DMV Natural Salon Experience

Trying My First Natural Hair Salon in the DMV

I recently wrote a post about Finding The Right Salon. I put that system to work when I first decided to find a salon in DC and I've recently done it again when I determined it was time for me to find a natural hair salon.

Referrals & Research

I'm a natural hair blogger, so I talk about my hair chronicles often. Along my journey, I recently began researching natural hair salons in the DMV area. I was going to a salon in DC to get trims, but the stylist I was seeing wasn't natural hair focused.

I Googled and found a few salons in the area but none of them seemed to fit what I was looking for. One of my DMV readers hit me up on Twitter and suggested two salons in the area. She gave me their websites and IG names, so for the next couple of weeks, I watched like a hawk!

A Protective Style

Literally The Letter "A" Protective Style

I remember when Facebook first came out. It was only for college students and it was a social network. I guess you can still say that about it, but for me, I use it as a helpful source of information. Recently, I was doing my normal perusing and came across a video. A Facebook friend had shared a video of someone doing a protective style that looked simple enough for me to do. Like I usually do, I saved the link and kept it moving. Unlike I usually do, I actually went back to this video and decided to put it to use.

Side Flat Twist

Hair Inspiration

Everyone who follows me, in some sort of capacity, knows what kind of place I'm in with my hair! I've finally gotten fed up about feeling this way and I've made the decision to do protective styling for several months...if not a year!

I've talked about doing protective styles many times before but I've never followed through. I'm more serious than I've ever been at this point. I talked about my first protective style of choice in this post and I made arrangements to have this done! The problem is I've had two appointments scheduled and canceled due to circumstances not my own. Thanks to these unfortunate happenings, I'm still having to find things to do with my hair. Out of unfortunate circumstances and limited time came creativity!

I follow a lot of people, groups, and entities on IG for hair inspiration and I just so happened to come across this style on IG @bummblebee7. It's just like the normal twist out I always do but it has a flat twist on the side!

I liked this style because the right side of my hair isn't as full as the left side, so the flat twist disguises that. With this style, I brought the part down lower on the left side which allowed my to fling more hair to the right side. It all just worked out!

Where do you get hair inspiration from?

Follow Mi!

Bloglovin' ; Twitter ; Google+ ; Instagram Facebook ; Pinterest  ;  StumbleUpon ; Email Me

The Curl Is Back!

Washing My Natural Hair After it's Been Straightened

Between the October Length Check and Straightening My Own Hair posts I've had so much going on with my hair! I've gone from not knowing what to do to my hair without my cosmetologist, to deciding on wanting to wear it straight throughout the winter, all the while dealing with a very itchy scalp and a whole lot of shedding!

I wore my straightened hair for about three weeks before I decided to bring the curl back! After looking at all the hair that was shedding, I noticed I had a lot of split ends. I've never had issues with split ends, but after my little debacle with trying to blow dry, stretch, and straighten my hair, I'm not surprised.

I was past due for a wash, so I decided to take the time to super deep condition and moisturize my hair. Here are the steps and products I used:

PRODUCTS

Aquage Strengthening Shampoo

Beautiful Textures Rapid Repair Deep Conditioner

It's A 10 Miracle Leave-In Conditioner Plus Keratin

Influance Natural Oil

Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie

Design Essentials Natural Defining Crème Gel

My "Professional" Look

My Flat Twist Look With A Twist

OFFICIAL BIRTHDAY COUNTDOWN!: 16 Days!

I've been trying to do different things with my hair since starting my new job. I'm trying to slowly transition my work look from a truly casual look to a more business casual look. With doing that comes the challenge of figuring out what to do with my hair. I got up with one of my curl friends and asked her how she got this one particular look that I could never quite get on my own. Here is my version of the look:

The front fourth of my hair has decided it won't twist out like it's supposed to. What I did here was my classic "Rasheeda braid".

To get my hair to lie down without actually putting it into a complete ponytail, I used an old headband which I cut (to make it non-circular).

I was able to make that bushy ponytail in the back as small or as large as I wanted to without the headband being noticeable.

I like this style, but my hair overall is really frizzy so I'm still on the search for a product I can use daily to lay my hair down without weighing it down (because I'm not washing my hair more than once every two weeks)!!!

The outfit I had on this day was particulary cute too...but that will be a post for another day.

If you have any suggestions for products to use to keep my hair from frizzing out and that's not too heavy, I'm all ears!

Thanks in advance!!!

Follow Mi!

Bloglovin' | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram Facebook | Pinterest  |  StumbleUpon | Email Me

May Natural Hair Challenge

I follow teamnatural_ (and a few other natural hair profiles) on Instagram. I like looking at other naturalistas for inspiration of all kinds, but mostly for hairstyle ideas. I've even used a few hairstyles from these profiles. This month ohcurl (a profile I found through teamnatural_) is doing a May Natural Hair Challenge:

Now, I've tried photo-a-day challenges before and I've never made it through a whole month. I think these things can be pretty difficult and I'm someone who loves to take pictures! However, I'm super excited about this one!! I love things that help me reflect or chronicle my Natural Hair Journey. Looking at this challenge, I can tell it may be a little tough, but it's my goal to make it all the way through. So far so good! 

When you do this challenge, you're supposed to "#ohcurl" so they can share your picture with their followers...but in order to do that you have to have a public profile. I'm not comfortable with public profiles. Those of you that follow me on Instagram can attest to that!! I'm not sure if I'll ever get to the point where I'm comfortable with being more public than I already am, but I figured I could at least share a few of my favorites with you all, especially on days I don't have posts. The days may not correspond to what the actual date is, as I will randomly post these throughout the month, but if there's a certain day you're interested in seeing, let me know (or just follow me on Instagram @ curlymilah)!

Here goes...I hope you enjoy!

May 6. Blue

Follow Mi! Bloglovin' ; Facebook ; Pinterest ; Instagram and by email (right sidebar)

My Afro Is Back!!

I finally washed my flexi-rod curls out Tuesday night. I'm so happy to see my hair again! I think I could've held the curls in for the whole two weeks, but those curls just were not sitting right with me!

The first picture shows my hair the day after I washed it. I set this hairstyle as I normally do (I didn't realize I didn't have a blog about my setting process for this hairstyle, but it's a mixture of here, here, and here. I'll write one soon.). I think it might be about time to get my ends trimmed though. They feel really rough and don't seem to moisturize as well as they used to. It's been a little over 3 months since I've big chopped, so I definitely think its about time.

When I do a wet set for the night, I think my hair turns out dryer period; not dry as in under-moisturized...it just has a dryer feel to the touch. As a result, I over-moisturize...and my face does not deal well with the over-moisturization of my hair!! I douse my hair with a mixture of moisturizer, moisture butter, and coconut oil...next thing I know, over a couple of days, I start growing mini unicorn horns. (Read about my past problems with this issue here)

The picture on the left shows a sample of the mini horns! Looking at this picture, I don't know if my iPad has a camera or a microscope on it!

I've been dealing with dry skin this winter. I don't know if it's just that cold, if I'm just getting older, or what?! I've started drinking more water and I've started using coconut oil on my skin, which includes my face too.

The coconut oil was doing okay on my face when my hair was pulled back and away from my face. Now that my hair is getting some length to it and hangs on my face a little more, whenever I wear it down, I need to be more aware of how much product I'm using. There's something about the mixture of products on my hair that my face doesn't like. Either way, my face is currently breaking out, so I need to figure out what it is because I don't like feeling, or looking, like a unicorn!

The second hairstyle also kind of sparked my creative juices. Whenever I do my hair myself, I do an afro (or some variation of it). When I was transitioning, I used to experiment with flat twists, and it would look good. I threw some flat twists in my hair today, which is what that is at the front of my hair (I know you can't tell from the angle of the picture), and it turned out well. So, I have until Dilemma Tuesday (what's Dilemma Tuesday) to play with different flat twist styles, wish me luck!!

New Style

I went to the salon on my regularly scheduled day. As usual, my stylist asks me what I want done to my hair. I had a week off from a protective style that I kept in for two weeks. I feel like my hair did an extreme amount of growing during that time. Every time I step foot in that salon, I know she'll ask me this same question, and each and every time I get there, I NEVER KNOW WHAT I WANT!! Lol.

Another Hairstyle

Today's hairstyle was a variation on yesterday's hairstyle.

I moisturized my hair with Influance’s Moisture Lock with Shea Butter; I did not do this in sections. I parted off a small section of hair from ear to ear and flat twisted this section of hair. I took a small scarf/long piece of fabric and tightened it around the back part of my hair. I then pinned the end of the flat twist back into my afro puff.

The only difference is I took the scarf off this morning and puffed my 'fro out! I like this look, but I don't want to fall back into the routine of not twisting my hair before bed. My stylist told me the best way to help develop my curl pattern is to do something with your hair at night, whether it's twisting, braiding, Bantu knotting, whatever. Don't just tie up the afro and sleep on it! When I first big chopped, there was a-many-a-night I went to bed with my 'fro out. I'm trying to do better since I want my hair to get some definition about its-self!!

Here's to another style for my go-to list!!

New Hairstyle

Flat Twist & Afro Puff

Wednesday night is a very busy night for me. On these nights, I DO NOT feel like doing hair!! Tonight, I decided to stand in front of the mirror and play with my hair until I found a style that required little to no manipulation!

Hair Trial #3

Another Night of Tackling This Hair Thing!

With all the information I've learned from Trials 1 & 2, I feel armed with the best information to make a decision about how to set my hair. This night, I put all that information to use.

I know 2 things:

1. My hair sets better with two strand twists, but
2. The hair around my part lays better when I flat twist it.

My Hairdo for the New Year!

Flat twist up-do, top out 

The latter part of 2012                                                        New Year's Eve