I don’t know why I bothered trying. I mean, really. It is hard enough for me to manage a french braid, let alone anything else. But, since I’ve been trying new things on my hair, I thought… why not? (I can give you reasons, but it is too late now.)

Seven dollars later, I’m armed with a sectioning comb (something I could have done with a regular comb) and some hair ties. I skipped on purchasing a specific hair product to style my hair, though. I figured I was already deeper in than I should be. I re-wet my hair a bit, got out the tub of IC Hair Gel and went to town.

I’ma tell you straight up, my hair isn’t a big fan of gel. So I was scared. But I needed something with a little hold. In my quest to simplify, I haven’t been purchasing much in the ways of styling products, and have been using up what I have on the boys. So, the IC Gel was it.

The minute I sectioned off my hair, I knew the girl in the video was a pro and I… well, I wasn’t. I immediately felt the frustration of a novice as my hands fumbled with the strands and my twists looked like child’s play. But I couldn’t just stop.

I made four horrific twists(mangles) in my hair, secured them all, held a mirror up to see the front and back, and then angrily ripped each one out. Mentally spanking myself, I detangled my gel-laden hair, holding back a whimper of defeat. I had lost. I knew it. I was at terms with it.

Defeated but not broken, I knew I could either wash my hair again (not a good idea since it was close to bedtime) or “set it” to dry. I decided on two twisted buns (basically two low pigtails, twisted until they are buns behind my ears, secured). One was up a bit higher than the other, but I was at a point where caring wasn’t priority. I went on about my business, hoping that I wouldn’t look too horrid the next day since I had to work.. I slept with my bonnet on, per the norm.

The next day I released the pigtails and did little else, but a little head tossing. Here was the morning look:

 

I did flat-iron the bangs. Excuse the blinding glare reflected by my forehead.

I wasn’t entirely unhappy. It was different from the usual (either flat-ironed or air-dried), and I welcomed the change. It wasn’t 100% dry, though. My hair takes forever to dry. I contemplated hitting it with the blowdryer, but thought that might be a bad idea. Throughout the day I fluffed it up a little bit. I couldn’t get a decent picture of it, though.

This was later in the day, completely dry, after fluffing.

 

I’ve let my hair dry like this before. It’s nice to revisit again as an option. It looks OK and I like it for something different. Since I just had my hair relaxed last week, my top was pretty flat. I’m not ditching the two-strand twists just yet, but I need a bit more time to review some tutorials.

The title says it all.

Tucking into bed, flipping on the television. Land on HSN. Mindless, semi-entertaining, no huge commitment. Bubbly, not likely to bring nightmares. It was that, or reality TV. I don’t often make purchases (the last one was 2 NFL Snuggies), but I like to zone out to it every now and then. Not long ago Jessica Simpson was on HSN (or QVC?), peddling products with her mom. It was great. The vacant expression and semi-incoherent product descriptions. Good TV. Recently I watched as an older male designer talked up the shirts he was selling (they looked like the geriatric fall preview). The models couldn’t even make the frocks look appealing, but the host and designer pitched on them as  if we were sitting side stage on the catwalk – and kept their faces straight as they did it. They’re good. And this is why I simply would not make a good salesperson. Seriously, that blue, pleated shirt that screams “grandma’s house circa 1980″  is a “must-have” addition to any woman’s wardrobe?

Back to the night of my purchase.

I think, subliminally, I had already heard of Carol’s Daugther products, so I was close to being sold anyway. Strap that in with a dose of fatigue and out comes the white flag of surrender. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time (or vice versa if I end up hating this product). My eyes were glued on the screen as the Carol’s Daughter representative talked, the HSN lady talked, they took a call, they showed hair models, and I dialed like a robot, beep-beep-beep, pressing all the right numbers until I was told my order was complete. The receiver went back on my princess phone, I beat myself up a bit mentally for being such easy prey, shrugged, and continued flipping through the channels.

It arrived today. Simple, yet attractive packaging. Smells pretty nice. But I’m quite sure that my big head of curls is going to eat up these tiny little (pricey) bottles in no time. Which doesn’t make me too happy. See, I’m a JUMBO sized conditioner person. I know, I know, I go to the salon and they talk all this junk about “dime-size, quarter-size” and “you don’t need as much because it is such good product” smack, but you know what? Live with me. Do my hair daily and you’ll see, girlfriend. It takes a handful of change to satisfy the conditioner requirement on my hair. Dime? Quarter? Shoot – sorry. Almost 3 decades and some odd years will confirm that I know my hair, and my hair likes more than a quarter. Thankyouverymuch.

So we’ll see. I’m going to use these products tomorrow, my “Best of the Best” set: Shampoo, Smoothie, Hair Milk & Hair Butter. I’ll let’cha know, good or bad, what I think.

I’d like to purchase a hair straightener/flat iron. And a good one, ’cause I plan to use it.

I’ve recently gone from this:

to this:

Nine years of nappy natural hair. It was fun, and I may do it again. But before I went natural, I was relaxed; I wanted to revisit relaxing my hair. The lady who did it was skilled, and excited to work with “virgin” hair. She said that it was nice to be able to start with it and know what works. She learned (as I told her) my hair is VERY stubborn and hard to relax, and that she should have left it on the ends longer. Can’t blame her too much though. With her now knowing exactly what has touched my hair and how my hair works, I’m hoping to render even better results next time. She’d also like to use me for her next Relaxer Class in the fall, so I’ll get a free treatment, which is cool.

In the interim, I am on the search for a good, solid straightening iron for my hair. I have no clue where to start. I’ve seen them on QVC and infomercials, but have no clue where to start. Any recommendations?

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