Hairstyle Contest Winner

I entered a contest that Kcurly had on her blog (- see my entry here http://newlynatural.com/blog/?p=669) I had to write about my favorite hair style which, of course, is the twist-out :o)

By the way, her blog is great. She has tons of information about natural hair and products. She has the most beautiful head of healthy hair and she does one of the best finger coil style I have ever seen and I'm not just saying this because I won - you really have to check her site out. Did I mention she even has a great tutorial on how she does her finger coils? That is definitely a style I am going to attempt this summer once my protective style challenge is done.

The prizes were a jar of Shea Terra Organics Shea Butter and a set of Tomoka's Twists
Tomoka's Twists has also started selling the cutest hair ties as well. I've used the Shea butter - that stuff is very thick a little definitely goes a long way, because of it's consistency I think I will use it to seal my braid/twist ends only and primarily use it for as a body cream. I have to hide it from my husband though, because he said it works good on his back :o(










Picture of my prizes :o)



















Showing different ways I can wear my new set of Tomoka's Twists - as you can see I have taken out my two-strand twists (they didn't last long) I attempted to wash them and the result was a hot-frizzy-matted-mess :o( - So the box braids are back for now...


Don't forget to check out Kcurly's site and stop by Tomoka's Twists to check out her new products.


Peace and Blessings...

Hair Inspiration for Black History Month

Playwright/Screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks was the first African American woman in 2002 to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play – Topdog/Underdog which starred Jeffrey Wright and Don Cheadle (Wright and Mos Def on Broadway).

The play is about two African-American brothers named Lincoln and Booth as a joke by their father.

She also worked on the screenplays for Their Eyes are Watching God and The Great Debaters.


She credits her writing teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, for starting her on the path of playwrighting. James Baldwin stated that she is "an astonishing and beautiful creature who may become one of the most valuable artists of our time."

Along with being an inspiring African American woman, Suzan Lori-Parks is both a writing inspiration as well as ‘natural hair’ inspiration.

New Hairstyle :o)

My braids are out. I know, they didn't last long at all. I kept seeing so many cute protective styles online - it made me want to take them out. Although I took them out, I still ended up with the same type of style - my typical bun/ponytail- but with twists instead.

When I took down my braids - I took them down the night before washing and styling- I noticed that I had reached one of my many hair goals. I can now wear a high puff using a scrunchie (really a pantyhose band). I was so excited!

I usually achieve this by using a long hair tie - wrapping it around my loose hair and then slowly pulling the ends until I form a bun with the hair at the top. Then I would tie the ends in a bow and tuck them in. By using the hair tie (again just made with a strip of pantyhose) I was able to create the illusion of having a full puff on short hair.

Now, I discovered I can actually make a puff by using a band, and even wrap the band three times without the bun disappearing into a small ball ;o)

Check out my pics:

I took down my box braids, detangled and used a wide-tooth comb to put my hair into the puff. - Looks like my grey streak is actually spreading.

I can't wait to wear this style after my protective style challenge....

The next day I washed, conditioned and twisted my hair. I started off doing my signature style cornrows in the front and two-strands in the back. I tried to experiment with using a shea butter/conditioner mix to twist my hair after washing - but as it dried it looked dull and felt too gummy. So I took it all down...about two hours later and re-washed and re-twisted. Of course, this took all night :o(

I couldn't believe that even though my hair was not totally dry the twists were so well-defined. The resulting twist-out was nice, but it was gummy and white.


You can see some of the white residue.

Again, after re-washing I decided to put in small two-strands, but this time I added a much smaller amount of conditioner - really concentrating on the ends and moisturized each section with shea butter as I twisted.

I was too tired to take pictures when I got done, so these are from the next day - today :o)

As you can see I'm still stuck in ponytail mode.

Back: you can see the various different sizes and holes in the back. I plan on separating some of the bigger ones. I will most likely wear this style for a full month :o)

Peace and Blessings...