Hairstyle of the Week Part 3: Hawser Braid

Hi, everyone. Hope you're enjoying your weekend! I've been test running some new products, which I hope to get to do in-depth reviews for.

This week's hairstyle of the week is a fun one- the hawser braid.
In order to do the hawser braid, you should know how to rope braid.
It's accomplished by rope-braiding 2 rope braids together.

This is a really cool braid- it's basically a mock 4-strand braid, and I find it's actually much faster to do than a true 4-strand braid...it doesn't tire out my fingers as much, either! (And that's always a good thing, haha!)

It looks really neat, always gets a ton of compliments, and eats up length! I've found that with some of these combo braids, shorter hair will feel stiffer in them. As your hair gets longer, you'll be able to do these more easily, and they won't be as stiff.

I think around waist is when I began doing this one, though I like how it looks much more now at just-past-hip-length! :)

First, we'll start off with a ponytail, like so:

I like scrunchies! This is a silk scrunchie- much gentler on hair than regular elastics.

Then, split the ponytail into two sections and rope braid each one. Make sure the rope braids are both going in the same direction! Tie those off.

 Next, you'll rope braid these two braids together together tightly- and...

You have the hawser braid! Just tie it off at the end and enjoy!

You can see that this is a great braid to shorten the hair with. It takes my nearly TBL-length hair and brings it up to just below waist.

Here's a closer shot showing it a bit better:

I hope you enjoyed this week's Hairstyle of the Week!

If you'd like to keep up with these, you can check out this page for my previous updates.

See you next week!

Hairstyle of the Week Part 2: 2-strand Rope Braids!

Hey everyone!

So this week's hairstyle of the week is one of my go-tos. It's a simple, quick, and easy braid that can serve as a base to a lot more complicated, intricate styles! It's the rope braid.

You can also see that, due to the twisting involved, this braid can eat up quite a bit of length! This is useful if you, for whatever reason, wish to shorten your hair. I like to start with a ponytail to hold this one, as it serves as a secure base to make sure it doesn't untwist. In this example, I'm using a silk scrunchie!

I like this style- it's fast, easy to learn, and it looks really cool, too. People really like this one, and I get lots of compliments wearing it this way!

I like it more than the other 2-strand braid I know, the herringbone braid. This one doesn't take more than about a minute to do, tops, and holds just fine.

The 2-strand rope braid is useful to learn- it can be used in buns, and it is also involved in more complex braids, one of which I'll be covering next time. :)

I hope you guys will check out next week!

Hair Tracker Part 17: February 2016- 4 years of growing

Hi everyone. Today's a special day on my hair blog! This update marks 4 years of hair-growth tracking, hair-blogging fun! I am really excited to take a look back and see how my hair has changed.

4 years of growth. 

At these lengths, it's getting more and more challenging 

to get my hair to cooperate for a length shot, it seems.

My hair has grown a lot. I started from 16" in February of 2012, and am now at 36.5" today in February 2016. Years ago, 36" was my original goal length, and, of course, thanks to LHC, I want to grow longer!

I've spent a couple of months here and there maintaining to keep my hemline as even and thick as I can. It seems to have paid off- my hair doesn't have too much taper, and as I'm growing beyond hip, it's still pretty thick at the ends.

Ever since bleaching back in November, I have been diligently watching my ends for splits. I regularly trim off any splits that pop up. Due to my hair being longer than it ever has been, and the fact that I did bleach it, I have noticed a slight increase in splits. But it's not a catastrohpic amount- nothing that warrants cutting off a lot of hair. In the coming months, we'll see if that changes, but for now, my hair is in really good shape.

My hope is that by next year, I'll be close to classic length. Fingers crossed that by the end of 2016, I'll be hovering around 40". I'd like to continue maintaining a straight hemline, and have considered purchasing a Crea Clip, after reading some nice reviews of it online.

All in all, I'm happy with my hair and I'm looking forward to growing to new lengths!

Hairstyle of the Week Part 1: Comet Bun

Hello everyone, thanks so much for checking out my blog!

Today, I'd like to introduce a new weekly feature- the hairstyle of the week.
Every week, I'd like to show you guys a new hairstyle that I like to do, and maybe I'll link to some tutorials, as well.

This week, I'll be featuring the comet bun.

Comet buns (I've also seen them called comet knots) are a variation on the knot bun (this is a tutorial by torrinpaige here, but there are countless others online). However, instead of continuing the style after pulling the hair through the knot the first time, you just leave the tail hanging. It's pretty easy, like tying your hair in a knot. Just make sure to secure at the base, and you're good to go.

This is a great style to do if you want to wear a ponytail, but your hair is too long for a regular one to work. It's not a completely protective style, but it's much better at keeping some of your hair out of the way. However, this can and will make obvious any tapering that your hair has. Keep that in mind.

Here's a before-and-after of my hair.

That's a lot shorter!

There are also fun ways to put your own twist (haha!) on this style- with braids!

In this example, I used an English braid for the base, and then just let the ends stay loose. I really like this look. It eats up more of the length, though, because of the braid.

Alternatively, you can also braid the tail, too!

In this picture, I did a two-strand rope braid on the tail. This is different and makes the updo look like a pretty flower!

This is a fun style, and there's TONS of possbilities to make something cute, practical, and unique!

I hope you guys find this feature interesting! I'll be back again next week!

Hair update!

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone's looking forward to my next post!
2/22 will be four years since I started keeping track of my growth, and I am so surprised at how well my hair has grown!

Recently, I've gotten to use this magical concoction from Nightblooming, and I absolutely love it.
I'll be writing up a full review of my experience with it as soon as I can get a hold of a nice camera.

I would like to share a couple of photos I did a little while back of a really nice (in my opinion, of course, ha) attempt at a 4-strand braid.

You can click on each picture to enlarge them. 

Normally, when I do a 4-strand braid, my go-to method is to rope braid 2 rope braids together. 

That technique is a cable/hawser braid (This is a great video demonstrating it) 

For these braids, however, I did it the old-fashioned way, by weaving 4 single strands of hair together. 

This braid is beautiful, and it eats up quite a lot of length- much more than a 3-strand English braid. 

I've also been experimenting with 5-strand braids and beyond, but those can be quite difficult for my fingers!

I hope you all have a nice day!

I'll see you again soon!

Hair Color Adventures: Bleaching Over Henna

Hi everyone! So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I recently decided that my hair color had gotten too dark, so I sought to bleach it.

As someone who's taken excruciating care to avoid damaging processes like heat styling, using styling aids, and using conventional, drying dyes, this was a difficult step for me to take. And rightfully so, considering I'm dealing with a lot of BAQ henna- which is, in general, permanent.

There have been threads on various forums and some reported success with different methods to lighten henna, though removing it completely is incredibly difficult to do. Henna tends to stick around and not want to budge- and by the time you do manage to lift it out, you're left with terribly damaged, dry, lifeless hair.

Even knowing all this, I wanted to color my hair because I didn't really like the cool red my hair had turned. I have been careful to avoid my length during my henna applications, but I was using a high lawsone-content henna, meaning it had a stronger dye and left a redder stain. Even accidentally getting it on the length meant my hair would gradually turn redder and redder. I wanted a warmer, orangey color rather than what my hair was. So, enter bleach.

Before I detail my process, I want to specify that I was careful and strand-tested. I was dealing with high volume developer and there was not a lot of room for something to go wrong. This is crucial- if you have any intention of dyeing over henna in any capacity, you should ALWAYS STRAND TEST AND WAIT. Henna is an unpredictable beast to work with, so it is imperative that you at least get an idea of what your results will be. Sometimes henna will re-darken over several days, which I've found to be true of color removers like Color Oops (Though some people have had success with them)

With that all said, this was my starting color on the left, and the most recent length shot tody

You may notice that it's not really that big of a color shift- and you're right. It's definitely noticeable in certain lighting, and in person, you'd be able to tell.  

The crazy thing about this color change? It took volume 40 developer to get there. 

That tiny lift was over 45 minutes of the strongest developer on my hair. That's a lift most people would never recommend, and that's what I had to do to get that minor color change. That's the reality of henna, my friends.

But let's get to the whole reason why I wrote this blog post. Not because I lightened my hair, but because I have virtually no damage from the bleaching process- that isn't my hair texture changing in the second photo from bleach damage, though are just braid waves because I've been wearing my hair up. 

What?! No damage, you might be wondering? But how, if bleach is so bad for the hair, is that even possible? 

I had read on one of my favorite hair blogs, ktani's hair sense, about a promising theory that coconut oil, applied before the dyeing hair, drastically reduced damage done by dyes. So, using this knowledge, I set out to find out if bleaching my hair might be feasible. But first, I did some strand tests. The strand on the left is the bleached strand, and the strand on the right is the original color. 

I was satisfied with the results of my strand tests, so I set out to replicate them on my whole head. 

First, the day before I was planning to bleach my hair, I did a conditioning rinse to detangle my hair, then I followed it up with a strong clarifying shampoo. I did not condition my hair afterwords, as it would inhibit the coconut oil from being able to properly penetrate the hair. 

I then carefully towel-dried my hair and gently removed any knots by finger detangling. 

After my hair was dried, I then applied the coconut oil. I guess applied is too conservative- I drowned my hair in coconut oil, until it was soaked thoroughly and dripping. I then wrapped it up with a plastic cap and kept it on overnight, for a total of about 9-10 hours. 

The next morning, I did not wash my hair, but did squeeze out some of the excess oil and then mixed up the developer and bleach. I carefully applied (Wearing gloves!!) the bleach to my hair in sections, careful to keep it off my skin and wipe up and drips immediately. I then covered my hair with a processing cap and let it sit for 45 minutes. 

I rinsed my hair, using a diluted shampoo to help make sure the bleach was out of my hair- I did not condition yet, then I towel-dried my hair again. On my hair, I applied a protein treatment for about 30 minutes, covered my hair, and then rinsed it out. I followed up with an SMT (Snowymoon's Moisture Treatment- 4 parts conditioner, 1 part aloe, and 1 part honey) and let it sit for as long as I could stand it. 

After rinsing the moisturizing treatment out of my hair, I applied more conditioner and then towel dried again. When my hair was mostly dry, I applied mineral oil to my hair to keep it manageable. I waited to see if the color would redarken, as henna is known to do sometimes, but luckily, I had no issue with the color reverting! 

The products that helped keep my hair form being completely fried.
Mad props to coconut oil for shielding my hair form the evils of bleach.

Since bleaching, I have been doing light protein treatments followed by SMT and then a good oiling. My hair has shown no new splits, and only a little bit of dryness on the first day, when quickly calmed down after I oiled it. 

My protein treatments of choice have been the ION Reconstructor and the ION Effective Care treatment. The Reconstructor is a more hardcore protein treatment, so I used that one after my bleaching. The Effective Care treatment is a lighter protein treatment that I'd already been using, so I've been using it after every wash, followed by a deep conditioning treatment. 

I think the biggest player in this whole game was the coconut oil soak prior to bleaching. It is important that the coconut oil is able to penetrate the hair, so I was sure to do a good clarifying wash to remove any build-up that might prevent it from doing so. 

Additionally, mineral oil has helped enormously in keeping my hair soft and smooth. I've found that it works the best when I apply it to almost-dry hair. 

So where will I go from here? I still have a bit of the old color hanging onto the top part of my hair, but I would like to allow that to grow out for a little while before I try to treat that, because I don't want to accidentally get bleach on my less-saturated roots. I'll give it a few months, and post another update when I do decide to lighten the rest of the hair. 

I hope you guys found my post informative. If you do choose to bleach your hair after a treatment such as henna, do always remember to strand test. 

Until next time!!

Hairtracker Part 16: November 2015

Hello all- hope you're all staying warm out there, with winter coming up fast!

Today I thought I'd post an update showing my growing progress. About two or three weeks ago, I did a fairly big trim, probably snipping off at least an inch or more of growth. So here I am today, measuring 35"

Braidwaves FTW!

My color's looking a lot brighter- that'd be because I actually went and bleached the parts of my hair from my ears down- there's a noticeable difference between the two colors. The upper part of my head is the 'before'. I'm now using a different henna blend on my roots so my hair won't build up as quickly to that dark red I had before.

I'll detail my process of bleaching my hair in my next post!
It was quite an adventure!

Until then, see you all!