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Disclaimer

The hair tips, advice and recommendations given on this blog are given based on the experiences of the authors. These tips may not work for everyone and every hair type and it is important to acknowledge this since we are neither hair specialists nor trichologists.


Also many pictures on this blog belong to the authors but there are others that we do not have ownership for and thus we do not claim ownership of the ones that do not belong to us.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Protective Styling


Twists

So here you are with your hair: short, long and in between. And maybe it is even a mix of relaxed and natural hair. Or maybe it is relaxed hair. There are many things you can do to your hair to keep it healthy. Protective styling is one of those things. 


The objective of protective styling is to limit the frequency with which you manipulate your hair. By manipulating our hair I am referring to when we pull, stretch, tug, roll etc our hair and when our hair is subject to frequent snagging from our clothes or jewelry. The more we manipulate our hair the more likely we are to damage our hair and loose the hair length and hair health we have built up over time. So less manipulation is better for hair health and growth.





Twists


Kinky twists



Bantu Knots

How much manipulation is too much manipulation? That is a tough question because I cannot say the ideal is to manipulate once a week or twice a week. I have talked to a lot of women who have healthy hair and I noticed that they manipulate on average weekly or every two weeks. So they wash, condition and style weekly or every two weeks. This is not a rule. The principle is to reduce how often you subject your hair to "stresses" and "tension". Intro Protective Styling. When protective styling is used, the wearer is then restircted from excessive "touching" of the hair. And that is the idea! No touching. Not touching. No touching for a period of time so your hair can rest.




Braids
 

Corn rows with braids in front


Twist and pinned twists


Corn rows with bantu knots on the ends


In my opinion, the common protective technique natural haired women use is twists. However, there are many other techniques like: braids, corn rows, African threading, flat twists, coils, bantu knots, bunning etc. You also have weaves, yarn braids, kinky braids and other styles done with extensions. And of course you can also use a wig. I usually recommend that you keep in extensions for four to six weeks maximum. I heard the loud laughter! It is my recommendation ;D




Braids with extensions



A wig
 
And people get creative with these protective techniques and that's where "styling" meets "protective". I have mixed corn rows and twists, corn rows and African threading, twists and bantu knots to get some interesting styles. The point is: be creative. Yes, you want to keep your hair healthy but it doesn't mean it should be boring all the time!



Corn rows and African threading

So what is your favourite protective technique and how do you style your hair with it?

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

A twist on African Threading

Threading is a way to protect your natural hair and stretch your hair without using heat. Read some of our blog posts on threading here and here. Thanks to BGLH I came across a cool way to style your hair using thread. Here in Nigeria, people come up with funky ways of styling hair with thread.



That's me with a combination of cornrows and threading

This variation below of styling hair using the threading method by Barbara L made me smile and has given me some ideas. It is a flat single strand twist intertwined or wrapped with thread. Sounds deep ehn? It is not at all.





Hmmm ... feel like taking out my twists and trying it out. I shall be patient and maybe try it for my next hairstyle. Check out the video to see how it is done and get inspired.





Keep it natural!

Omozo

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Naturals in The City 4 - November 17 2012

The date has been set! 

Natural Nigerian, Screwy Haired Girl and Sherese Ijewere are back at it. They will be bringing to you another fabulous platform for natural haired people and lovers of natural and healthy living to meet, share ideas and products, make new friends and generally have a great time. So come out and join us on November 17th 2012. The venue and programme of events will be set and communicated soon so watch this space or check out this link for NITC4.


NITC3 at Omenka Gallery Ikoyi



Keep it natural!

Omozo

Friday, October 19, 2012

Pin Curls with Bobby pins - A video



The ends of my hair do not curl like this normally. I used pin curls on my twists to get this curl pattern

 I tweeted a while back about how happy I was with the pin curls I successfully achieved on my hair and I got a request to "show and tell". I finally finished editing a video on how to get pin curls. Yes this is O'Naturals' first public video. Okay O I am saying "sorry for the quality" in advance.

Go ahead and try the technique on your hair. Remember: don't be afraid to adjust the technique so that you get various results. Try it out on braids or do the pin curls on your whole head of hair and see what you get. It is the weekend so go ahead and try it out and rock it this weekend. And when you do, please don't forget to share your pictures! :D @DamiOyedele this one's for you! *wink*






Keep it natural!

Omozo

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Twists curled with a curling iron



It is really easy to get this hairstyle. Here is how I did it:
1) Twists were a week old so I did not use new twists or freshly washed and conditioned twists;
2) Apply serum to the twists. I applied by sectioning the hair, spraying the serum on each section and then working it through the hair;
3) Use medium heat on the curling iron. If you see smoke coming out of the iron then you know it is too hot;



4) Take your section of twists and curl with the curling iron. I rolled the curling iron inwards as if tucking in the hair;





5) After you have curled your whole head use a holding spray. This should keep the curls for a day or two. If you are in a humid area (like Lagos Nigeria) you may not be so lucky. My curls barely made it to the end of the working day!





One very very important point: make sure you deep condition after using the curling iron on your hair. Frequent use of direct heat to your hair may damage your hair. There you have it folks. Try it out and let's know how it works for you.

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Monday, October 15, 2012

Chigozie shares her pictures


Chigozie has been following O'Naturals blog for the three years she has been natural and she has been gracious enough to answer some questions and share her pictures with us.For that we say "Thank you Chigozie and keep loving your natural hair!".

Thanks O'Naturals! Your blog is what has helped me stay the course, so it is an honor to share my routine on the blog.
 



 I wash my hair with  shampoo and conditioner biweekly or more. I use the Forever living Aloe-Jojoba shampoo and Aloe-Jojoba conditioning rinse. I'm just beginning to use leave in conditioners as well. Right now I'm trying out Olive Miracle by African Pride as I already use Organics Olive Oil as my hair moisturizer.






I go to the salon for my twists. I get my sister to do my cornrows and for anything afro, that I do myself. For most styles I use gels mainly olive oil based. I find I'm falling  in love with olive oil  for my hair.





I'm still natural because I love the fact I can do more with it. Your blog has also helped as mentioned earlier and I've always loved the idea of standing out from the crowd. Well standing out from the crowd didn't last for long, since more people are discovering the joy of going natural :) 
 







Keep it natural!

Omozo

Sunday, October 14, 2012

African Naturalistas Hair Product Swap Forum

African Naturalistas started a Hair Product Swap Forum. A lot of ladies that are passionate about hair have unintentionally become product junkies. Sometimes we hold on to products we are not really fond of, possibly because we do not want to throw them away. We believe this product swap forum will benefit a lot of ladies.

So think, how many bottles of conditioner do you have that you used only once? How about that "miracle" hair cream you bought that made your hair hard? At this forum, you can put up these products and other ladies can pick them from you and try the products for themselves. And you can do the same with the products that other ladies put up. Why bother with this? Because you might have a product that does not work for you but works for someone else or otherwise. Get the drift?



So take a look at your product cabinet or box and pull out the products that you want to swap or give away and click this African Naturalistas Hair Product Swap Forum link and do the needful.

Keep it natural!

Omozo



Thursday, October 11, 2012

Curls on locs




My friend's display picture showed her with curled locs and I asked her how she achieved it.

1) Wash and re-loc hair. I think you can do these curls on hair that is not re-loced;
2) Put in the flexi-rod hair rollers while hair is damp;



 3) Allow hair air dry then use a hand dryer to finish the drying process if necessary;


She did not use any gel or holding product and no holding spray. She said she will use holding spray next time so that the curls last longer.
 


There you have it. Try this out on locs (and "un-loced" hair too) and share your results please.

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Muppets changing the world

Remember that Black Sesame Street muppet with natural hair who sang I Love My Hair? Watch video here. Well she sang another song called Change The World. Her back-up singers seemed to have natural hair too (could be my imagination running away *shrug*). After watching the video I left thinking "If only I could dance and roll my head around like those muppets!" Enjoy.





Keep it natural!

Omozo