My Blog is Moving

This will more than likely be my last post on blogger as I am consolidating all my efforts into one portal. The new site will be called TwistednTurned and my blogs will all be hosted there.

Thank you for your participation and support of this blog and I hope to see you at the new site.


***HUGS***

T

My First Giveaway

While I participate in various areas of social media I have to say that my Instagram followers are the most interactive. To celebrate the first 150 people who've decided to join my on my journey I decided to have a giveaway.

I wanted the prize to be something valuable and unique so I decided on a bespoke fashion doll. The winner will be able to customize the doll to their specifications from the custom colored and styled hair to the shoes.

A doll with this degree of customization would normally have a fairly hefty price tag, but I want to give something of that reflects my appreciation in as many ways as possible.

I'm looking forward to working with the winner. The rules of the giveaway are really simple. A repost of the picture below on Instagram with the hashtag #twistednturneddoll and to be a follower of mine on FB and/or Google+, Twitter and Instagram. That's it.

All the best to everyone who enters!

Do to the nature of creating a custom doll, the delivery time will be between 4-6 weeks after final detail agreement with the winner.

My Yarn Loc Adventure

Now that I've finally finished my first Yarn Loc installation I want to talk about the things that I learned:

1. Unless you have practiced adding extension material to hair, it will probably take longer than you originally estimate.
2. If it's your first time be prepared for a few "redo's." Be patient and kind to yourself when it comes to learning new things.
3. If you don't have a set time for completion, rest when your body needs it. Pushing yourself when you are exhausted or in pain only leads to having to redo more sections and being less satisfied with the overall process.
4. Have fun. Learning should be enjoyable and a teachable moment can be found anywhere.

With that being said here are pictures from my 30 hours of work.

I added purple for the fun of it and I made the back much longer than the front. I wasn't going for an even look but rather a more free-flowing feel. Having done this style once I plan on doing it again although I'll probably not make them quite as long next time.

Have you tried Yarn Locs? I'd love to see pictures of what you've done!

African Threading & My Busy Life

After wearing my Fro my hair needs TLC so I planned my next two styles to be the least damaging, moisture retaining and with as minimal manipulation I can get away with.

In all that planning I didn't include the time and energy it takes to help two feral kitties adapt to house cat living.

Their antics left me needing to take my hubby to the airport while my stretched hair is drying. After pinning up the front I decided that I really like the look and will be utilizing African Threading to create additional eclectic styles.

It's Fro Time Again!!!

One of the best things about returning to my natural hair texture is the people I've met. I get a lot of compliments and asked a lot of questions when I'm out and about and the style that is sure to get a lot of talk time is my Fro.

Here is a picture of my Fro last year right before I attended the Nzuri Hair Festival here in Houston. In this picture I had been natural for a year and 4 months or thereabouts. I had such a blast when people stopped to ask for pictures and to ask questions and give out the kindest compliments. I especially enjoyed people telling me that I was encouraging them.

I'm sitting here now in my pre-Fro twists smiling at both the memories and the anticipation of going BIG with the hair at this year's festival.

Because this style makes me hot when I wear it and has the potential to incur more damage than I want to deal with I save it for the fall/winter which is the only time of year I can tolerate the heat it generates and cuts down on having to manipulate it every night to keep it relatively tangle free, stretched and moisturized.

To prep for Fro time I wash and deep condition my hair and then wear it in a stretched style of some sort. Here is my latest creation which I've taken down for the last bit of prep. Because the African threading stretches my hair out quite a bit, if I'm going to have the rounded Fro look that I like I have to get my hair to shrink up a bit without reaching maximum shrinkage. To accomplish that I mist my hair with distilled water, slather it with Shea Butter and then put it in chunky twists that are much looser at the root than the end. If I wear a Fro immediately I mist lightly, add oil and retwist every night that the hair is out. If I'm not going to rock my Fro for a few days then I'll just pin the chunky twists up and/or wear a head wrap until Fro-day. =)

Once I've rocked the Fro I always pamper my hair a lot. My main hair goal is healthy long hair so I choose styles that make that goal attainable more quickly.

I'll be posting pictures from the festival as well of my hair so make sure to check back this weekend.


I made this post because I decided to participate in a Tendril Tuesday Link Up at www.okdani.com. My first thought was to do a side-by-side comparison post during my festival feedback posts this weekend. This way has a bit more of a teaser factor which works just as well.

If you're going to the festival this weekend I'd love to hear from you. Who knows we may be able to meet up and talk hair!

Being Thankful

I spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and tried out new techniques with my hair.
Here is my Thanksgiving look:

I tried Flat African Threading as shown on the YT channel Chocolate Hair/Vanilla Care. I enjoyed trying it out although the next time I do it I'll make sure to use a curved needle. My fingers and brain didn't always want to agree on what we were doing and a straight needle made it more painful than necessary.

Here is a close up of the front:

The back was styled using Curl Formers and although it took me a moment to get the handle of it I have to say that I enjoy wearing them more than Flexi-rods. However, I'm tender headed so I won't sleep in them again. The next time I want a "until I go to bed" curly style I'll just do my hair early in the morning and sit under the dryer.

The style lasted all day even though I didn't remove all the Curl Formers correctly or go back and make them all lie down neatly. I knew I'd have to do something different with the back the next day so I wasn't super worried about it.

The little white sparkles you see are beads that I threaded in as I was doing the flat threading. I've never attempted something like this but I will be doing it again because I like the look.

With the versatility and moisture retention of African Threading, I'm fairly sure that I'll be rocking threaded looks for all of 2014.

If you've ever mixed techniques or styling options I'd love to see what you've done. Feel free to post your creations here.

My Lastest Creation and My Love for Learning

If you follow me on Instagram (if you don't you should *Smile*) there is a post that shows my newest style from various angles. I consider them my glamour shots and for those who are interested I'll take "after" photo's when I take the style down.

The sides were parted into eight sections, four rectangular and four triangular, that I threaded before twisting two together to make the swirls. I knew that I would be twisting and pinning them up so although the thread is attached firmly at the root it isn't too tight.

Learning how to hold my hands and complete the movements to keep the thread taut against my hair was a bit frustrating, but I was really happy when I finally figured it out. I love that this is a traditional African technique that I can incorporate into my life.

I did have some concern about the thread cutting into or tearing my hair, so I made sure to coat each section in beeswax before wrapping to help with slippage. The additional beeswax on my hands made moving the thread around my hand fairly simple as well.

My husband and I went out for a late lunch today, and I was amazed by the number of people who stared and stopped to talk to me about my hair. I'm glad that my styles can encourage conversation and that most of the time I have the time to stop and share.

My plan is to leave this up until Thanksgiving or so and then try out another style that I'm dreaming up.

If you've ever worn a style that incorporated African Threading/Ghana Braids, I'd love to hear about it!