Style Tips - Page 2

Shelli used Butter than Love Hair Pudding and Get Slick Hair Smoothie for her Twist-n-Curl.

To achieve this look: comb Get Slick Hair Smoothie through hair with a wide tooth comb. Then, apply BTL one section at a time and put each section in twists. Shelli used 8 twists here: 2 on each side in the front, one at the crown of her head, 2 in the middle of the back of her head and 1 at the nape. Then, she set the twists on flexis, put on a bonnet and went to bed to air dry overnight. In the morning, she pin curled until her curls were fully dry.

*Tip* If you don’t want to sleep on wet hair, sit under a hard bonnet hair dryer.

In my effort to appear as if I am perpetually on vacation, I have decided to add highlights to my hair. Since I am a self-proclaim Budget Socialite, I wanted this at the cheapest cost possible.

At home highlights really aren’t as frightening as it may seem. I decided to forgo the highlighting kits since trying to tame my curly mane and pulling my hair through one of those caps or attempting to use a brush to apply to each strand were out of the question, time consuming and painful sounding. I am also about instant gratification. I wanted highlights as quickly and with the least amount of effort possible.

What I did and how I did it:

You will need:
A small mixing bowl – that you will toss later
A brush – you can get an elf foundation brush for only $1 at Target
Hair dye – choose a colour that will compliment your current colour

The trickiest part was choosing a colour. Since I already lighten my hair, I wanted a colour that would compliment my ends, but also blend my dark roots easily. I went with Revlon Colorsilk because it’s only $3 at Walmart and claims no ammonia on the box. I settled on Light Golden Brown as this colour is reminiscent to my youthful days when I ran played outside all day during the summer and the crown of my hair would lighten to a colour similar to the box.

After reading a nifty trick on Popsugar.com about braiding your hair to create highlights, I decided to employ this technique to my own hair. So, I braided my hair into four cornrows, however you can do as many or as few braids as you wish. I then mixed the contents of the hair dye, shook in the bottle supplied then poured into the small bowl.

Now the fun part…

I used the brush to apply the hair dye directly on my hair, applying only to the top part of my braid. I added some hair day to roots and down to the ends. Once I was satisfied, I placed a plastic cap over my hair and waited a few minutes, checking on the progress intermittently.
When I was happy with the colour, I washed out immediately then styled my hair as usual.

This entire process took maybe a half an hour, give or take a few minutes.

My only regret, not knowing about this when I first lightened my entire head, I would have done this instead!

Shrinkage got your hair feeling a bit short? It is the phenomenon that most curlies complain about and the curlier and thicker your hair, the shorter it can appear once it’s fully dry. Fret not, my pets. Below are some simple suggestions that will get you the curls that you’ve been…er…longing for. LOL!

1. Pineappling – simply, this is when you put your hair into a bun on top of your head after it is completely dry and ends up looking like a pineapple. This is also an effective method to maintaining your curly styles overnight.

2. Banding – taking sections of your hair and creating small ponytails using snagfree elastic bands. Place the bands on each ponytail from root to tip. Keep bands in until your hair is dry. Style as usual.

3. Stretching while blowdrying – after hair is about 80% air dried, blow dry in sections by gently pulling hair down with the nozel also in a downward motion. To minimize the damage from heat always use on a low/to medium setting. Better still, use the cool button feature on your blow dryer.

4. Twist or Braids – section wet hair and braid or twist each section. Air dry or use a hard bonnet hair dryer. Use fingers to separate once hair is fully dry.

5. Bantu Knots – section wet hair and twist each section into a ‘knot’ same as if you were putting your hair into a bun. Secure each knot with an elastic band. Use fingers to separate once hair is fully dry.

Naturally shiny hair has a cuticle that’s smooth and flat; it’s plumped up with water (about 10 to 15% by weight); and it’s rich in natural oils that keep the whole thing “glued” together.

Unfortunately, you’re stealing shine from your hair everyday and you probably don’t even realize it. If you want good gloss, you should avoid these 12 things that can rob hair of shine. Or as we like to call them, the Dulling Dozen:

1. Flood Damage
Even “harmless” water can be a shine stealer. That’s because too much moisture swells the hair shaft and causes the cuticle to buckle. The more frequently you wet your hair, the less shine you’re likely to have.

2. Shampoo Scrubbing
Scrubbing bubbles seem cute but all that rub a dub dub lifts the cuticle even more. Using a conditioning shampoo can help because the hair shafts won’t snag against each other when you’re lathering up.

3. Careless Under-conditioning
Ok, not everyone needs to condition EVERY time they wash their hair. BUT, if your hair is dry to begin with it’s much more likely to be damaged during and after styling if you skip conditioner. You’re just giving shine away!

4. Death by Towel Drying
So, now your hair is wet. What do you do? Blot, don’t rub! A rough towel can cause an amazing amount of damage on wet hair.

5. The Brush Off
Don’t fall for that old myth that you should brush you hair 100 strokes every night. While brushing does temporarily help by distributing natural oils, in the long run it strips off layers of cuticle and weakens hair.

6. Hot Styling Appliances
Heat is the natural enemy of shine. That’s because high temperatures damage the natural lipids (fancy word for oils) that help keep hair flexible and shiny. If you do decide to heat style, use protection!

7. Protective Product Residue
Yes, you do need to use heat protection but be careful what you wish for. Some leave in creams and gels leave behind a dulling residue.

8. Color My World
Chemical coloring is very damaging because it breaks down the inner structure of hair protein. Even if you use the special conditioner that comes with the coloring kit, your hair never fully recovers.

9. Wave Bye Bye
Permanent waving is another chemical process that’s highly damaging.

10. Twist and Shout
Twisting and playing with your hair is a dangerous habit as far as shine is concerned. That’s because the torsional forces (fancy word for twisting and bending) loosens the cuticles.

11. I Dig A Pony
Wearing your hair in a pony tail may seem like a hassle free style, but if you pull it back too tightly you may be creating micro-fractures in the hair that will reflect light unevenly and cause loss of shine.

12. Here Comes The Sun
And with the sun comes damaging UV radiation that can wreak havoc on natural hair lipids like 18-methyleicosinoic acid. Without these lipids hair dulls quickly. If you can’t stay out of the sun make sure you’re protecting your hair with a good conditioner.

This article was originally published by The Beauty Brains.