Photo Friday. . . Crochet Braids edition

So let me start off by saying I love crochet braids, they are quick and so much fun! This is my third instal and my love for them grows every time. The first time I installed them was with Marley Hair and while this look is wonderful on so many of my favorite youtube vixons, it was a hot mess on me. First I looked like a straight up lionness, not in a good way and then after many trials and even more errors if that is possible I got it to be manageable for a couple of weeks. . . but after so much boiling and curling and straightening the hair felt corse and hard so they didn’t last long.

Then I have done two installs with this hair, Bobbi Boss Deep Pony curls and i love it! This hair is light and mangeable and the whole process from start to finish only took me 3 hours! BOOM!

So soem differences with this instal, I no longer have a roommate to do my cornrows for me and I still have not mastered them on myself, so I did this install on two strand flat twists. I did a slightly different braid pattern for the bang area but mostly just 10-12 braids straight back will do ya.

My part. .. need I say more? I am pretty happy with this part, my only concern with my last instal was that my part began to separate and looking back on pictures when I had them I was concerned with the look of the part, but overall I like it

 And then there they are, 3 hours on a Thursday night later and I have beautiful bouncy curls! AndI love them! This was one of the styles that I loved all the way untill I removed them andI would have kept them longer if my hair allowed. So hear is to hoping i Love them as much this time!

This picture is clearly from before I did the instal but I love it! My shirt is from the talent show I did at my school this week, I think I will dedicate a “Proud Teacher” post to it, but for now #Roman’sArmy!

❤ Kelsi Rae

My hair has a mind of its own.

Before we begin, I got my engagement pictures back . .. I will share  one ff my favorites, as a sneak peak!  🙂 

So there I was going along loving my crochet braids when I made the terrible decision of passing out after a party with my hair all a mess. I woke up the next morning to a big mat of hair and a few strands falling out. My hair had been braided for two months at this point and the new growth was definitely starting to show ,the ends of my braids at my nap had began to come out leaving some natural hair exposed that was beginning to tangle. So as a result on Saturday morning, after our Hannukah party, before our Christmas party that night, there I was taking down my hair at 10 am.

I had looked up the methods for taking down crochet braids but in my precarious state of my braids I was not comfortable taking scissors near my head. So I simply began taking the braids out from the base hoping the braid hair would fall out as I went. For the most part this was successful but there was some left over holding on even when all the braids were gone. I just jumped in the shower to remove the rest of the hair. After 2 months of only being washed in braids my hair loved the shower. I used shampoo, which I normally don’t because there was some serious build up from the moisturizer I had been applying and then conditioned and deep conditioned.

I t-shirt dried for 30 minutes and then began the detangling process. . the few tangles I mentioned earlier, turned out to be a full on dread at this point and even with soaking them in moisturizer it was difficult to remove. But  successfully detangled my hair in around 45 minutes and placed it in multiple twists as I went to keep it separated.

After this much time in braids I was curious to see my new growth. .. or lack there of( but hopefully not) So I blew out and straightened my hair. I tried blow drying my hair in the twists I used to dentagle my hair and the results we a mixed bag. I feel that in the future I will be able to do this successfully and achieve a nice curled look but for the purposes today I am not sold.But then I went to work straightening my hair, I applied tresseme heat protectant as I went. I have not had this much natural hair in probably 6 years and I forgot what a project it is to straighten. I did not give myself enough time before I had to be somewhere so it was a half assed straightening job but it did the trick.

Length Check time. . conveniently I was wearing the same bra as I was in my August length check so it is easier to see the difference. . there is growth, slowly but surely progress is happening, and that is all I can ask right?

I will leave you with some pictures, From top to bottom, Length Check – 8-10-14, Length Check 12-13-14, bang check 12-13-14. Christmas party selfie!

 August Length 8-10-14

December  12/

Christmas Party

A style with lasting power!

I installed my crochet braids just about a month ago now, I was hoping to find a style that was easy, versatile and also something I would rock for my engagement pictures, which are tomorrow! (YAY) This style did not disappoint, I have not lost my love for these braids over this month.

I will admit I have become pretty free with the scissors, every couple of days I go through and snip away the tangles that develop in the hair, as a result I now have a few layers throughout but it keeps the hair from becoming a big matted mess.

I do not brush the hair, after seeing the result even serious finger detangling has on the hair, let me tell you, it is not a good result, they just become loose and more tangled and I end up even more scissor happy then I was before. So I decided not to even try it with a brush or a comb. And so far I have been happy with my non- combed hair.

I do have some leave out hair around my nap that I finger comb in order to maintain. I also moisturize my hair in the braids every couple days with Cantu Shea Moisturizer, and coconut oil. I have also found that applying small amounts of both of these to the braid hair helps keep it shiny as well.

I clean both my hair in braids and the braid hair with an apple cider vinegar mix, as you are aware, I LOVE apple cider vinegar. It works miracles for my hair, and it is holding up to that reputation once again, I leaves my scalp feeling refreshed and helps give the curls some bounce. I am going to attempt a full wash day soon, after my engagement pictures, I don’t want to mess up a good thing before I have to.

But over all I am more than pleased with this hair, I was nervous when I bought it because I had never tried this brand before but I will buy it again. It has become more frizzy over time, But I actually feel that gives it a more natural look, I have gotten many comments saying, wow you have grown your hair out, or your hair looks great! So it must look fairly natural! I also think the new growth in my braids has made it appear more natural.

I hope to keep rocking this style for a few more weeks before I take down for a full wash day and reinstall. I am hoping to keep my hair protected over winter to have as long of natural hair as possible before the wedding.

Have a wonderful weekend! Boy am I ready for it!

Love your do and grow that fro!

❤ Kelsi Rae

30 day challenges . . . for that Little black( or white in this case) dress

So this month I am doing the LBD 30 day challenge

.This is the first of a set of 30 day challenges I plan to do over the next few months.You can find this challenge and many more at 30 day fitness challenge.com, http://30dayfitnesschallenges.com/,   They get me up and moving early in the morning and just give me a boost of energy and make sure I am exercising on the days I am not getting to the gym. Since entering grad school in June I have gained 20 pounds and am currently at my heaviest I have ever been. Now since I am getting married in 9 months, that just ain’t gonna work for me. So I have become more dedicated again to attending my boxing classes, which I absolutely love so that is a bonus all around.

The 30 day challenges are just in addition to this and doing some cardio training. I have started working on the nutrition side of things, which is always the hardest for me, I might love boxing but I equally love cake. So far using the Lose It app, https://www.loseit.com/, to keep track of my exercise and calorie intake. ( This is a free app that is user friendly and even tracks your steps through your phone)

I have lost 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks and for me that is a success, I have set my goal to lose 20 pounds by February, that way I will be at the weight I hope to be for my dress fittings. Then I hope to maintain my nutrition changes and working out level through grad school. The boxing is an excellent work out as well as stress relief. I would suggest it for anyone!

I am on day 21 of the challenge and I am consistently sore each new week, the challenge is set up for 4 days of work out and then 1 rest day. I have enjoyed this challenge more than say a squat or ab challenge, the work outs in this challenge range from tricep dips, to burpees and about 6 other exercise I believe that this gives you a more rounded challenge for your body.

My crochet braid have held up well through the new routine with the added sweat and work outs I am going to try my first crochet braids wash day tonight. I will let you know how that goes.

I will check back at the end and see what my next challenge will be.

Have a wonderful day

Love your do and grow that fro

❤ Kelsi Rae

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again . . . my new favorite style is . . .

 Still crochet braids. . . just with a new curl pattern.

I lasted 3 weeks with the marley hair, but the hair was becoming to matted and just couldnt last any longer.

The final straw was when my boyfriend turned to look at me and instead of his normal “you are beautiful you know that” he said, ” your hair is getting really dread like, like right here is a big clump.” So well up went my hair and off I went to the beauty supply the next day.

While at the beauty supply I just stood in the aisle for probably 20 minutes just staring at the different curl patterns trying to decide do I want stick to what I know, do I want them to be straight or curly or should I go back to twists. After deliberate thought process for about 20 minutes I grabbed one I hadn’t even really considered, Bobbi Boss Deep Pony curl pattern hair in a number 4. And off I went. I got home and installed the hair, it took about 3 hours to remove wash, and re do my hair so overall I would say that is pretty good. Once I was finished I was so happy I went with the rash decision. I love this hair.

It is light and bouncy, I only used about 1 and half packs of hair and it seems to be working great. I love the part line it appears less drastic than with the marley hair and this hair blends with my hair much better.

 While you can still see a few of the knots where I did the crochet pattern in the right direction overall I am super pleased with it.

We will see how long this lasts. . .

This is definetly on the list for my #engagmentphotos though. I am hoping this feeling will last until December 6th.

More updates later.

Tata for now

Love your do and Grow that fro

❤ Kelsi Rae

Revitalize and Refresh . . . Oh and take care of those nasty tangles!

So I have had my crochet braids in for about two weeks now, and for the most part I have been loving them. I still haven’t changed my routine of wearing my hair in a low bun everyday but, when I wake up I can shake my hair and go. And it has maintained the straight look since I blow dried it so over all I am happy with the hair. However it definitely gets some pretty bad tangles. So yesterday I took the time to comb it out. So I applied some detangler and she butter moisturizer and started by finger combing the tangles and even just snipping some out with my good ole scissors. I was pretty liberal with the scissors because really  I have TOO much hair on my head right now! I did not realize how much volume this hair would have when I first installed it. So I finger combed, snipped and then took my wide tooth comb and started at the bottom and worked up! In the end I applied more moisturizer and put my hair into 6 two strand twists, twisted them up and put those six in two buns. 

I then went to boxing class like this and went and watched the walking dead with friends, before I went to sleep I made the two buns into one and was ready to go. Then in the morning all I did was take this twists down and my hair was ready to go. It had a slight curl but still maintained the blow out look I wanted. It didn’t gain all of the volume back which is good for me since I was not rocking that volume while I was teaching. I even liked it so much I left my hair down for the day.

 I was worried the tangles would cause me to take this style down before I want to. I hope to keep this style for about 4 weeks at least. So at 2 weeks I think I can do it.

If you have any tips for maintaining this crochet braids style let me know!

I hope you are having a wonderful week

Love your do and Grow that Fro

❤ Kelsi Rae

Do whatever you want. . . Oh I did

The Journey from this. . . 

to this. . . 

So I had decided I wanted crochet braids. so I came home and my roommate braided my hair, in simple cornrows straight back, we connected the two center braids about halfway back so that I could wear a side part of down the middle. So then I took my Marley hair and began installing it, this was a fairly easy process once I began, probably the most simple protective style that I have tried yet. And since I have no previous hair experience and YouTube is my instructor, simple is good.

However I did not realize that with this type of hair less is definitely more and I ended up being too generous with the hair throughout my head. . I ended up only using about 2 packs of hair, but I think that 1 to 1 and half packs should be my limit in the future. I loved the texture of the hair but was not a fan of the pure fact that it was HUGE! I couldnt even get it all in my hand to put it up, and since this took be till way past my bedtime to complete ( in total I think it still only took 3 hours, braids included) I wore my hair all pinned up around my head the next day to teaching. So back to the drawing board, aka YouTube I went, how can I control these tresses?? The answer I seemed to get was to curl it. . . so when I got home I set back to work .

I did a combination of styles of curlers and curled all of this hair and then dipped them in boiling water to “seal” the hair.. . this must be a process I am doing wrong because with both my sengalese twists and this style I havent’ been able to do it. . . the result came out like this. . .  Not bad. . but not the look I was going for.

So I wore it like this for two days and then tried once again to master the curl method. .  Result . .. Oh and did I mention I got engaged last week?? So I had been promising friends that when I got engaged I would rock a Feyonce shirt for my girl Beyonce so here it is. .. I absolutely loved my hair in this picture, unfortunately the look did not even last the day and by that night I was back to a poofy mess.

After 4 days I was about ready to give up on this style and just call it a day. Simplicity was not worth the hassle that this hair was causing me, I had spend three nights doing my hair instead of lesson planning. . . something that is not unusual but this time it was not for fun reasons.

So then with a heavy heart I started looking into straightening marley hair, the girls on youtube were helpful once again and said that Marley hair actually takes heat fairly well and with a good moisturizer and the proper time, you can do a blow out on Marley Hair, http://youtu.be/Ln31O1Ld_Ug , following this video I blow dried my hair and the result was finally something I LOVE! And the bonus . .. It has been about 4 days and It is still holding up. I wear it in a bun at night which gives it  a slight curl pattern that I love and the size is much more managable!  So crochet braids are here to stay. Next time I will probably not go through all of these steps. but who knows. .. knowing me I will probably attempt the curls again. ( Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a new result?)

 Here is the final result. this picure was taken 2 days after I blow dried it and I am still loving it. I am testing it out to see if I want to wear my hair this way for our engagement pictures. If anyone has any good suggestions for hair styles let me know.

Also if anyone has the key to the curl method, you would save me if you shared! Maybe then I would be successful and not burn my hands.

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! Have a great start to your week tomorrow

Love your do and grow that fro

❤ Kelsi Rae