Rake and Shake on 3C hair!

Now to me that sounds like a new Taylor Swift song or a way to cook chicken!  But alas, its just the latest wash n go method I am trying! And boy do I love it so far!

You may know that for the past two years my hair has been in locs, and a little over a month ago I decided I missed my curls and combed out all but 2 of my lovely locs! I loved watching my locs transform and grow but ultimately they were not the size I would have wanted, ( I did not know very much about how they would mature when I locked my hair) and combing them out has been great!

So ever since I have been searching for wash n go methods that give me defined curls, I really got used to the shake and go styling that locs allowed and I am working to remember but styling natural hair is like! The latest wash n go method I came across was the rake and shake method! I found many many posts detailing how to and results on type 2 and type 3A and 3B hair. Now lets be real I have the hardest time with hair types, mostly because I feel like my hair can be multiple types and you know really why do we need all these labels!

But annnnyyway, I typically say that my hair is mostly 3C type curls and I really wanted to know if this method would work for me.  I was able to find one video that showed someone with some more culr to their hair successfully completing this method.

That video is here:

And I thought well whats the worst that can happen I have a terrible wash and go and do a twist out on dry hair, (one of my favorite styles right now) So I gave it a shot!

I used just water and Cantu Shea butter Curl activator that you can buy for 6 bucks on amazon, here  ! 

I made sure that my hair was still wet when doing this method if it was starting to dry out at all I re-sprayed with a spray bottle.

Then it was as simple as the following steps:

1. Split my hair into 6 small sections.
2. Took one small section down.
3. Put some curl activator on my hands.
4. I then simply ran my fingers through my hair 2-3 times.
5. The last time I made sure to smooth my hair between my fingers and hold onto the ends and not let it drop.
6. Then I simply made like T. Swift and Shook it out! Before letting it fall!

Now I will be honest the first day I felt like my hair looked a little stiff and had lost some of the volume that I love! But by day 2 I was in love! I am on day 4 now and still loving it! The amount of compliments I have gotten is crazy and people asking, ” did you do something different to your hair?”

I pineapple my hair at night to stretch and maintain the curls but other than that I just spray with a little bit of Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk in the morning for moisture and shake and go, just the style I was looking for!

I have no pictures from day 1- but here are a few from day 4! One texture shot and one regular! What do you think? How would you “label” my hair?

Have you tried this method on type 3 or 4 hair? What were your results?

-Rae

 

Sometimes I think my hair doesn’t grow. . .

Ever since I cut off all my hair and have anxiously been watching it as it grows back. I found the habit of length checks I first found them on Just Grow Already (http://justgrowalready.com/) when I wasn’t sure if I was transitioning or just stretching out my relaxers. The periodic picture check of visible growth helped with the million of other days when my hair felt like it was standing still, or worse the days when it felt like it was creeping back into my head.  So randomly I would stand pull my hair over my shoulders and compare the length of my hair to my tattoo on my back!

Looking something like this. . .

Then I decided to loc my hair and it really felt like it was creeping back into my head, let me tell you the shrinkage in those first few months of locked life is real! And for the last year and a half I have pretty much felt like I am trying to make up for lost ground, work back to where my hair was before. But then today on my time hop it showed me a picture of my hair in a snapchat selfie exactly a year ago, and I instantly remembered why I loved those length checks! They show you that it is worth it, patience the frustration and all the retwisting was worth it because look . . . 

My hair it grew!

So be patient,  take pictures, keep retwisting, learning the ways that your hair works best, keep it up because it is all worth it!

-Rae

Olivia Pope’s Hair is Scandalous!

So let’s start by saying I LOVE Olivia Pope, I am a full on Shonda Rimes addict, and if you don’t know Shonda is the genius who has created, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder, all of which I love!

Even though I can’t watch the shows until Friday because I don’t have TV I fully subscribe to the TGIT (Thank God its Thursday) that ABC puts out. I love her, I love Olivia Pope, I love Kerry Washington.

And if you are as hooked on Scandal as I am then you know that in the recent weeks Olivia has been under fire for the affair with Fitz, something that was bound to happen eventually and has left Olivia wallowing in her apartment drinking wine.

But what I care about here is her hair, yes her hair, ok I have been upset about her hair before, when she was kidnapped for weeks her hair stayed nicely straight maybe it got some frizz here or there but you know there was no major kink coming out, still mostly composed and relaxed,

Now that she is under fire, there are pictures of a younger, more wild Pope, she is out partying, drinking in college with her friends, she is a freshman as Georgetown and guess what, there is her natural hair! She finally has some curls, maybe a little kink here or there!

Now come on, she is wallowing in her house, a bottle of wine in her hand and her hair is perfectly put together, perfectly straight hair, but when she isn’t supposed to be professional her hair can be in its natural state . . .because well you know natural hair is not professional.

Ok so this is a little thing, this had nothing to do with the episode and I actually liked the episode but it is just another way to see that when people see me in my beautiful braids they see “beautiful black woman” they do not see “professional” Its a little thing yes.. . but little things add up!

❤ Kelsi Rae