Natural Hair #8: Spiral Rod Curls using Hot Curlers

Well, it's that time of year when I feel the need to see how my hair holds up in a blown out and curled state. I know many naturals refrain from using a lot of heat on their hair to reduce heat damage, but I've been doing this for years and never experience heat damage with the right types of products for my hair type.  For this hair styling escapade, I decided to apply Liquid Lanolin on wet hair as my heat protectant and blow dried my hair with my hand held drier on high heat...yes I said HIGH heat, but no worries or heat damage.

My hair gets really straight and can easily be worn without further heat manipulation, but I wanted some curls so I whipped out my SUPER OLD 1" barrel Gold-n-Hot hair curlers; and YES, the curlers work like new.  Before starting the curling process, I applied ULI pressing wax to each section of hair as an additional heat protectant.

Day 1: Curls are soft and bouncy.  No product build up. No greasy feeling.

During the time frame of this curl experience, the weather in Alabama was cooler and rainy due to Tropical Storm Karen.  This also provided an excellent test to see how my hair would hold up in high humidity.  Although I wasn't outside while it was raining nor even got wet while sporting my curls, the moisture from the air can sometimes add frizz.  However, the weather didn't significantly impact or distort my curls. Even my high impact exercising had relatively minimal impact.  My theory is that after I worked out at the gym, I would apply a nickel size amount of Liquid Lanolin around the perimeter of my head, then brush from root to the beginning of the curl.  This helped smooth out my roots.  Then I tied a satin scarf around my head to hold my roots in a straight position while the scarf absorbed any moisture. I  removed the scarf before bed and used the pineapple method.  I did NOT use any rollers at night to maintain my curls.  I wanted to see how my curls would fall and flow during the duration of this style.

Day 6: This is how my hair looked after applying Liquid Lanolin and scarf to reset roots.

Take a look at my video demonstration below.

Snap Back to Your Roots Natural Hair Forum in Birmingham, AL

Although I knew the natural hair phenomenon had spread like a forest fire, I didn’t think the age range of women strutting their natural crown of glory would be so broad until I recently attended a natural hair forum in Birmingham, Al.  This event was hosted by Dr. Dianne Coleman, a cosmetic chemist and instructor, who has developed her own line of natural hair products.  The event was held one Saturday afternoon from 2-5 pm at the Crestwood Festival Center.  When I arrived there were other vendors show-casing their businesses, which offered the event attendees an opportunity to mingle while waiting for the main symposium to start.  There was a mid-size crowd of approximately 40-50 eagerly awaiting the opportunity to ask natural hair care tips at this symposium.  One key take away was Dr. Coleman’s advice on the importance of moisturizing and sealing in the moisture for healthy hair growth and length retention. 

Unlike a classroom room full of unenthused students, these women asked question after question, took notes, and shared their personal hair experiences.  By the end of this event, Dr. Coleman had given several door prizes and I was the recipient of a full size bottle of her Curl Popper (the original formula).  Of course after winning, I thought it would be a good idea to test out her product and share my results.

The application process of the Curl Popper potion was simple.  After shampooing & conditioning (with Alba Botanica products), I applied castor oil to my hair while wet. Next, I sectioned my hair into four sections and applied a liberal amount of the Curl Popper potion to each section of hair.  I locked in the moisture by using my shea butter mixture (see mixture ingredients below) then braiding my hair.  Due to the thickness of my hair, I sat under my hooded dryer for 2 hours using a low heat setting until my hair about 80% dry. 

You will notice in my video that I did over saturate my hair with my shea butter mixture, so I decided to use a bandana to cover my hair at night so that it would absorb some of the oils.  This really worked wonders because when I styled my hair, I had a smooth finish without an oily or weighed down feeling/appearance.  Also, I didn’t have to add more oil for the entire week. I noticed that the lanolin I added really enhanced the shine and reduced frizz.  After high aerobic exercising throughout the week, the roots of my hair remained smooth with minimal frizz.  In addition to the use of lanolin, the reduction of frizz is also attributed to the fact that about 2-3 nights out of the week to help maintain the braid out, I just re-braided at night and tied on my bandanna.    

My shea butter mixture consists of the following ingredients.  I used a hand mixer to blend the ingredients until it reached a fluffy texture very similar to whipped cream or butter cream frosting.  Note: I have been using this mixture as my hair and body moisturizer for about 6 weeks; enjoying it thus far.

1. Raw Shea Butter
2. Vegetable Glycerin
3. Vitamin E oil
4. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
5. Lanolin

Check out my video demonstration:

Check out the Snap Back to Your Roots Facebook page for future hair symposium and product announcements. https://www.facebook.com/SnapBack2YourRoots?fref=ts

Also, coming soon is the hair care product line, which will be available at: www.snapback2yourroots.com

LacQit One Step Gel Polish still going strong after 15 days...

In my 8 day follow up video on the LacQit gel polish, the same radiant shine of the gel polish was as visible as it was on the 1st day it was applied.  Well, I'm PLEASED to announce that as of my 15th day wear of LacQit Gel Polish that the only noticeable difference is the significant nail growth (notice the natural nail growing from the cuticle in the pictures below).  I strongly feel that the nail growth by the end of next week (which will be 3 weeks of wearing this color) will make it mandatory to remove this polish.  So at that point, I will do a video demonstration on the removal process and share my experience.  

The pictures below show the 15 day results of LacQit One Step Gel Nail System.  

This polish was applied on April 6th. Here's a link to the video demonstrating the application process.

This is the 8 day follow up video of the LacQit application.

LacQit One Step Gel Polish…Reduced severity of nail breaking

This is my 8^th day wearing the LacQit (Pronounced: LAC-IT) One Step Gel Polish.  From the video below, you can see that I have the same lustrous shine that I had on Day 1.  However, I did have a nail emergency…I broke my thumb nail while doing BURPEEs (see Wiki description) at the gym.  The impact of quickly hitting the floor in push-up position did cause the polish to rip along the torn edge of my nail.   However, the nail did not break into the skin, which has always been the outcome for this particular thumb nail.  I contribute this to the firm support and density of the gel polish, which acted as a buffer between my nail and the floor.  I was able to cut the remaining fragmented edges and file without massively disfiguring the remaining polished area.  I opted not to retouch the thumb nail to see how well the gel polish manages after the bonding of the polish has been disturbed.

I've applied the LacQit cuticle oil to my cuticles approximately 3 times within these past 8 days, so they are not showing any signs of cuticle damage from the gel polish or the use of the LED lamp.  The oil, which is a blend of almond oil. jojoba, and rice bran oil, is very light and does not leave an oily residue.  It absorbs within seconds, so I haven't had to worry about getting oily stains on my clothing.  Let’s see what happens going into week 2. Stay tuned…..