Wet Twist Out

So I decided to try and do a wet twist out because normally I blow dry my hair then twist it (see previous posts).  This time, I washed and conditioned my hair, once I rinsed the conditioner out, I did not blow dry it.  My hair is somewhere between a 3c/4a texture.

Next, I saturated my hair with a leave in conditioner by "B Smooth."  It's a creamy conditioner.  I kept a spray bottle on hand, and parted my hair from ear to ear.  I put the back half into a butterfly clip, and began to twist the front. 

I did about 10 twists in the front and 8 in the back this time. I kept a spray bottle of water with me to re-saturate the hair once it began to air dry.

Once that was completed, I sat under my hair dryer for about 45 minutes so that it would dry completely (I didnt have time for it to air dry).  And here is the finished product...

 This is how I will be doing my twist outs from now on, mostly because It took me less time to twist it while it was wet, and I didnt lose any hair.  Before, when I would blow dry it first before twisting, I noticed more shedding.  The best way for hair growth is to stay healthy and try and maintain the hair that you have. Thought wet twist outs make the hair look shorter, it is healthier for the hair.

Wii Fit and EA Sports

OK. So the Wii Fit I have had for a while and would use it occasionally to exercise with. The exercises they had me to do on their required a lot of balancing and making sure you hold your center of gravity in whatever exercise you do. However, as we all know, exercise can get very boring doing the same things over and over again, AND, it's so easy to cheat yourself when no one is watching.

However, my younger sister bought a game for the Wii Fit by EA sports, and I tell you, that game is awesome. It like a cross between Wii Sports and Wii Fit but has much more variety. It has a boxing portion on it that requires you to hit the "boxing bag". It teaches you how to hit under-handed, over-handed, and over-head in tennis. It has you to run, do a lot of resistance exercises. It comes with a resistance band as well.

You can choose the different exercise routines that you want to do. They all have time limits and listed next to them are the amount of calories that you would burn if you are doing the exercises out at full capacity. Anyways, the game is great, you have fun, AND burn bunches of calories at the same time. The next day or so you may wake up sore, but that's a good thing. No pain, No gain, right?

I recommend this game to anyone who is unable to make it to the gym as often as they like. I wouldnt say completely substitute it for the gym, BUT, it is a great supplement to it.

Re-twisting the Twistout

Re-Twisting



So last time I showed you what I did for a simple twistout, how to preserve it overnight and take it down in the morning. Well, I originally twisted my hair Saturday night, let it dry and stay twisted throughout Sunday, and took out the twists Monday morning. The twists lasted until about Thursday without doing anything more than oiling and teasing my hair. However, it was done by the end of the day Thursday. When I mean DONE, I mean OVER, not recouperating. Therefore I decided to re-twist it Thursday night.

To retwist all I did was follow the original parts I used in twisting my hair originally. I took my spray bottle and filled it with water that was about room temperature and Optimum's "oil moisturizer." (It's a 3 in one moisturizer). Any how as I stated in the last write-up, I lost the curl pattern in my hair towards the middle, so I was going to twist the front and back separately. This time, I twisted 10 flat twists in the front, and did 5 flat twists in the back (mostly because I got lazy and did not feel like doing 20 twists in my hair). For the twists in the back, I put the hair rollers on the ends just as I did in the first write-up.





For each twist, I sprayed the hair, and put a generous amount (maybe a nickel size full) of moisturizer in it. After doing that, I took a wrap brush and brushed it out so that i could detangle it. (I did not pull any of my hair out and when it did get tangled instead of combing it out, I detangled it with my hands gently and used a smaller comb to get anything too tiny and tangled out).

As you can see int he photo below, the curl pattern in the back is much more defined and there arent any pieces just confused up in there. lol




There's a picture of the finished product at the very top, and here are more below.





Peace and Blessings!

Day 2- updated Twistout

This is what my hair looks like after I took it down from the high pin up. I sprayed it with proclaim hair polisher first, and followed through with Keracare's hair glossifier.

Here's to All Things Natural

Hello, as I promised, here is a little something I did with my hair. Saturday night I washed and conditioned my hair. Since I have some color still left in my hair, I use Keracare for color/chemically treated hair. Though I'm mostly natural, it's still important to take care of the portions of your hair that may still be chemically treated whether you are completely natural or not. Keracare does the job for me. I usually deep condition by saturating my hair with the Keracare conditioner, then putting a plastic cap over it. I then proceed to sit under my hair dryer for 15-30 minutes, however long I care to sit there. (BUT WORD TO THE WISE, the longer you let the conditioner sit, the easier it is to detangle your hair, AND it's softer). As I wash the conditioner out I comb through it to detangle it so it wont be so hard to do so before I style it. I towel dry it lightly since I plan to twist it, I dont want it completely dried out.


I havent completely mastered what products I will use for twisting but right now i'm doing some trial and error. I have a spray bottle of which I put luke warm water, olive oil, leave in conditioner, and a small bit of wrap lotion for hold(of which I do not think I will put in there next time). I shook the bottle up and sprayed my entire head. I did not put any gels in my hair for twisting. I put my hair into 10 flat twists going straight back and put rollers on the ends. I'm trying not to put any heat into my hair until graduation, so I let it air dry over night.





The longer you keep your twists in the more defined your curl pattern will be when you take your hair out. I left my twists in all of Sunday and took them out this morning. I took the rollers out and put my hair into a low bun securing with bobby pins.



Taking them out, I simply oiled my scalp and the twists (I oiled each of them individually as I took them out, mostly because I think the wrap lotion made it a little stiffer then I'd like it, but it did loosen up throughout the day). I left the front part of my twists in so that I can maintain the style longer, I can take that part out later and still have somewhat of a fresher look.




As you can see in the picture below, part of my hair looks as though it lacks a deep curl pattern. With flat twists the pattern sometimes gets lost towards the middle of the head. Therefore the next time I do a twist out I will probably part my hair from ear to ear, twist 10 in the front, and maybe 5 in the back so that the back has a pretty defined curl to it as well.



To go to bed and maintain the curls, I took my hair and pinned it away from the side of my head and face, somewhat like a high ponytail, except with no ponytail holder. I then put a scarf around the the front to maintain the twists that are still there. Hope this is useful to someone.



God Bless

Caoimhe

Case of the Mondays

Mondays can be such a drag especially when you have a full day at school and/or work. I woke up around 7 today. I went to the gym for about 40 minutes and proceeded to rush back to the house to get ready for class which is set to begin at 9:15am. I flat twisted my hair so that took me about 20 minutes to take out all 10 twists, grabbed breakfast, and ran out the door. I regrettably did not do my devotional this morning however, I am working to do better. Looks like I need to wake up sooner.

Anyhow, currently I am at work in the law school's library with the after lunch time sleepiness kicking in. What shall I leave you with today? Do not eat pasta for lunch if you still have half the day left to study or work. Because of the heaviness of the carbs/starch inside the noodles you tend to get sleepy. Instead try something lighter that has the natural sugars that will keep you awake and alert for the remainder of the day. I see those 5 hour energy commercials, though tempting to try it, I've never been one to try and gain energy off of some sort of energy drink. For some reason it seems like it wouldnt be good for you, but hey, I will do my research and tell you what I find.

However, for energy I do take vitamins B6, and B12, and I do see a noticeable difference in how I feel throughout the day and how alert my brain is. I will be back later to show you the results of my twistout, to tell you the products I used and etc. Be blessed!

Caoimhe

Comfortably Me

I've decided to start this blog to speak about my journey of being comfortable simply being me. Alot of us are unhealthy with the way we look on the outside and it begins to overshadow what we feel about ourselves on the inside. I've decided that instead of me being unhappy with how I look and feel about my outer appearance, I could do something about it. Finding your personal "style" can be somewhat difficult if you dont know where to start. Well, experimentation is key. Over the years I have tried many styles of which none of them really fit me. But I have been told that I have this sexy/classy/diva style thing going, and honestly I love to just feel pretty. However, I've been in law school for a little over 2.5 years and my style has suffered enormously. Partly because of laziness and the other part because I've lost 25 pounds. None of the clothes I used to wear fit me anymore. It's been difficult because I was so used to upholding this standard of how I dressed and being in school has left me unable to afford much of what I used to accomplish via my outer appearance. And im going to go to the store today, find some cute and affordable clothing and begin my journey back to me.





HAIR!!!!! Not to mention, I am transitioning from relaxed to natural hair, for the second time around. Sometimes my hair just does not want to cooperate, and putting heat into it constantly is simply not an option. Im going to take the next couple a months and attempt to go heat free by doing twist-outs, braid outs and etc. I havent relaxed my hair since October 2008, which is about 16 months ago.




Exercise- Whew, I've been doing a lot of that lately. Im just a little over 4'11" but im not quite 5'. When I came to law school I averaged between 128 and 130. Now I maintain a weight of 106 to about 109. I lost the weight due to stress from school and I was sick for a short while. I will not recommend for anyone to lose weight in that fashion. I was very lazy about exercise and my body for a while, why? Because it simply was not fun for me. However, fun should not be so much of a factor when we should be taking care of ourselves and our bodies. We only get one. It is our temple. What we do for it now will affect us later in life, and maybe even sooner than we think. The picture at the top was taken in 2005, the picture below is a more recent picture.




My purpose- I want to devote this blog to my journey in staying mentally, and physically healthy throughout my law school career (though it's the end of it), and life after law school. I will keep you updated on my transition to natural hair as well. We all have busy lives in some form or fashion but it is important to feel comfortable in our skin as well as maintain great health for our mental and physical bodies.

I am not licensed in psychology, medicine, nutrition or the like, I am simply speaking from experience and from the things that I do and will do to accomplish my goals. Anyhow, stay tuned for more, I am excited, and I hope that you will enjoy and gain great insight from this blog.

I also have another blog here at caoimhesessence@blogspot.com. (it's moreso a journal, insightful, everyday life type of blog) You can join me there for spiritual advise/opinions, to vent, to read poetry (I can be a little creative). Just follow me!

Until we meet again, may His peace be with you!

Caoimhe