With all the celebratory talk going on around the blogosphere, I'm starting to really miss my afro. Had I known that July 4th would be declared National Afro Day, I would have held off on cutting my 5 months of kinky curly growth. I guess I will have to live vicariously through Miss J's afro instead, and yours, if you decide to break out your pick!

This time around, my hair tends to want to have a mind of its own. My second big chop left me nearly bald, which was a little shorter than I had planned, but it was nice to be back to the basics. It is very true that having no hair gives you the opportunity to shine in ways that you may not otherwise or in ways that you may have been afraid to before. Now, I am working with 1 month of growth, some budding waves, and a hairline that needs some shaping. I've been too busy to make a date with the clippers. I have been brushing up on my barber shop lingo though. I've been learning the proper names and looks of popular men's hair cuts, and preparing myself to enter into the guy zone as I shop around for a barber. I remember asking the Kipenzi about barbers when I first BC'd and he got all protective of his particular shop and barber, telling me that if he did reveal his barber to me, that I could NOT go while he was there. I remember thinking, "what the hell is that all about?" Like, why can't I be allowed in the guy zone for a few? Perhaps he was thinking something like this could happen, or maybe he didn't want me to be privy to what "guys" be talkin' about. Anyway... I got some recommendations from a few friends because I'm not just looking for a barber, but a GOOD barber, because, well... I don't want something like this to happen. For now, I've been brushing more than usual and trying to nurture my growing strands. One side of my head insists on curling, while the other side lays down like I'd like. I have a war between curls and waves happening on my head right now. Perhaps things will start to take shape over the next couple of hair cuts. We shall see.

Working from a collection of inspiration, I decided to try my hand at cornrowing... again. It took some time, but I was finally able to get a workable technique going, and come out with something that resembled cornrows. I gave Miss J these box braids about a week or so ago, a re-boxing of some older box braids from her shampoo. We have been doing different things with the front, and since her dress came with a headband, I decided to try a style that I saw on a Youtube video.



Although the BronzeGoddess has beautiful locs, I thought I should be able to do a variation of this style on Miss J's hair. Starting with one side, I attempted the cornrows.

As you can see, the bit of braiding that is close to the scalp looks NOTHING like a braid *sad face*. I'm starting to feel like I am not a 'small cornrowing' kind of girl, but I know that with more practice I will get better at it. I took these two side cornrows and connected them into the big braid on the other side (which I now realize I should have left the ends lose!)

Instead of taking the big side braid all the way around the back of Miss J's head like the BronzeGoddess does, I opted to only incorporate 3 of the box braids from the back left side so that the big braid would hand toward the back with the rest of the braids. It sort of worked.

And in place of a flower, of course we used the headband, which had a fabulous red bow. After removing the three back box braids from the big side braid, I liked the way the braids had a crinkle to them, and decided to take a page from Beads, Braids, Beyond and braid the back box braids into about 4 big braids for sleeping. We'll see what the result turns out to be.

Youtube is proving to be a great research tool...

As my hair becomes fuller, and my curls become tighter, I become less fearful of styling outside the box. Granted, I am very low maintenance, which means that on any given day, I am spraying my hair with a little water to loosen the curls, and going on about my business. From time to time I have added gel to define my curls, but for the most part, I am very get-up-and-go, letting my spiral curls hide close to my scalp, while the rest of my length covers them like a frizzy cloud. Its just what works for me. However, since finding a series of videos by a fellow TWAer, I have been inspired to try something new. I mean, who new that you could style hair this short! While I can't cornrow to save my life, I thought that maybe I'd try my hand at some flat twists - they didn't turn out too bad for my first try.

My 26th is rapidly approaching, and while I have my own feelings about that, I put them aside to get out of the house for a while to join some friends for dinner and drinks. It was nothing big, but I still wanted to get all dolled up. Following Rimblu4's tutorial, I flat twisted one side of my hair, while twisting the rest. While the result was not completely the same as her's, I was still happy with it, and proud of myself for not being afraid to try something new.

Growth since 12/09 (shrunken curls)

Two strand twists
Three flat twists on one side and pinned up
Twisted out with a hair accessory.
After pulling the twists apart to make my fro bigger, I didn't have much definition, BUT, I did have less frizz than I would have if I hadn't done the twists.

I'm looking forward to seeing where my 'fro is by the end of the year!

I am super proud of myself! I went out of my comfort zone and did something completely different with Miss J's hair. I have been wanting to put it back in twists, but that would require us to shampoo it, and I have had too much anxiety lately for us to do our wash routine. Its coming though... the lint balls tell me so. Anyhoo... I was looking at Joyful Mom's latest Hair Day post over at Happy Girl Hair, and loved the styles that she did on her Little R and Little B, as always. Then I noticed, what looked like, a post featuring a veil style so I clicked on it. It was indeed a veil style... two veil styles, on Little R and Little B. I think the style is so cute and intricate. Anything that doesn't require simple parts or simple plaits is intricate to me. Without thinking twice, I propped the laptop up, got out all the beauty supplies and called Miss J upstairs for some hair time. She is always open to different styles, but the process of getting there almost always includes tears, and requests for breaks. We made it through though with huge smiles at the end.

Her hair was already in some nice sections so I just tried to pay close attention to where I was suppose to be connecting the braids that were coming from the sections. I got it!

And look!! I even put beads on the end! Never done that one before either. I've always let my sister in-law handle the french braids and the beads (those aren't french braids by the way, they are criss-cross ponytails... or... kinda... just see Joyful Mom's pictures in her post and you'll see what I'm talking about). I am so proud of myself for stepping outside the box. Miss J loves it too. But then, she always loves the outcome of the styles that we try, so I will be looking forward to stepping outside the box more often.

Have you tried any "outta the box" hairstyles lately?

The virtual world is such an amazing place. Just the opportunities to meet new people every single day; the sharing of life experiences and lifestyles. Its an introvert's dream palace. Speaking of lifestyles, as you know, last year I made the decision to start rocking my natural hair. I've been having so much fun playing in it. Growing it and chopping it off again. The best part of living this new natural hair lifestyle is the community that comes with it. A community that I wasn't even aware existed before now. One of beauty, support and acceptance. Its awesome!

I recently met the beautiful Angie of naturallengths.com, on the natural hair social networking site Natural Sunshine, and she invited me to be featured on her blog. I was honored and I accepted. If you want to check me out, click here.

As you all know, I happen to be a natural hair lover. I think I become more in love obsessed with natural hair styles and care every single day, so its no surprise that I have been stumbling upon all kinds of fabulous natural hair blogs. My obsession with hair didn't start when I went natural, but started somewhere during my teenage years. I fell in love with hair magazines, and to this day, even without hair, I hoard them! I can't leave a Walgreens or any other store's book/mag section without at least looking through a black hair magazine.

One of the natural hair blogs that I now read is Black Girl with Long Hair. Its great. Always featuring the beautiful styles and wisdom of natural women. I enjoy reading the experiences of other natural women and following their progress through before and after pictures. Last night, Miss J and I did the hair dance. You know the one. Where I become the enemy with the deadly weapon known as comb, and she takes on the duty to destroy me. She has been rocking a ponytail for a while so her little scalp was kinda sore, but she took the combing out process like a pro. There were tears, and one too many breaks, but we got through it, with big smiles and beautiful plaits as the reward.

With favorite detangler/moisturizer in hand, we started the first section.


Check out her length. My lil' black girl with long hair.

Its nearly to her waistline. We keep this good hair care up and she'll be sitting on it once she hits high school! Her crop reminds me of my own. Back in the day when I broke combs in the hair salon, and held my ear when my great-grandmother would press it out, and when I'd sit crying, arms stretched wide, wishing my cousin would come rescue me as he stood admiring my pretty long hair and my great-grandmother's hard work. Those were the days. Seeing my baby's hair makes me excited to get mine to where hers is. So we can rock our wild curls together. This year, I'm trading the clippers for pretty hair accessories! I can't wait to see how big my hair will be come the end of the year.

Back indoors yesterday evening, recalling her school day, Miss J exclaimed, with that Miss J smile on her face, "everyone liked my afro mommy."