Autumn Side Swept Do

My hair has been doing quite a number on me recently. On the one hand it’s really healthy, shiny and strong and I’m retaining a lot of length. But on the other, I’ve seriously been battling single strand knots and it’s been driving me up the wall. Of course the knots aren’t visible in these photos, but I do think my ends appear rather dried and frayed, which is as a result of the knots (although it could be that my hair hadn’t dried properly). I recently trimmed my ends while in twists and immediately after that I went in search of knots on individual strands – you can read that post here –  and while I got rid of a lot, it feels like I still have a long way to go with them.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll have to cut off at least another  1 – 2 cm fairly soon. So I’ve made a decision. In the interest of being able to see all the knots, I’m 99% sure that I’m going to blow-dry and probably flat-iron my hair when I’m in Cape Town in December. I’ll enquire with my curlfriends on stylist recommendations, someone who knows how to work with natural hair and just take it from there. I’m hoping that having my hair straight will make it much easier for a stylist to give me an adequate cut. I also feel like I just need to have this done once  and then I’ll be fine to trim my own ends again as needed once I’m back in Japan. It’s entirely possible that I’m making a mountain out of a mole-hill, but when it comes to my fro I’d rather err on the side of caution.

Regarding these photos, it does still amaze me  that my hair can go from small to big in a matter of hours. In these images, I’m sporting a fresh braid-out with a side sweep and some of the hair tied in a mini side pony tail at the back. Very simple but I felt quite pretty and in a matter of hours, it had magically grown, just the way I expected it to.

Love your curls,

For the love of the Braid-Out

Hello Naturalistas!

We had a public holiday earlier in the week and I thought it was the perfect day to showcase my favourite hair style, the braid-out, while enjoying the lovely Autumn weather with a picnic on a row boat. I haven’t styled my hair like this in a few months so I was quite surprised at how ‘lengthy’ it looked. This is a major reason why I love this style so much – it really stretches out the hair to get maximum ‘hang time’.

Can you believe that this is actually 3rd day hair? I really love the results of a style that’s a few days old: My hair just gets bigger, fluffier and more voluminous. Usually I maintain my styles with the pineappling method, but in this case I opted to braid my hair up into 5 braids for bed time after which I wrapped it in a silk scarf.

Different products work differently on different hair, but in case you’re interested in my styling process for this look, here it is:

– Pre-poo treatment with coconut oil and Hello Hydration conditioner

– Cleansed with Giovanni Smooth As Silk Deep Moisture shampoo

– Deep conditioned overnight with a mix of TRES Emmé Naturals conditioner, Aubrey Organics protein conditioner, honey and coconut oil

– Moisturised with Mixed Chicks Leave-In conditioner and coconut oil

– Styled with Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie

I let my hair air-dry few for a few minutes after which I braided it into a total of 8 braids, 4 on each side.

Back to rowing though, check out my rowing-concentration face while still trying to look cute 🙂

My hair isn’t perfect, but I do love it, frizz and all.

Thanks so much for reading and love your curls!

x

Summer’s End flexi-rod set in Kiba Park

One of my new purchases on my recent trip to England was a set of flexi-rods, also known as bendy rollers. I tried it out for the first time this weekend and absolutely loved the results, so much so that I decided to do a hair style of the day and outfit of the day look post.

Anyone who knows me personally would realise that I’m a sucker for a pretty dress, especially feminine and flirty ones like the one I’m wearing here. I bought this dress at a vintage store in Shibuya here in Tokyo a couple of months ago, and haven’t had a chance to wear it yet. But when I opened my cupboard door on Sunday morning and saw the soft pastel pink and green florals staring at me I just knew that it would be the perfect frock to complement my romantic curls.

I started off on a  2 day old braid-out on Saturday evening by spritzing my hair with a little water to moisturise, followed by a curly pudding for a bit of hold and finished it off with my hair butter. I slept with the rollers in and removed them the next morning. When it came to styling the curls, I separated them and used my fingers and an afro comb to fluff out the hair to add extra volume. Then I decided to pin up some of the hair in the front to the side.

My fiancé and I decided to go for a bike ride in our local park, called Kiba Park, which is where we took most of the photos.

So without any further ado, here are the results of my first ever flexi-rod set.

Love your curls, I know I do.

xxx

Big Twist-out Tutorial

Today I’m super happy and loving my hair. Why? Because my twist-out looks Ah-maaay-zing! Well, to me anyway. It’s actually become my go-to style over the last month or so since I shaped my hair up with a trim. Up until then I’ve mostly been wearing braid-outs as I loved the length it gave me, but since my cut I adore the shape that I get with the twist-out, never mind the extra shrinkage. Here’s how I did it.

1. Washed and twisted my hair on Wednesday night.
2. Wore the twists on Thursday and Friday.
3. Unravelled the twists this morning after smoothing a bit of coconut oil over my strands.
4. Separated the twists.
5. Combed my hair at the roots (only) for more volume.
6. Tossed my head from side to side for final volume boost.

Voila – big hair!

Have a fabulous weekend and love your curls,

xxx

Vintage inspired victory rolls in Hama Rikyu Garden

There is a beautiful  garden in central Tokyo called Hama Rikyu where I decided to take in the beautiful Spring weather we have been experiencing lately. With that I decided to style my hair in two vintage inspired victory rolls. My hair was in a twist-out which served as a great base on which to do the style.

Besides the striking beauty of the garden’s traditional Japanese landscape, I also love that you can do a tea ceremony in a tea house on one of the little islands situated in the middle of the garden. I haven’t done a tea ceremony yet, but I’m hoping to go for one in the near future.

More scenery in the garden

 

Style of the day: Twist-out in Ginza

About  a week ago I decided to take my fabulous twist-out to Ginza. If you live in Tokyo, and have not been there yet, what have  you been waiting for? As for future visitors  to this fine city, a trip to this part of town will leave you mesmerised as you walk the wide open pedestrian shopping zone  (the roads are closed off to traffic on the weekends) where the streets are lined by practically every leading brand name in fashion and cosmetics.  A girly girls’ dream!

Apparently it’s actually possible to find $10 cups of coffee here, so needless to say that Ginza is considered one of the most upmarket shopping, dining and entertainment districts in Tokyo.

Back to my fro though. I was going to opt for my usual braid-out, but when I took the twists down I was thoroughly impressed and decided to stop right there. Carol’s Daughter products lived up to their reputation. My hair was happy.

Style of the Day: Ueno Wash & Go

This weekend I decided to revisit a style that I had not worn in a very long time: The Wash & Go. Since this is a style that involves lots of shrinkage, I’ve been opting to wear stretched curls in the form of twist-outs and braid-outs most of the time. But since I was short on styling time this weekend, I decided to give this old favourite a go. And I must say, it didn’t turn out half bad.

These pictures were actually taken on second day hair when my fiancé  and I decided to spend the day in Ueno Park, a beautiful outdoor green space in central Tokyo. Following  some unwinding in the park, we headed for the big market across the street in search of some bargains.

How I achieved this style

As I mentioned before, I was really short on styling time so I even had to skip my usual pre-poo and deep conditioning sessions (oh horror). So I simply co-washed my hair with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner, after which I applied Aubrey Organics Glycogen Protein Balancing conditioner to allow for quick conditioning and detangling. When it came to styling time, I applied Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in Conditioning Repair Cream as my leave-in, sealed it with coconut oil and finished it off with a bit of Aubrey Organics Aloe Vera gel. My strands took about 2 hours to dry. For bedtime I pulled all my hair into a high loose ponytail, also known as pineappling, and wrapped a silk scarf around my head to protect my hairline. The next morning I just took the ponytail down and shook it all loose. I was good to go.

Style of the Day: Chic Head Wrap

If you’re looking for a feminine and chic way to protect your tresses from the elements, a head wrap is the perfect way to achieve this. It also happens to be a  ridiculously easy to way to hide a bad hair day, or to hide your hair while you are setting it for a particular style.

Before heading out I decided to wrap my hair up in this double scarf over the weekend as I had just washed my strands and put it into several chunky twists to set it. I felt ever so stylish out and about in town.

xxx

Style of the Day: My braid-out survived the cold

I’m already in love with my curls, but there are times when my hair exceeds even my own expectations. Yesterday was one of those days, and so I really wanted to share my look of the day. This was a braid-out done on dry hair, but most importantly I want to show the moisture level I was able to maintain after wearing my hair out the entire day in very dry 3 degree Celsius weather. Usually this would not be the case. The main thing I can attribute this to is the L.O.C. method I used to lock in moisture the night before, so thank heavens to the naturalistas who came up with this technique! After I took these pictures I just moisturised the ends and braided the hair up for bedtime.

I would love to get in touch with more naturally curly girls to feature on the Style of the Day page where I’ll be posting images of your knock-out hair style on a particular day, as well as a soon-to-be-launched Natural Beauty page, which will feature your hair story and regime. So go ahead and get in touch with me. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, and I’d particularly love to hear from my fellow South African meisies. I think we can all inspire and learn from each other.

xxx