Chunky Two Strand Twist Swimming Update

After 6-7 times swimming in the pool last week, A's Chunky Two Strand Twists did not do too well. The first picture above is what her twists looked like yesterday, they were quite frizzy and several twists unraveled. The second picture is what her hair looked like when I took the twists out and slightly detangled with my fingers. After detangling I put her hair in 4 large, loose single braids to prepare for washing. I was supposed to wash her hair earlier today but she ended up going swimming before I got a chance.

As you can see in the picture below, her big loose braids all came undone. lol She actually still had one braid in the back that didn't come all the way undone.



After she was done swimming I:

• Rinsed her hair with water and washed her scalp with Bee Mine Shampoo (our weekly shampoo wash)
• After washing her scalp and rinsing the shampoo I took about three handfuls of Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Conditioner and loaded her hair up with it.
• I left the conditioner in and we headed upstairs so I could finger detangle her hair. Her hair was quite tangled from swimming with it all out so it took about 30 minutes to completely finger detangle her hair. When I finger detangle her hair I first gently run my fingers through her hair to remove any big knots/tangles, I then section her hair into four sections and work on each section. I take about an inch of hair in each section, smooth the conditioner over her (wet) hair, and start to gently pull apart each curl "clump" that has wrapped around another curl. I then smooth my fingers over the section again, if it feels smooth I move on to the next, if I feel a knot/tangle or "lump" I continue to separate the curls. I am very gentle when I do this. When I come across a knot/tangle and it does not easily glide apart I will stop, pick up only that section, and gently pull the hair in an up and downward motion until it comes apart.
• After finger detangling each section I braided it up (conditioner still in) and placed a plastic cap over her hair. She took a nap so she has had the conditioner in for about 2 hours. I will be rinsing very soo then moisturizing her hair with Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer then banding in about 4 sections with ouchless bands for the night.

It looks like we will be swimming a lot this Summer. Probably every day or every other day. Twists are obviously not our swimming friends. lol I think I will be restyling her hair tomorrow in some type of braids.

What's going on with your childs hair lately?

Protective Styling Challenge: Update #3

Use discount code: BBB for 10% off Bee Mine Products $15 minimum purchase (Good only until the end of June!)

The Prize:
The winner of the One Month Protective Styling Challenge will receive 4 (Yes, FOUR!) full size Bee Mine Products of YOUR choice!

Incase you need a reminder of how much we love these products click here and here.

Click *here* to see our introduction post along with our plans of action.

Click *here* Update #1

Click *here* Update #2

The owner of Bee Mine Products and I will choose the winner based on:

• How well you follow the rules
• How well your overall plan of action sounds
• & Being creative doesn't hurt!

Of course, you must do our weekly check-in's and include a picture. 'A' will not be eligible for the prize.

Protective style:

Name: A

What was your protective style of choice for week 2? Same Box Braids from last week

Have you been following the rules? Yes

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes

How did your child's new style hold up for the week? A's box braids held up very well for the second week. In the update picture I had unraveled the ends of the box braids, wet them, then applied Bee Mine Curly Butter and twirled them around my finger.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? Yes

Protective Style:

Name: Simara W.

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? For week 3, Simara had simple box braids in her hair

Have you been following the rules? Yes

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes. I received some new products in the mail this week and I can't wait to use them on her hair!!

How did your child's new style hold up for the week? Simara's hair held up pretty well for week 3. Besides the normal frizz, I redid some of the braids on Thursday.

Do you plan on restyling for week 3? Yes, for week 4 Simara will have a cornrow style that I saw on HappyGirlHair blog. Side cornorows with 2 ponytails secured with Goody Ouchless bands. Simple and cute!

Other: This month has been flying by. I can't believe that the challenge is almost over. I have really enjoyed participating in this challenge and we should definitely do this again this year. I really enjoy the weekly check-ins because it helps to keep me motivated and seeing all of the girls (and boys) with their styles gives me new ideas to try. Keep up the great work Nikki

Protective style:

Name: TK

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? A combo of cornrows into 2strand twists with medium plaits in the back. I wanted something that was a little dressier and something I wouldn't have to worry about freshening up too much in the mornings.

Have you been following the rules? Roger that! I've completely ruled out adding anything to her hair for this month so so far, we're still on point.

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes, plus our 2x/day scalp massages and daily moisturizing of her ends.

How did your child's style hold up for the week? Pretty well... maybe just as well as when she had the 2strand twists in. Each morning I spritzed her ends with a mix of water and EVCO and every other day I freshened up her twists because they unraveled daily.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? Yes, cornrows and plaits. That will definitely hold and stay. And even though we're nearing the end of the challenge, that style is going to get pushed as close to 2weeks as it possibly can. I wish I had thought to see how her hair responded to a couple weeks of having her hair cowashed biweekly instead of weekly, so I'll start now.

Protective style:

Name: KeAirah

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? Our style of choice was box braids.

Have you been following the rules? Yes, we have been following the rules.

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes, our plan of action has remained the same.

How did your child's style hold up for the week? Her braids held up very well except for the very back. Her hair is very soft/fine back there and the braids just unravel after a day or two.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? No, we will not be restyling for week 4. We will maintain these until the end of the challenge.

Protective style & Update pictures:

Name: Ray (see Ray and her mommy's blog here.)

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? Puffs

Have you been following the rules? Ooooh Yes.

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes. When I took the braids the hair was not to tangled and after washing and deep conditioning I used all Bee Mine Products. They seem to work good on her hair.

How did your child's style hold up for the week? I did not restyle. I sprayed it with Bee Mine Juicy - Moisturizing Daily Spritz daily. I took off and brush the top ponytail holder (white one) and after brushing the fuzzy's down I put it back on. I re did the puffs on Day 3 and they stayed untl the last day.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? Yes I plan to make Box Braids.

Other: I like the Bee Mine products so far.

Protective style:

Name: Makena

What was your protective style of choice? Box braids, twisted at the ends

Have you been following the rules? Yes

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes, my plan was basically to keep the box braids in for the month, massage scalp and wash weekly, use leave-in conditioner, moisturize daily, and seal. I have kept up this routine, although I decided to experiment with different products for some functions (i.e. Qhemet OHHB as a sealant instead of EVCO or EVCO/Shea mix).

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? No re-styling, we just washed as planned with Oyin Honey Wash, conditioned with water bottle mix of Oyin's Honey Hemp condish and water, and sealed with EVCO/Shea mix. Since the bottom 1.5 inches of her box braids were twisted, I untwisted them, sprayed w/ extra water bottle condish mix, and applied a little more EVCO/Shea mix, then retwisted. Finally, for this week's look I flat-twisted the top half and used bantu knots secured w/ Goody Ouchless bands - the skinny ones. I flat-twisted/knotted the bottom half in the same way and sent her outside to read and play in the sun for a few hours. Then I took it down for a 1/2 flat-twist, 1/2 curly look. She likes it and said her scalp felt good...lol.

Other: I had an idea of some of the looks I wanted for her so I took that into consideration when I made the box braid parts in the beginning. Hair part considerations included: a side part (loose braids) AND middle part (flat twists), making the parts small enough that we could get a good wash and oil of her scalp, but big enough to keep the frizzies to a minimum and hopefully achieve a nice braidout next weekend.

Protective style:

Name: Laverius

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? Simple Braids

Have you been following the rules? Yes

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes/no
Yes- I'm still using Wave Nouveau Moisturizing Finishing Mist as a moisturizer.
No- instead of using the WNMFM every two or three days, we are moisturizing Bae Bae's hair everyday because he has his simple braids instead of layered braids...we want to make sure his hair is getting enough moisture.

How did your child's style hold up for the week? His hair held up ok.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? Yes. Bae Bae may get layers to get an extra week pass the 1 month challenge.

Other: Bae Bae will continue to sleep in his satin bonnet and we will moisturize his hair everyday with the layered braids to see if everyday moisture is better for his hair, instead of every two to three days of moisture.

Protective style & update:

Name: Anisa

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? Box braids

Have you been following the rules? Yes

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes, but I am still using Carol's Daughter Loc Butter, Carol's Daughter Hair Milk and Shea Moisture Hold and Shine Moisture Mist

How did your child's style hold up for the week? Great! I have been very happy with this style.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? No, she will have the same box braids for week 4.

Other: I did decide to change it up a bit. I bought Anisa some Goody's Ouchless Comfort Fit Headbands and she wanted to wear the pink one to school. I also tried something different. I twisted her box braids on the side. The twists led into cornrows. I clipped one of the cornrows up with a curly bow. The rest of her hair was left down. I applied the loc butter to her hair everyday and she slept with her hair in a satin bonnet.

Protective style:

Name: Evelyn

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? i did cornrows into puffs

Have you been following the rules? i have been following the rules i used black faded glory bands to hold the puffs and i did not tie it tight and i also did little bows tp bring so color to her style

Have you stuck with your plan of action? i have stuck with the same plan of action

How did your child's style hold up for the week? her hair only lasted for a week before it became very fuzzy; it was kind of my fault, i kept on forgetting to put her du-rag on at night

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? i do plan on changing her style to box braids and i just got in some bee mine products so i will try to see how they work out on her hair

Protective style & update:

Name: Aliana

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? She rocked the bantu knot out this week (as we did the knot out on Day 6 of last week)

Have you been following the rules? Yes ma'am!

Have you stuck with your plan of action? As far as keeping it moisturized & protected yes. My original plan for week 3 was the twist out (her twists were supposed to last 2 weeks {ha!} try less than a week) but it's all good because I got to try a lot more protective styles that I've never tried before. SO...for week 3 it was actually similar to my original plan as it is an "out" style. Then last night (day 7) I washed & condition her hair (with products from plan), finger combed & started part of her style for week 4 (cornrows into puff, I did half or cornrows & put in puff, doing the rest tomorrow).

How did your child's style hold up for the first week? It was great I used the Creme Brule daily & it really defined her curls & made them not so "clumpy". The knot out also kept her hair very full/volumized (versus just having her hair in a natural puff/fro)

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? The last week: cornrows into a high (but not too tight) puff!

Other: UPDATE:As you can see I finished making her satin pillowcase this week & both she & I love it!

Protective styles:

Names: Miss Priss & The Artist

Protective style & update:

Name: Jaliyah

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? 3 Layes of Cornrows

Have you been following the rules? Yes

Have you stuck with your plan of action? Yes mostuize every morning and every night.

How did your child's style hold up for the week? It held up very well. As long as I mostuize her ends the style stays very nice. I was suprised her cornrows especially the ones in the back held up because she is such a ruff sleeper.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? We are going to definalty restyle. Not sure yet because she had been sick the last 3 days so i'm not sure how long she is going to sit for me.

Protective styles:

Name: Joeliana and Alia

What was your protective style of choice? For Alia, I washed and then braided her hair in box braids this week. To dress up for church I pulled her box braids into two ponytails with approved bands.
For Joeliana, we took out almost three weeks of her small cornrows, and I have let her hair be natural at this point since her hair is still so short.

Have you been following the rules? yes.

Have you stuck with your plan of action? yes

How did your child's style hold up for the week? I re-did Alia's box braids with my new favorite Bee Mine moisturizer and her scalp, which was "sick" before, is doing much better...no sores this week-YEA. Joeliana's loose hair needs oil and moisturizer every day to look "healthy" and good. I would like to try box braids for her this week.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? Alia - no. Joeliana - box braids if her hair is long enough...

Other: I'm glad to see Alia's scalp improve; which means I was probably doing her braids to tight. I am also glad to see Joeliana's hair getting long enough to braid again...her hair is so thick and her curls so tight that her hair seems to be healthier if it can be braided or twisted some how.

Protective style & update:

Name: Patience

What was your protective style of choice for week 3? It was the same box braids, just refreshed.

Have you been following the rules? I have been following the rules.

Have you stuck with your plan of action? I sure have. I washed Patience's hair last week twice because she went swimming, but still kept the box braids.

How did your child's style hold up for the week? They held up very well. But needed to be re-done.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? No, I will just keep the box braids and style them in a few styles you did on 'A'. I like the french braid and the curly pigtails.

Other: This is still a wonderful challenge and I don't even think it's challenging at all! I want this be a normal routine even after the challenge is done. Thanks Nikki!

Protective style:

Name: Nylah

What was your protective style of choice? I did cornrows in the front and twist in the back

Have you been following the rules? Of course

Have you stuck with your plan of action? I' am still washing, conditioning and moisturizing her hair the same, but I've changed the styles up a little bit from what I had originally planned!

How did your child's style hold up for the first week? Nylah's hair held up pretty well. Towards the end of the week we did a twist out, which turned out very nice!!

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? Yes, I plan on doing box braids.

____________________________

I am a little late on posting this, but we are technically done with this challenge. I love all of week 3's styles and updates. You are all doing such a great job and as always the children are just adorable! I look forward to seeing/hearing week 4 update so get it in as soon as possible so we can decide the winner of the Bee Mine Products! Yay! :)

Thanks again to everyone who signed their child(ren) up. Also big thanks to Bee Mine Products for being so generous with your giveaway!

___________________________

Please email me your child's next protective style picture. If you did not restyle please send me what their previous style looks like the weekend of June 4th. Also email me by June 6th a recently updated picture (preferably taken the weekend of June 4th-June 6th) of your child's new protective style to show how it is holding up. Subject: Protective Styling Challenge Week 4

beadsbraidsbeyond@yahoo.com

These are *NEW* questions!

Answer the following questions in your email: (highlight, press CTRL + C on your keyboard, and paste in email)

Name:
What was your protective style of choice for week 4? (if you did not restyle, let me know what last weeks style was)
Did you follow the rules for the entire month?
Did you stick with your plan of action? (if you changed anything let us know)
How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? (if you did not restyle, let me know how their previous style is holding up)
Did you learn anything during this challenge?
Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often?
Other: (optional)

If you switch up the style by doing a ponytail or pigtails or anything, feel free to send those pictures in as well.

I look forward to hearing from you all soon! Happy Styling!

Chunky Two Strand Twists

For the last week of our Protective Styling Challenge I decided to keep it simple and do some chunky two strand twists in A's hair. I pulled it half up for the first day and added a bow. She has been swimming this week and they have held up fairly well.

Instructions:

• Start with completely (properly) detangled well moisturized hair (we used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer)
• Split the hair into two. Parting from the middle of the front of the head all the way back to the middle of the neck.
• Tie one side off with an ouchless ponytail holder to get it out of the way and begin grabbing large sections of hair. Parting with a comb is not necessary for this style. Add your product of choice to the section of hair (we used Bee Mine Curly Butter), split your large section into two and proceed to twist the two sections of hair around one another. Roll the ends between your pointer finger and thumb so they hold better.
• Continue grabbing large sections, adding your product of choice, and twisting the hair. Repeat on the other side until your style is complete.

As I stated, she has been swimming this week in our little backyard pool.



For now, her hair routine when she goes swimming is very basic.

Swimming Routine:

• Put hair into a lose ponytail while she swims.
• Cowash hair with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration conditioner after swimming. I actually used Bee Mine Avocado conditioner this time.
• Apply moisturizer/leave-in to wet hair after rinsing the conditioner. I used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer

Maintaining this style is very simple. Moisturize as needed and cover with a satin bonnet at night. Retwist any twists as needed with your product of choice. This style should last up to one week.

Bee Mine Discount Code for Beads, Braids & Beyond Readers!

As you all may know, I have been using Bee Mine Products on A's hair for the entire month of May. I can honestly say that I have not yet met a line like Bee Mine. I love all of the products. You know when normally you only *love* a couple of things out of a line? In our case I absolutely love their shampoo, conditioner, curly butter, luscious moisturizer, juicy spirtz and beeloved hair and scalp moisturizer. I won't even talk your ears off about these products, lol. If you missed our reviews check them out: here, here & here. Also check out what a couple of friends from the protective styling challenge are saying by clicking here.

As you can see the luscious balanced cream moisturizer is the BOMB! lol I can't even sugar coat it. LOVE that stuff, it really is the best moisturizer I have used. I have been styling A's hair by using the luscious moisturizer then applying the curly butter ontop and we have had great results!

We have a discount code for Beads, Braids & Beyond readers! This discount code is good until the end of June.

Get 10% off with a $15 minimum purchase using code: BBB

I repeat 10% off with $15 minimum purchase CODE: BBB

Remember, this is only good until the end of June! If you are having a hard time deciding what to get please feel free to email me.

Happy Shopping!

Q.O.T.W: Where is your favorite place to buy hair accessories?

Where is your favorite place to buy hair accessories?

Claires? Etsy? Local stores? etc. I would love to know!

Minnie Mouse Style

Repost from 2009



Minnie Mouse was an obvious inspiration for this style. This is one of the easiest styles you can do. Simple yet oh so different and cute!

Instructions:

• As always, start with well (properly) detangled, well moisturized hair.
• Put the hair in a ponytail using an ouchless ponytail holder and your product of choice for smoothing the hair down (a little ORS Lock & Twist Gel worked for us.). Try placing the ponytail on the top of the head.
• Once you have your ponytail in place, split it in half and "fold" each side under going towards the middle of the ponytail. You will now bobbypin each section.
• Add a cute bow and you're done! I used a bow I got from Walmart (it actually came in a pack of 3) Happy Styling!

Diva Spotlight: Kayla

Tell us a little about yourself & your daughter:

People call me Melo and I made sure my daughter had a Spanish speaker friendly easy name, Kayla. I’m 29 years old, Hispanic from Honduras and I’m a first time parent. Even though I have 3 younger sisters, I never cared to learn how to braid hair. When I met my husband (also black from Honduras ) and his sisters (they have long hair) I knew there was a major possibility that our children would have a lot of hair. I did expect my daughter to have kinky hair but to my surprise, it seems to have the texture of a bi-racial child, soft, manageable and curly when it’s wet. Being that I’m a full time working mom and I’m always on the move, I had to try to learn how to braid and I finally did 3 months ago on you tube!! Kayla is only 14 months old so I have to keep it simple but ever since I learned I’m obsessed and I am always thinking of cute ways to do her hair.

What is your daughter's hair care routine?

For now I only wash every other week, I know that will have to change once the summer kicks in. I braid her hair twice a week being that we go to church every Friday and Sunday. I don’t do anything special for bed.

What kind of products do you use on her hair?

I am a beginner, so far I’ve only tried Just for me and I didn’t like it, her hair dries out really fast, after about 2 days and its too greasy. Now I am going to try soft and beautiful products, let’s see how that goes.

Have you ever used chemicals on her hair?

No, being that her hair is manageable I am planning to hold off on that as long as possible, hopefully Junior High!

Can we see a few of your favorite styles?

HER HAIR OUT WAS CUTE WHEN SHE WAS 9 OR 10 MONTHS OLD but then it got longer and I needed some more options!



Before braids, this is all I could come up with ;-/



MY FIRST TIME BRAIDING, I’M GETTING BETTER, I PROMISE LOL!



MY SECOND TIME WASN’T TOO GOOD EITHER BUT I GOT THE IDEA!



Cute! How did you learn to do all of this?

You TUBE, one day I got tired of doing her hair everyday and I went on you tube and HUALA!!

How does your daughter feel about her hair? Can we see her favorite style?

She is too little right now but when she gets a little older we will know ;-]

If you had to share one hair care tip, what would it be?

I blew out my daughter’s hair once and I didn’t like how the heat left her hair. Try to keep it natural as long as possible, moisturize as much as possible and teach your daughter to be comfortable with kinky, natural hair ;-]
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Kayla is too cute for words! I can tell mom is definitely trying to get on the right track with her hair care. Stay away from chemicals (even when jr. high comes)! lol I'm glad you realized heat is not good for her hair either. I absolutely love the picture with her hair all out with the white headband. Keep practicing and reading more about hair care and I would love to hear an update! :)
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Click here to see how you can sign your Diva up!

Hair Share!

Thanks to the mother's who sent in pictures for this weeks Hair Share! Click here to see how you can participate in next week's Hair Share!

Donna shared how she organizes her hair products and accessories, I love this idea!

Donna writes:

"A while back you had a post on bead organization and I thought I'd share what I use. It's by Craft Mates and basically, it's a case with 8 storage boxes. Each storage box has 7 individual compartments that open individually. The best part is the lock closed when you snap them shut and you have to hold down a button on the end of the box to open any of the compartments. Great if you're doing a toddler's hair! My daughter still makes a mess with the beads that I'm using but not with the whole collection of beads.

For organizing I use the scrapbooking bag in the pictures shown. I could end up doing hair in any place in the house so this bag is really handy for carrying our day-to-day essentials. The things in the bag vary in some of the pictures because they were taken on different days lol. The rest of our stash is stored in the basement and in the bottom drawer in one of our bathrooms. Compared to tote boxes, I love that it has handles! And compared to a regular bag, I love that it has compartments! We got the bag at Michael's using the 40% off coupon. I think it ran me $14 Canadian. And we don't even use all the compartments yet."



Kristen shared some older styles she did on her cutie Avi


Kristen also shared this picture she took while she was at Claires. They have a bunch of cute 4th of July hair accessories!

Crystal shared this adorable style she did on her beautiful daughter, Cadance. She did flat twists all the way back into just moisturized hair.


Aisha sent in some older pictures of her cutie Anisa when they were on vacation.


MeLaine shared this nice style done on her 7 year old beautiful daughter!


Andrea sent in this picture of her adorable little girl "L". Also check out Andrea's blog here she has posted about lots of great deals and accessories she has found.


Too cute! Thanks again for sending in pictures. I also loved the organization pictures and the hair accessory picture! Make sure you send in pictures for next week. :)