort with my styling after washing my hair last night. Once I removed the bands (no braiding for me) and separated the locks, I canerowed my hair back - about 8 I think - and secured each one with a small hairband. This morning I took them out and that was it, my hair was done. Ok, ok, I styled the crinkled locks a bit by running my fingers through them, but it really was simple to do.
I don't mean to sound weird but, I looked at my hair today and was so very pleased with my decision to lock.

Your hair looks nice...in that picture!

I was showing my sister and my cousin a few of my picture albums (because of course I only have a few!) this evening. My cousin commented that my hair looked nice in a few of the pictures and she wondered why I didn't have it like that more often. I guess I have just become lazy with my hair; now that I have cut it, it takes a lot more effort to style. I have long been an advocate of freestyling; but on reflection I have to agree with my cousin, at it's current length, my hair looks better with a little styling.
It's not as if I don't have the tools to do it; I have my softspikes, I have a growing collection of beautiful hairties and I have some great clips and headbands. I figure that as Sunday evening tends to be hair washing time, it could become hair washing and styling time; a softspike set (or if I'm pushed for time, plain old plaiting) will give my hair an 'I've made a bit of an effort' look for a few days.
Mmmm, we'll see how it goes; I'll keep you posted...

8 Months!

And still loving it!

My hair is still wet in these pictures; after all the contact with water in Egypt, it was crying out for a good wash and condition. I don't usually use conditioner, but after all of the sea salt and pool chemicals I felt it was necessary. My locks feel lovely and soft and the conditioner (Alberto Balsam Tea Tree Tingle) hasn't caused any unravelling, so I guess that means it's ok for me to use it!

It is time for a retightening and my ends could do with neatening up after my self-trim, but I couldn't be happier with my hair at the moment.

Any idea what this is?

It was in my hair!!! I'd been outside and when I came back in I felt a slight itch, instinctively I put my hand to my head. I felt something move and pulled at it and sent it flying to the floor; I actually thought it was a wasp because I was sure I'd heard a buzz. I took this picture quickly so that I could compare it with insects in my gardening books. I surprised myself by releasing it humanely back into the garden and not clobbering it with the closest object; I think it was because my son suggested it may have laid eggs in my hair (kids, don't you just love them). I ran upstairs so fast to wash my hair; braiding and banding wasn't even an option! It actually felt great to be able to get to every part of my hair and scalp and my hair seems to have survived. But my curls are gone, so I still haven't managed to keep a Soft Spike set for more than a few days; I was really starting to enjoy the curls. It's probably best to keep it freestyle for a while, just in case I need to wash it in a hurry...

I had a thought...

...that if I washed my hair, the locks I'd trimmed might unravel. Afterall, I hadn't actually checked it was ok to cut them. All was well and they didn't come out in the wash!

I am now using Fantasia Tea Tree Naturals Shampoo - great smell, lovely tingling sensation on the scalp and my flakes have improved.

Freshly washed and dried whilst in two french plaits; I have a few locks with a mind of their own, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Flakes away (hopefully)

A while back I promised to post pics of my two french plait set the next time I did it - here they are! Before washing my hair today I did an ACV rinse; I 've been suffering from some flaking recently, no itching, just flakes. I left the ACV on for 45 minutes while watching the second half of the Arsenal v Fulham match (YES!) and then rinsed it off before shampooing; I then spritzed my scalp with Witch Hazel and Tea Tree Oil before putting the french plaits in.
I hope that these measures will help to alleviate the flaking; we'll see...

Easy like Sunday morning.

Having recently taken up jogging, I watched this year's London Marathon with keen interest. Now I'll be very honest with you, I am VERY far from being able to sustain running for 5-6 hours (about average for the Joe Bloggs marathon runner). I have managed to get myself up to about 25 minutes and this is a real achievement for me as I used to give up after about 2!

Anyway I started to watch the Elite Ladies race at about 9am and found myself really captured. According to the commentators this was the hottest London Marathon to date. Chunxiu Zhou, the winner and the first Chinese athlete to win the London Marathon, never looked as though she was under any strain. She finished the race with ease, leaving the favourite Lornah Kipligat to come in third.

Of course, having watched the race I was off to the park for a run (with stopwatch!); my SO is a keen runner, usually going everyday and he has finally convinced me that I can jog. For the past two weeks I have been alternating between going to the gym, which I still favour, and jogging. It's early days yet and a little to early for me to give a life long commitment to pounding through the streets and the park; we'll see how things go...



All of the exercise, watching and doing, left my hair needing a good wash. I'm really into my new Tresemme Vitamin C Clarifying Shampoo with Grapefruit Extract (what a mouthful, to say I mean, of course I don't eat the shampoo!) and love washing my hair with it. I don't love all the plaiting and banding that goes with hair washing and sometimes (only sometimes) don't do it; I do however still plait my hair and tuck the plaits in, so far I have not had any issues with this. This pic was taken after I'd washed my hair; I was tempted to leave it like this to dry, but then worried I might get that dodgy tight curl I had a while back. So I took the plaits out and having separated each lock, put my hair into medium sized canerows.

My weekly treat...

I really love to wash my hair these days! I look forward to sitting down and plaiting it, putting matching little black hairbands at the ends and then planning how I'm going to style it when it's finished. I've always enjoyed the feel of water running through my hair and of course that feeling of cleanliness after the final rinse. What I've not looked forward to previously is the drying and styling.

I washed my hair yesterday evening and decided that I would twist it when it was finished. I had in my mind the look I was going for and decided that to achieve it I needed to start part way down the length of my hair, the twists should be fairly loose and that they should be quite large. Before twisting I gave my hair and scalp a good coating of Tea Tree oil spritz, which I just love. I tied my hair in my doo-rag, which incidentally is becoming too small for my hair so I will have to explore new avenues, and that was that. My hair was still quite damp at this point and I guess I should get out of the habit of washing my hair late at night. I do squeeze the excess water out of my hair and then pat it with the towel before separating it; I usually then just let it hang until I'm ready for bed. To be honest this is nothing new, as I often went to bed with wet hair pre-SL's; I was hopeless at blow drying and would become intensely bored when sitting under the hood dryer. Anyway, I took the twists out this morning and then finger combed to style. The pictures at the top were taken just after I opened the twists and the bottom ones after finger combing. I am really pleased with the results, it's a bit like a rollered do without the rollers! I don't own SoftSpikes, although I am really tempted to get some; I just don't know if I can do the sleep with them in thing. Perhaps you can help me to decide. Would I have to keep them in overnight? Are they a styling option for me so early on in the journey? If you could only take 3 hair/beauty items away with you, would they be one of them? OK, only kidding with the last one, but all opinions on SS' greatly received.

I'm gonna wash these curls right outta my hair....... and send them on their way!

Although my hair has gradually loosened since my curl disaster the other day; I decided enough was enough today and washed them out. I am really enjoying the ease of washing my hair now. Yes I know that I have to b&b it and separate it afterwards, but that's about it. It's not so long ago that washing my hair was far more of a trial; don't get me started on drying it!

Three weeks in and I'm loving it; it rained today and I didn't care! I am looking forward to going away in the summer and not worrying about going into the pool. On holiday last year I took a dip once and had a ponytail for the rest of the time we were there because my hair wasn't right anymore.

But back to now and my wet hair...




I like the fact that you can't see many of the parts anymore





and it has a fluffy look at the root.

I hope to get it retightened at the weekend - my appointment is scheduled for the following week but I have remembered that I won't be in the country!
On very good advice, I have twisted my hair and will take these out in the morning - pics will of course follow...

Never again...

But I say this every year! Never again, will I get up early on Boxing day morning to join the hoards of bargain hunters at the Christmas sales. I am quite happy for about half an hour during which time I have usually made a purchase. Then a steady decline in both my emotions and mental stability starts to take place! The general public become a different breed when faced with the prospect of saving a pound or two and I become a different person when pushed, pulled or stepped on a time too many - so you see the two aren't really compatible!
We left the Shopping Centre just before my blood pressure was going to cause me to need medical assistance.


Back in the safety and calm of my own abode I was able to relax, become human again and then wash my hair.
I must say I was very nervous about this and my paranoid side told me that I would wash every single loc out! However I was pleasantly surprised by the results; especially the fact that my hair felt very soft despite me not using conditioner. I allowed it to dry naturally, making sure that the locs were separated properly - another paranoid thought was that my hair would turn into one big loc!. My hair actually dried faster than it would in its pre-loc days, although I suspect that as the locs swell they will take a lot longer to dry. Still, no complaints - I just Wash and Go!



The pictures show my hair whilst it's still damp