I haven’t been great to my hair lately, I did a weave with too much hair out. While it was gorgeous, I know my hair is angry at being straightened. So I needed an all over protective style. Crochet braids take  me FOREVER but its so worth it!

I don’t have the patience to do my hair in one sitting so it took me 2 days to do my hair… Here’s the progress

Day one: I braided my hair straight back and crochet the hair in…

Day two: I curled the hair using the method inTheChicNatural’s video it’s like making hanging bantu knots and putting them in a cup of VERY hot water. (burned myself a few times I must admit so have a towel around your neck!) I like this curling method better than the rods because of the less defined and more natural look of the curls

Day three: took out the curls to let the hair dry  over night since I was going to sleep anyway…

Tips & Corrections:

Make sure you make the knots hang enough to be able to dip into the water.

Don’t make the knots to big (otherwise you may not like the curls like on the left side of my head I will be re-curling those later and will post a picture or video)

Don’t worry about how “big” the fro is, when you curl it, it will shrink

Don’t be afraid to brush the texture out of the hair before knotting it to curl

Update after 6 days I re-curled the hair

Okay I confess. I love weave! And I will also admit I stretch the times I wash my hair when I have weave… You know its just not the same after! A weave has a limited life and even worse once you wash it. But I HATE smelly hair and itchy scalps. Also that does nothing for the health of my natural hair :(. So in my years of wearing weave I had to find a solution! And of course after trial and improvement, I’d like to share it with you!

Here’s my solution for Aviyah Li’s weave potion!

All you need is: Castor Oil, Olive Oil, Rosemary, Peppermint, Sage & Lavender

Olive Oil: You don’t want to use many essential oils on your skin without a carried oil because they are often too concentrated and harm the body if improperly used…

Rosemary:  Rosemary oil is a nourishing tonic for those who are bald or have thinning hair, according to Organic Facts.Net, because the oil has a stimulating effect on hair follicles. Graying hair and premature hair loss may both be improved with the regular application of rosemary essential oil. A popular ingredient in hair products, rosemary oil can be used in a scalp scrub to treat dandruff.Rosemary essential oil encourages hair growth, helps alleviate dry hair and is beneficial for helping eliminate dandruff and an itchy scalp. Rosemary oil should never be used during pregnancy as it very dangerous to an unborn child. Rosemary oil is an antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory.

Peppermint: Peppermint essential oil stimulates blood flow to the hair roots, enabling the hair to receive the proper nourishment it needs to grow. Peppermint has a tingling effect on the scalp and this is what encourages blood flow to the scalp, contributing to the hair’s overall health.

Lavender: Lavender oil is a great protector for hair breakage! Lavender essential oil is known to promote hair growth. It is also used to treat severe hair and scalp conditions such as alopecia areata. According to a 1998 article in the “Archives of Dermatology,” a 7-month contro.lled study, conducted by the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Scotland, concluded that lavender essential oil is an effective treatment for the disease.

Sage: Sage essential oil is thought of as one of the best essential oils for clarifying the scalp. It helps cleanse impurities out of the scalp and works well with other herbs to provide healing properties for scalp conditions like psoriasis.

Take a small container with a dropper and fill it 2/3 with Olive oil, a tablespoon of castor oil and drops of the essential oils. 
UPDATE: You can also use coconut oil (it's lighter) if you don't like the heavy olive oil or castor oil

A "twist" on my last attempt at the twisted Bantu Knots... I wasn't so thrilled with the outcome so I tried this way:

Twisted my hair and only bantu knotting the ends ... Here's how it turned out the next day:

I like this a bit more as the hair was a bit more stretched and when you are more "fresh" on your hair growth journey stretching is everything for some (including me).

Repost from 2013 from my other blog: I’m back in Crochet Braids again! I’ve had these in for 7 days. I wanted to protect my hair but also have a style that was versatile unlike french braids alone.

As usual, I washed and deep conditioned my hair in preparation for the style. I made the cornrows small, and I secured them at the back of my hair with weaving thread. It took me about four days to do my hair (only because I did not have about 8 hours to sit). I braided my hair straight back except in the front for the bang and around the edges as shown in the picture.

Hopefully this style last two more weeks at least. The hair is rather tangled (as synthetic hair gets). The hair I used was freetress bulk finger roll and a crochet hook.