Finally!

Hi all! 

Wooh! I finally got the twist-out to work for me!

If you recall, two years ago, at the very start of my transition, twist-outs (and braid-outs) were fail after fail on my hair. I would try them and they would unravel at the bottom and leave me with straggly ends or without being able to keep a twist in place at all.

Not anymore! 

Now that I'm 100% natural, my twists stay put all night and don't unravel.

I only used two products that my boyfriend so graciously gave me for Christmas to finally try out! He knows I am dying to try new products, but don't want to blow the money that every product junkie does. So this was much appreciated! The Kinky-Curly Knot Today and Spiral Spritz(plus water of course!) were the only things I used to twist my wet hair. 

My first successful twists are below:

This process took 20-30 minutes, half the time of my usual straw sets. 

Then, I slept in them and let them air-dry overnight. 

This was the result of untwisting and fluffing with almond oil in the morning 

(which also took no longer than 20 minutes) :

My second attempt was successful as well. I actually like this look better because it is even fluffier. I think this is due to the fact that I used almond oil to separate the twists for the first attempt, and dry fingers to separate the twists for this second attempt:

Overall, I LOVE it! This is so much simpler and quicker than the straw set. I think I have found my new back-up style for nights that I don't want to spend the longer time to do a straw set (40 minutes to twist and untwist vs. 2 hours to straw set and remove/untwist straws.) I wish I had tried this out way sooner..like as soon as I cut off my relaxed ends! Don't get me wrong, I still adore straw sets. But this is a great alternative and I'm sooo glad I finally gave it a shot!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Have a great week ahead!
Until next time! =]

Update: Christmas Straw Set, NYE Wash & Go

Hi all!

This is an update on the styles I wore for the holidays.

Christmas Eve and Day were a usual straw set. I spent the holiday on the East Coast where I wore the same straw set for 6 days. Even through that...my hair held up fine in the wind, rain and snow. 

Christmas Eve, 5th day hair:

Christmas Day, 6th day hair:

Click Here For My Straw Set Tutorial

For New Year's Eve, because I was much too lazy to do a straw set on December 30th, I woke up on December 31st not exactly sure what to do with my hair. I wanted something cute, and I did NOT want to wear my hair in a puff like I usually do when I don't wear my hair down and out. So I opted to wash my hair and try some finger coils.

It took me about 2 hours in the bathroom with leave in conditioner and gel to define my curls with my fingers and work with my stubborn multiple-textures. Then I didn't like the result and threw it into a high puff anyway. I was extremely frustrated that I had spent all that time on a look I didn't even end up liking and that I resorted to an everyday look (a puff) that I did not want to wear on a holiday.

So about 10 minutes after I put my hair in a puff, I went back to the bathroom, sprayed my hair with water and just combed it out. My hair already had leave-in conditioner and gel in it, so I ended up with a mostly-defined wash and go that only took 10 minutes. Yeeesh, after all that! Ever have hair days like this? Lol.

I added a black sequined headband and gold earrings to complete this NYE look:

I hope your new year is off to a great start! 

Until next time! =]

11 Ways to Have Festive Christmas Hair!

Hi all!

This is more of a fun, general hair post.

Since Christmas is around the corner, I thought I'd share this Buzzfeed article I came across a few months ago about "Festive Christmas Hair." They happened to feature me in it! I am #7!

(This photo is back from when my hair was relaxed.)

Enjoy!

11 Ways To Have Festive Christmas Hair

Would I ever walk out of my house with any of these styles? No.

But nevertheless, this post is silly and fun!

I'm Straight!

This will be a  very quick, short post!

I had my first hair straightening session since I cut off the last of the relaxer!

I think it looks a little dry and the ends don't look the best because I haven't gone into a salon to get it professionally trimmed yet. But I'm loving the length I get to play with for a few days! =)

I hope everyone has had a good weekend! 

Finger Coils & Braidouts & Straw Sets, Oh My! (Pic Heavy)

Hi all! 

Since I cut the rest of my relaxer off and finally became 100% natural, I've been experimenting with different methods and looks. This post is a quick breakdown of the ones I've tested so far.

Finger Coils

This was my first attempt at finger coils on my whole head. The method I used was to literally separate my hair and coil individual pieces of it. The only products used are the Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in Treatment and water. I think next time I'll try using gel too. Here's how it turned out:

(Excuse the Cantu Leave-in at the top right! Gotta blend that in better next time!)

VERDICT: I really like the curl definition! My main gripe about this style is that when it dries, there is mucho shrinkage. Shrinkage isn't really my enemy, but if I'm going for a stretched look, this isn't the way until my hair gets a little longer. 

Braidout

This was my first braidout ever in which I didn't have to use something to secure the ends of my braids!!! Remember when I used to have the problem of imminent unraveling!? Now I just braid my hair up and finger coil the ends and they stay put! Wooh! Just like this:

And this was the result:

Compared to how it would turn out at the very beginning of my transitioning journey:

Maaaaaajor volume difference!!
VERDICT: I like the braidout, but it's not quite my favorite look. I really haven't mastered it yet and need more practice before I'll feel comfortable wearing it out like this. Plus, there are still a few straight ends scattered about and I feel like they're very visible because, just like when I was all relaxed, the ends don't curl.

Straw Set

Of course. The go-to. It doesn't look much different from what it looked like before I cut the ends off: 

BUT, it looks VERY different from the straw sets at the beginning of my journey as well:

Yet ANOTHER dramatic change.  Uh..i think you know the verdict for this one! I love it so much more now! It looks so......."lifeless," is the word that comes to mind, in that last pic! Since I've been straw setting throughout my whole transition and this major volume change was gradual, it's still a shock to see it side-by-side every time! Lol.

Click Here For My Straw Set Tutorial

Speaking of straw-sets, I am definitely going to be doing a giveaway of a "Straw Set Kit" for one lucky blog reader. If you're transitioning, this is perfect for you. I plan to give away all of the products I used (and am still using) to create a straw set during my own long-term transition.  I need to make a video to let my YouTube subscribers in on the details and once that happens, I'll post them here as well. But, I wanted to give my loyal American readers a heads-up before then! (I am soooooo sorry to exclude international readers, but I don't have the resources to ship overseas at the moment. It's a possibility for future giveaways though!) So, be on the look out for that! 

Aaaand..speaking of YouTube, this post has inspired me to do a video montage of side-by-side comparisons of hairstyles just like this. I think that's what's next on my YT video to-do list!

Well, that's all for now!

Thank you for reading and have GREAT weekend! 

P.S. You can follow me on Instagram for more hair photos! My username is "diimpulz."
If you choose to follow, let me know that you found me through my blog! =)

My First Wash-N-Go

Hi all!

Yuck, it's Monday. -_-

Today was the first day since I cut my remaining relaxed ends off that I wore my hair out fresh from the shower! I guess it's not a 100% true Wash-n-Go (WNG) because I do have some Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In conditioning treatment and some IC Fantasia gel as well, and thennnn..I slapped  on a headband. But it's as true of a WNG in a sense that I didn't set my hair last night to wear it out today. (That's something I can't wait to experiment with though!!)

Anyway..all I can say is..shrinkage is a muthaaaa! LOL!

Here's what my hair looked like today as I wore it out:

It's a cute, short little fro....that makes me feel like my hair grows very slow! lol. 

BUT, here's what I actually have to show for these past 2 years:

HUGE difference!!! It's cetainly past my shoulders and almost down to my bra.

 Again- shrinkage is a mutha! Ha! And patience is a virtue..one that I'll need for my curls to get this long unstretched.

Here's a couple close-ups of my natural pattern:

I definitely still want to play with different methods to really make my curls pop with definition.

That's all for now! 

Have a great week!

Guess What I Did?! =D

23 months into my long-term transition, I cut my remaining relaxed ends off!!!

Eek! I needed to cut about two inches in most places and less than an inch in some spots. I really planned on waiting until September so it would be a full 24 months, but the reason I just got fed up and cut it was because I wanted to be able to throw it in a ponytail right out of the shower (which is what I did today.) I was never able to do that during my transition because my relaxed ends were always straight and brittle, unlike the rest of my hair, after I washed it. Now, they're curly like the rest of it! I'm sure there are still a few sparse straight ends in there somewhere and I'll have to keep maintenance trimming until they're all gone, but I am soooo excited to start experimenting with new products and techniques to get my curls popping! =)

Here's some photos of what it looked like right after I cut the ends off:

And here's today's high ponytail/puff: 

Thanks to everyone who stops by to read my updates! I hope I've been able to help, inspire or at least entertain someone out there through this long transition! =) My relaxed-to-natural journey has now ended and so begins my hair-growth journey!  

That's all for now!
Have a great weekend!