Facebook Spotlight

This week we are featuring Rachelle and her daughter, Nana. Rachelle posted this gorgeous cornrow/twist updo on our Facebook wall and I just had to share!





Thank you for sharing, Rachelle!

Style Inspiration: Willow Smith - Zig Zags & Cornrows

Check out these photos of Willow's new 'do. She was on the set of her new video, "21st Century Girl".

Aside from the very long, colorful extensions, I really like it! I think we will be trying it in the near future.

Her friend also has a cute but simple style I'd like to try (pictured below).

Edited to add: Remind me to stop making posts near midnight! I'm over here calling Willow her mothers name, Jada. haha

Cornrows & Hearts - Valentine's Day Style

Valentine's Day is right around the corner so I decided to do a fun Valentine's Day style mixed with cornrows, heart ponies and colorful beads with heart snaps on the ends. A was thrilled to have hearts in her hair, she just kept giggling and cannot wait to show her friends! Read below for instructions.






Instructions:

• I washed and deep conditioned A's hair over the weekend. After washing was complete I moisturized and banded her hair in 4 sections. I spaced the bands out about a half inch to an inch apart to stretch her hair out for styling. The next morning I removed the bands (her hair felt so soft and moisturized!) and did a quick style for school.
• When she got home from school I took the style out, added some Bee Mine luscious moisturizer and gently detangled with our modified Denman D3 Brush.
• After detangling was complete I got to work on the left side of her head. I began by parting the heart on the left side, above her left ear. I used a metal rat tail comb as I would a pencil and parted the heart out of her hair just like I would draw a heart on paper. After parting the heart I tied it off and cornrowed the small section of hair that was infront of the heart, along her hairline.
• I tied the rest of her hair off, untied the heart section and parted a little hair from the inside of the heart, all the way around. I cornrowed one section inside of the heart to the right, and the other to the left. After the heart had 2 cornrows in the inside, going the opposite direction, I smoothed down the remaining hair in the heart and tied it off with a rubberband at the base. I braided the remaining hair left in the rubberband.
• After I was completely finished with that heart, I untied her hair and parted her hair straight across in the back. I tied the back section off and got started on the top section.
• I parted the top section of hair to the side so I had a small remainder of hair near her right ear. I tied the small section of hair near her right ear off to get it out of the way.
• I began by starting my top section parting from the middle of the heart going toward her forehead and along her hairline. I cornrowed that section then parted another section coming from the middle of the heart going in the same direction. After I cornrowed that section I moved to the back of the top section and again, started near the middle of the heart going to the back of her head then going off to the side. I cornrowed that section and parted another section going in the same direction. After she had 2 cornrows in the front of the top section and 2 cornrows in the back of the top section I parted another heart on top. Remember, part just like you are drawing a heart on paper, only you're using a comb in hair.
• After making the second heart, I tied it off with a rubberband at the base, as I did the other heart and braided the remaining hair.
• At this point she only had a little hair on the outsides of the heart so I made a straight part in the middle of the heart and cornrowed each section going around the heart.
• I moved on to the small section near her right ear and just made 4 cornrows going straight down the right side of her head.
• Now the entire top section is done and all that was left to do was the back section. I simply parted medium sections of hair going straight down in the back, cornrowed them, and she was all done!
• I added some fun Valentine's Day themed beads and heart snaps at the ends.

We're Giving Away TWO Tangle Teezer Magic Flowerpots!

The fabulous people over at TangleTeezer.com have agreed to give 2 of our readers a super cute Tangle Teezer Magic Flowerpot! Could these be any cuter? I think not! I think any little girl would love one! I'd even like one for myself. ;) You can check out our Tangle Teezer review here.

To enter the giveaway:

• You must follow Beads, Braids & Beyond. Following is easy, just look under "followers" in the right side column and hit "follow". Leave a comment telling me you follow the blog.
• Visit Tangle Teezer and tell me which color flowerpot you would choose if you won and who the adorable Magic Flowerpot will be for!

Example: I follow BBB! I would choose the pink Tangle Teezer Magic Flowerpot, my little girl would love this! (Please note: this counts as 1 entry)

Want more entries? (optional)

• Post about this giveaway on your Facebook, Twitter or blog.
• "Like" Tangle Teezer on Facebook and tell them Beads, Braids & Beyond sent you!
• Enter once a day! You can come back every day after you first enter and simply tell me this is your "Once a day entry!". Example: I'm back! Here's my extra Once a Day entry!

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. I will choose 2 winners on February 6th using Random.org Good luck!

Ouidad Teaches Krly Kids the Power of the Curl + Teens Embrace Their Curls

Check out these videos from Ouidad.

The first one shows the basics of hair care. You can see how she tells Jacey's mother to put her hair up in a loose ponytail at night (otherwise known as pineappling) so her curls are ready to go in the morning. This is exactly what I do with A's hair when she is wearing twist outs, braid outs and free hair so she doesn't crush the curls and they don't matte up.



The next video is just a quick video of Ouidad chatting with teens about their curly hair. I love how the girl at the end says she looks "more different" and "not typical". ;)

Check Out These Curly OshKosh Cuties

I was looking for some Spring clothes for Lil Man and saw 3 curly kids on the OshKosh homepage, they were too cute not to share!

Click to enlarge

Kinky Curly Review

Note: I did not use the Spritz.


Are you ready for a long Kinky Curly review? If not, grab some popcorn, sit back and relax. :)

I knew when I finally decided to give Kinky Curly a try I wanted to try it over a period of time so I first used it in July and have been using it on and off ever since. Here we go...



Day 1: I first started by washing A's hair and scalp with Kinky Curly Come Clean Shampoo, all was well until I decided to go against Kinky Curly's advice and mix other products. I took a look at the Kinky Curly Knot Today (leave-in detangler) and thought I would be better off using Suave Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner because A's hair was quite tangled and well, to be quite honest, I was being stingy with the more expensive product. I mean, I didn't want to use the entire bottle all at once! Well, let me tell you, NOW I know why they say do not mix products with Kinky Curly. After detangling A's hair with the Suave conditioner I applied Kinky Curly Knot Today then I applied the Kinky Curly Curling Custard over it in small sections (on her soaking wet hair). I grabbed our Denman brush to distribute the product evenly. Something weird was happening. It was very hard to get the Denman through her detangled hair. It was as if her wet hair was turning rock hard. I suspect this might have something to do with using that darn Suave conditioner. I continued applying the Knot Today and Curling Custard until I was finished. Pictured above is what her hair looked like when I was done. It stayed like that for a while and although her hair was wet, it was not dripping.

About 3 hours later, her hair was dry. I wasn't exactly pleased with the results. Some parts were stringy, some hard and crunchy, others poofy, the back was flat (pictured below). Enough said. Lets move on to day 2...





Day 2: On day 2 I realized I needed to wash her hair completely over and do it the right way. I shampooed her hair and scalp with Come Clean then added a ton of Knot Today to detangle her hair. I surprisingly didn't have to use as much as I thought. I left the Knot Today in and decided to add an extra step before applying the Curling Custard. I added a tiny bit of Kinky Curly's Gloss Pomade to each section, then added the Curling Custard over it. We had much better results on day 2. Her hair was still a little crunchy but it was defined and shiney. I was pleased but not thrilled. (pictured below)



Day 3: I wet A's hair with a spray bottle, smoothed each section between my hand (no reapplying anything), then smoothed over each curl with my finger. Kind of like what Teri (tightlycurly method) does. I twirled some pieces here and there. This process took about 30 minutes. There was very little crunch on Day 3. Pictures are below.

(still a little damp in this first picture)






Day 4: I put A's hair in a high ponytail for bed on day 3, I took that ponytail out on day 4 and this is what it looked like, no wetting, no applying anything. A little frizzy but I loved it! Pictures below.





Day 5: On day 5, I rewet her hair, applied a gererous amount of Knot Today, then put it half up, half down. On the bottom section I applied a little Pomade and Custard and lightly finger detangled. On the top part of the ponytail I just smoothed a little Custard over her pony. I used the Pomade to smooth the top of the ponytail down. Picture below. At this point, the crunch was completely gone. Her curls looked fantastic.



Day 6 & 7: On days 6 & 7 I put A's hair in a low ponytail, I smoothed the top of the ponytail down with a little Pomade and Custard. No brushing, no wetting. Pictures below.





Day 8: I wet A's hair at the end of day 7 and did some quick two strand twists. No reapplying any product. Below are the results. The flower is from Little Lady & Me. :)



Okay, if you made it this far, round of applause to you! I tried to cut it short, I promise. Since July I have also been using Kinky Curly Curling Custard to smooth down A's hair for ponytails or buns. You can view a picture below of A's bun. By the way, the adorable flower is from Flowerz in Her Hair, Check them out!



Final thoughts: I am really loving Kinky Curly Curling Custard. It took me a while to get over the initial crunch, but the crunch is gone after 2-3 days. Her curls looked beautiful and I love that I have a product to rely on for those special occasions when I want to smooth down her ponies and not have any flyaways a few hours later.The down side is the Custard is a little pricey, around $20 (8oz) but as I previously mentioned, I have been using it off and on since July 2010 and I still have a little bit left (from the 8oz jar!). You also don't have to apply the custard every day. Depending on how you're wearing your hair, once a week is fine. Now, the Knot Today, for us, is another story. A's hair just didn't seem to like it very well. I have read so many wonderful things about it but the truth is, it doesn't help us in our detangling process, it doesn't even seem to moisturize her hair. I am going to give it another go so look out for a future review of the Knot Today. I was pleasntly surprised by the pomade! A little goes a long way and I love it for ponies! It adds a ton of shine as well. I didn't find anything too special about the Come Clean shampoo, it did what it was supposed to do and cleaned her hair. :)

I will definitely be purchasing Kinky Curly Curling Custard and Kinky Curly Gloss Pomade in the near future. You can purchase Kinky Curly from their website Kinky-Curly.com, you can also find Kinky Curly in select Target Stores.

I would love to hear what you think about Kinky Curly! If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Disclosure: The product(s) were sent to me free of charge from the company or PR agency for the purpose of this review. My opinions are my own and are not influenced by any other part.

Sweetbeatz Winners!

Thank you all so much for entering the Sweetbeatz Giveaway! Another big thanks to Meredith for the great giveaway.

The winners are...

who said...

and...

who said...

Congrats ladies! Please email me your mailing address by January 28th. beadsbraidsbeyond@yahoo.com

Tangle Teezer Review

I have been avoiding the Tangle Teezer for well over 1 year now because 1. It looks scary, 2. It looks like it will rip your hair out, 3. It looks scary. I finally decided to head to Sally's and pay the $10 to give it a try after all the recent reviews and videos and let me cut to the chase, I love it!

The bristles on the Tangle Teezer are not hard (as they appear), they are actually soft and smooth. I washed A's hair as I normally do and loaded it up with Herbal Essences Totally Twisted conditioner, I worked on small/medium sections, did a quick finger detangle then got started with the Tangle Teezer. As always, I started from her ends and worked my way up to the roots. There was no tugging on her scalp, it just glides right through her hair! Detangling was a snap. After wearing her previous style (side cornrows with braid out) for over a week I thought it was going to take some time but we were done in about 15-20 minutes. I will add, holding this in the palm of your hand will take a little getting used to, for me anyway. You can see below, very little hair came out (the white stuff is conditioner). While I was detangling A's hair, I asked her if it hurt, she replied, "No, it's soft!". After we were all done I asked her which brush she liked better, I showed her the modified Denman D3 and the Tangle Teezer, she said she likes the Tangle Teezer best, I think I agree. She told me the Denman is hard and the Tangle Teezer is soft, I'm guessing she's referring to the bristles.

The real challenge? My almost 2-year-old, Lil Man. He hates when I touch his hair. Well, he actually let me brush his hair with the Tangle Teezer! I was SHOCKED! He moved his head a bit, but that's expected. I also allowed A to brush my hair with the Tangle Teezer and it felt great. Absolutely no tugging on my scalp. This is a keeper!

Now, I'm not sure how this would work on A's dry (well moisturized) hair, but I will keep you all posted. So far I'm loving it.

You can purchase the Tangle Teezer from Sally's Beauty Supply for $9.99. They have them in purple (with glitter), black and pink.

I would love to hear what you think of your Tangle Teezer in the comment section!

Facebook Spotlight

Here it is! Our very first Facebook Spotlight. I am so excited to showcase the talent of our Facebook friends! I will choose a style each week and post it on the blog (after asking permission to share it!) so please get to tagging those hair pictures! It could be a style, au naturel, whatever you want, I'd love to see it!

I chose Erica and Symone as our very first Facebook Spotlight. After you see the photos, you'll know why. :) Erica did an amazing job styling her daughters hair.

By the way, Erica has only been doing cornrows for just over a year. How amazing is that? Gives us all hope! :D









Thank you so much for sharing, Erica!

Sweetbeatz - Soulful Songs for City Kids Giveaway!

I was sent Sweetbeatz - Soulful Songs for City Kids in December and have been listening to it almost every day since then! My children absolutely LOVE this CD. The songs are so fun and just make you want to dance! Take a listen here! There's an adorable song called "Hairdos" that we love, check out some of the lyrics below.

I love your hairdo
what'd ya do to make it look
the way it’s looking
I don’t know what you do
all I know it looks good on you

Braided twisted locked or buzzed
Swirly curls or peach fuzz
Fuzzy buzzy barely there
Crazy wavy I don’t care

I think A's favorite song is Swimming in the Water, she knows this song word for word. I think we listened to it 5 times on the first day! Pot'n'Pan Band is such a cute song. I even brought some pots, pans and spoons out for them to make music. Note to self: Limit the pots and pans next time. ;)

The CD costs $15, totally worth it! It's going to be hit at birthday and slumber parties!

Meredith Wright was kind enough to offer 2 of our readers a Sweetbeatz - Soulful Songs for City Kids CD. Woohoo! Big thanks to Meredith!

To enter the giveaway:

• You must follow Beads, Braids & Beyond. Following is easy, just look under "followers" in the right side column and hit "follow". Leave a comment telling me you follow the blog.
• Vist Sweetbeatz, take a listen to the songs and tell me your favorite!

Example: I follow BBB! My favorite song is Hairdos.

That's it! Good luck! This giveaway will run from January 17th - January 23rd. Two winners will be chosen using random.org on January 24th.

For one extra entry, post about this giveaway on your Facebook page. Please leave a separate comment letting me know. Example: Just posted about this giveaway on FB!

Cornrows, Twists & Beads

Instructions:

• As always, start with (properly) detangled hair. :)
• I first parted her hair from ear to ear and tied the back section off. I moved back to the top section and parted a square in the middle. I tied off the section on each side of the square and got started.
• I began parting hair out of the square to cornrow. I started in the front and stopped at the end of the cornrow, leaving the rest of the hair free. I moved on and cornrowed another section. I now had 2 sections cornrowed, I took those two sections and tied them together with a white rubberband (previously soaked in coconut oil). After tying them together I began twisting them. I did sister twists, otherwise known as rope twists. To create a sister twist, you just turn one section of hair clockwise and the other counter clockwise, then you begin twisting them around one another, continuing to twist them in opposite directions. I rolled the ends of the twists in my fingers and proceeded to add beads with a beader. I tied the ends with a black rubberband (soaked in coconut oil) and moved on to my next section. She had a total of 6 cornrows in the middle square, all tied together to create one twist, so she had 3 twists.
• After finishing up the middle section, I moved on to the right side of her hair. I cornrowed 4 braids straight back and tied every 2 cornrows together to create the twist, just like in the middle section. I repeated this process on the left side.
• After cornrowing, twisting and beading the top half of her hair, I moved to the back. I started at the nap of her neck and began parting large squares, I tied them off with white rubberbands and twisted them up, using them same sister twist method. I did this to the back of her entire head.

Note: This style took 1-1.5 hours and lasted just over 1 week. I used the usual, Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and Curly Butter.



"The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important." — Martin Luther King Jr.

Sophisticate's Black Hair Styles and Hair Care Guide (An Update!)

Remember when I made this post about my disappointment in Sophisticate's Black Hair Styles and Hair Care Guide? Well, I never heard back from them. In fact, one of our readers posted the link to my post on their Facebook page only to have it deleted. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to pick up their magazine and see a curly cutie in the children's section with 20 hair care tips. I didn't get a chance to read through all the tips but I was able to snap some pictures. I guess they heard us! I'm going to keep an eye on the magazine, I would love to see more of this. Thanks to those of you who emailed. :)

"20 Best Child Style Haircare Tips You Need to Know"

1. The key to healthy hair begins with a good diet.
   
2. Develope a regular cleansing regimen.
   
3. When caring for thin hair, find the right styling products.
   
4. There is no one drying technique for all hair textures.
   
5. Choise hair accessories that fit your child's age and character.
   
6. Prevent flyaways using styling products sparingly.
   
7. Minimize heat styling as much as possible.
   
8. If you don't have the time to style hair, opt for low maintience looks. (suggests braids, twists and cornrows)
9. If your child wears braids, make sure the scalp stays moisturized.
   
10. Choose hair accessories wisely.
    
11. Always use a leave-in conditioner with curly hair.
    
12. Avoid too-tight hair styles, as they may lead to breakage and hair loss.
    
13. When detangling the hair, always use a wide-tooth comb.
    
14. Play with hair accessories but remember to take care of the hair.
    
15. Keep it simple but have fun with different hairstyles.
    
16. Add flair using synthetic pieces.
    
17. Coarse hair requires a lot of moisture.
    
18. Wrap the hair in a silk bonnet or hair net at night.
    
19. Avoid relaxers until the early teen years.
    
20. All tools should be sanitized.