Friday, June 11, 2010

Protective Styling Challenge: Update #4 The FINAL Update!

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Bee Mine

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

Click *here* Update #3


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.

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Protective style:
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Name:

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? Chunky Two Strand Twists

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes

Did you stick with your plan of action? Yes

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? After swimming several times, her twists didn't hold up too well.

Did you learn anything during this challenge? Definitely. Less is more!

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? Yes I have already started!

Other: Since doing this challenge and using Bee Mine Products I see a great change in her ends and how they feel. I will continue to use these products and I will continue to rotate doing "regular" styles and protective styles.

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Protective Style:
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Name: Simara W.

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? Simple box braids

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes!

Did you stick with your plan of action? Yes, and we added some new products to our regimen. I absolutely love the Bee Mine Curly Butter for her braids/twists, as well as the Luscious Moisturizer from Bee Mine. For extra moisture, I like the Juicy Daily Spritz to refreshen her braids during the week.

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? Her cornrows from last week held up very well. They started to frizz on Thursday instead of the normal Tuesday/Wednesday.

Did you learn anything during this challenge? I've learned that less is more. Even though all of the accessories are cute and add to the styles, I've learned through this challenge to appreciate her hair for what it is. Simple braids/cornrows/twists can be just as cute as the ponytails with all of the beads and barrettes, etc.

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? This challenge actually fit in with our current normal routine. I usually braid up her hair during the week while she is in school, then style it for the weekend. I think that at least once a month, I will do her protective styles throughout the weekend.

Other: Let's do this challenge again sometime before the year is out!!

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Protective style:
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Name: TK

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? Cornrows and braids. The first week we kept them straight and the second week we moisturized again, curled them (first time!) while wet and let air dry.

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes, and I'm hooked.

Did you stick with your plan of action? Yes, lots of moisture and low manipulation, but we also added regular scalp massages and 2x/daily ends moisturizing.

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? Still going great. We kept it in for 2 weeks! I think curling it for the second week helped them last a lot longer.

Did you learn anything during this challenge? Sometimes less is more. TK's hair has done great for the past month. Paying even more attention to how her hair responds to certain things such as styles and accessories as made a world of a difference. And it just proves that all the extra sometimes is just unnecessary extra :)

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? Definitely. Even though the challenge is over and as much as I miss her bubbles and barrettes, it's hard for me to want to add them to often to her ends because, other than aesthetics, they don't do anything for her hair. I've noticed a huuuuuuuuge difference in how her ends look and feel and also much less breakage. I think the change in breakage really comes from the extra moisture on a daily basis and more attention to her ends on a regular basis.

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Protective style: CONGRATS to Makena's Family!! They have welcomed home their new baby boy!
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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 we stuck with the plan for the whole month, leaving the box braids in, washing weekly and keeping moisturized.

Do you plan on restyling for week 4? No re-styling for week 4. Since I was in the hospital having a baby Makena pretty much handled her hair on her own, putting it up into ponytails with Goody Ouchless bands. At the end of the week/challenge I washed her hair w/ the braids in, deep conditioned w/ Jessicurl Weekly Deep Treatment + EVCO and then took the braids down. She rinsed and I styled her hair in two-strand twists using Kinky-Curly Knot Today and Curling Custard. She is going camping for a couple of days and this was another simple protective style that would hold up well.

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Protective style:
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Update:
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Name: Laverius

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? Layered Braids

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes we have.

Did you stick with your plan of action? Yes/No
Yes- we continued using Wave Nouveau Finishing Mist as our moisturizer. Laverius also had a cowash.
No- we decided to use the WNFM everyday instead of every two or three days, to make sure his hair stayed moisturized.

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? This week has been a challenge due to extreme hot weather but his hair held up better than expected because he stayed running through water. I didn't want to do the pool because he had layers and I would have needed to take his hair down and wash it. We wanted to stick with our plan by letting his hair stay in layers for two weeks. Bae Bae still had layers but we decided to braid his layers into one big loose braid to keep him cool. We also decided to let him wear his hair down and we loved how his hair had a loose wave pattern due to the one big loose braid.

Did you learn anything during this challenge? Yes. We don't have to use accessories (beads) or rubberbands whenever his hair gets braided.....since he only gets his hair braided 2-3 times a year. It's also ok for him to have his hair braided straight to the back once in a while and not be afraid that breakage will happen. I also learned when I do braid his hair, I don't have to put his hair in designs(zig zag etc.) every time he gets his hair braided...he can have very simple braids and they will look nice as well.

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? Yes. The simple braids were the best for us and hopefully he can get braids more often without any accessories.

Other: Good luck to all the mommies and thank you for sharing your hair routines. This has been a great challenge and a learning lesson for us. As I stated before the simple braids were a first for us and we hope to do them more often. We've never braided Bae Bae's hair straight back until this challenge so this challenge has helped me feel more comfortable with doing this style. Thanks again Nikki, A and Bee Mine for a great challenge.

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Protective style & update:
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Name: Anisa

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? Anisa wore the same box braids from Week #3. I washed them after one week with Deva Curl No-Poo Cleanser and applied coconut oil and Carol's Daughter's Hair Milk. I cornrowed her box braids and left it this way for a couple of days. The cornrows gave her braids a crinkly look, which she loved! She ended up wearing them half up, half down for one day, down for a couple more days and finally in a high pony.

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes

Did you stick with your plan of action? Yes. I am using the same products that I mentioned in previous posts. I apply Carol's Daughter Loc Butter to her braids each night before putting on her head wrap.

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? Her braids held up very well.

Did you learn anything during this challenge? Less is sooo much more!!

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? Definitiely!!

Other: While Anisa's hair was in the high pony, she decided to cut her hair!!! I ended up taking the braids down to assess the damage and luckily it was okay. I ended up washing/deep conditioning her hair and put it in loose ponytails for 2 days to let it rest. I gave her some more box braids and she will keep these for at least one more week.
Anisa and I have really enjoyed the challenge! She has gotten so many compliments on her hair this month. This is definitely something that I will continue to do to help protect her precious hair. And hopefully she won't do anymore cutting!!

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Protective style:
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Name: Evelyn

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? I did bigger two strand twist, i think my first twist were sister twists

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes i did

Did you stick with your plan of action? because the week before i did not moisturize my daughters hair that much i just took out the cornrows an moisturized her hair with beemine luscious hair moisturizer AND I LOVE IT!!! oh my gosh i have never seen a product make my daughters hair sooo soft and shiny, and then on each twist i put a little beemine curly hold butter and it smelled wonderful and did really well with her hair. After twisting her whole head i twirled the edges with some shea butter, and she wore a du-rag to bed

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? it is still holding up really well but i think i will take it out this week due to the fact that i did not wash her hair last week.

Did you learn anything during this challenge? i learned that you did not need to have all the beads and barrettes to have a nice hair style. i constantly got compliments on my daughters hair this month and i loved the fact that these styles showed how beautiful her hair is without accessories.

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? defiantly, it takes the worry on doing her hair different every week and actually being able to have a break

Other: Something that i thought was interesting is that when my daughters hair was in twist many people even strangers came up to me and asked if i was going to lock her hair!


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Protective style & update:
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Name: Aliana

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? We did 9 cornrows (our first time doing them!) into a puff (w/ ouchless holder)

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Heck yeah we did!!

Did you stick with your plan of action? No, I actually changed it quite a bit. Maintainence & moisturizing I stuck to plan but the styling was changed to:
Week 1 Sister Twists
Week 2 Sister twist out, Bantu knots
Week 3 Bantu knot out
Week 4 Cornrows into a high puff

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? This one held up the best of all the styles (yay)! And I really love how it turned out on her. I originally started out w/ bigger braids (see week 3 update) but I didn't like how it looked so I went & made them smaller the next day. It lasted pretty good throughout the week. It got pretty frizzy towards the end & I alternated wearing her puff at night & taking it out to give it a rest. This style was great as all I had to do in the morning was moisturize, brush, reset ponytail holder & go. We (my daughter & I) liked this style so much I washed/conditioned it at end of the month & rebraided it. We're keeping the protective challenge going!

Did you learn anything during this challenge? Yes,definitely! I've found the more I do her hair the more comfortable she is with it. She still squirms (of course) but compared to the first week she has gotten soooo much better (well usually lol!). This challenge has also made me a lot more creative because I've done styles I've never done before all month (plus the fact that we can't use any barrettes/rubberbands etc.) It was very challenging but I'm loved it as the challenge made me push the boundaries that I hadn't before on her hair & I'm glad, so thank you!! The other thing it brought was an awareness & thoughtfulness to her hair that I didn't fully have yet. It really made me think about what I put in her hair & how I treat it. I now always finger comb her hair after washing & really tune into protecting it in a major way.
Oh one more thing I learned: I need a new camera! I didn't realize just how bad mine was until I compared it to everyone else's pix *pathetic* lol

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? Yup Yup :)

Other: Thank you again so much for doing this challenge & to Bee Mine! You (Nik) inspire us Mamas & I hope we helped inspire other Mamas to keep the protective styling train going. Choo Choo!

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Protective styles:
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Name: Joeliana and Alia

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? For Alia, I redid her braids into a twist out for Sunday, with lot of moisturizer and it was adorable. For Joeliana, I have let it be "loose" this week and it has looked good.

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes

Did you stick with your plan of action? yes

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? Both of their hair styles held up well and the moisturizer really kept them looking great.

Did you plan on restyling for this week? We are leaving at the end of this week for a week at a lake in Texas. I really feel that this month has shown me how to take care of my daughter's hair better. For the lake I will do box braids or cornrow/twist and moisturize each day. I feel that I know how to protect their hair better, and I am so glad that I spent this month learning from each of you.

Other: Thank you so much, Nik, for doing this. I am so grateful to learn from you and others. I love my daughters and am so grateful for the opportunity to learn how to take care of their hair. As I braid, or bead, or wash and moisturize my girl's hair, they know that I love them...and that is worth all the time and work, to look at them and say "You are so beautiful and I am so glad that I am your Mommy!".

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Protective style:
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Name: Jaliyah

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? Cornrows with box braids I even tried to get a little fancy lol

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes

Did you stick with your plan of action? Pretty much the only thing I did was moisturize more often then I thought I would

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? It held up great thanks to the bee mine products. What a life saver.

Did you learn anything during this challenge? Yes that protective styles are just as fun and cute and ones with beads and barrettes.

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? O yea! We've already picked a new style for next week and it has no beads pony's or anything.

Other: We need a length check after I took the last style out and no lie her hair has grown like a inch everyone noticed it. This challenge has taught me so much and has been allot of fun.


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Protective style & update:
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Name: Patience

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? For this week I went with the fishbone french braids with cornrows in the front

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? ABSOLUTELY!

Did you stick with your plan of action? I sure did...

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? her hair is looking great...

Did you learn anything during this challenge? I have learned to appreciate my daughter's hair and learned how to better take care of it. I learned that we both appreciate the protective styles as we don't have to restyle everyday.

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? I will most definitely keep up with the protective styles. It gave her hair a nice break and I have noticed that her ends are much healthier.

Other: Thanks so much for this challenge...even if I do not win the prizes, I have enjoyed doing this for my daughter. It's been amazing!

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Protective style:
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Name: Nylah

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? Box braids

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes we did!!!

Did you stick with your plan of action? The only thing I changed were a couple of the styles.

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? Nylah's hair held up very well in the beginning, but we did a little swimming , after that it got pretty frizzy!

Did you learn anything during this challenge? Oh yes!!! I want Nylah's hair to be the healthiest it can be, and doing this challenge has showed me that with a little extra lovin' and a lot of moisturizer, lol, her hair can be even more healthier than I imagined!!!!

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? Most definitely!!!!

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Protective style & Update pictures:
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Name: Ray (see Ray and her mommy's blog here.)

What was your protective style of choice for week 4? Box Braids

Did you follow the rules for the entire month? Yes, it was not that hard. I think we will do this frequently.

Did you stick with your plan of action? Yes, she actually kept the style for 2+ weeks.

How did your child's style hold up for the week 4? Great, we changed the style with the box braids and she loved them.

Did you learn anything during this challenge? Yes, that Box braids can be done, I was scared to try them. How am I gonna take them off. But I did it, and had fun with them.

Do you think you will be doing protective styles more often? Yes. 1x every 6 or so months.

Other: You can see how I took the breads off here ( http://mylittlerascals-letty.blogspot.com/2010/06/easy-way-to-take-off-box-braids.html ) Good luck to all the moms.


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I want to say thanks to all of the mother's who participated in this challenge. A huge thanks to all of you who made it to the very end! I really enjoyed this challenge and this is going to be a very difficult decision deciding on the winner. You are all doing such a great job taking care of your childrens hair and I really appreciate your participation! I hope you all stay in touch. :)

I submitted *this* post to CurlyNikki after being inspired by this challenge.

The owner of Bee Mine Products and I will look over the challenge posts and decide the winner. Please give us a few days to decide. Thank you for your patience!

Also big thanks to Bee Mine Products for being so generous with your giveaway!


Email me if you have any questions: beadsbraidsbeyond@yahoo.com

16 comments :

  1. these mothers are so inspiring you all did such a terrific job.. since reading the results over the past 4 weeks i've been using less accessories and looking into more protective styles as well..
    thank you

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  2. Job well done everyone! It would be so cool if we (the followers) can vote on who we feel should win the challenge =) (just a suggestion)

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  3. @Jazzy, I had that on our last style challenge. The last style challenge everyone duplicated (and put their own spin) on a style I did on A. Then everyone voted in a poll. We will probably have something else like that in the future but since this one ran for an entire month, it was a little more personal so the owner and I will decide. Honestly, having you all vote would probably be easier because this is an extremely hard decision! I guess we will figure it out though.

    Thanks for the suggestion! Maybe we can have something else before the end of the Summer.

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  4. Great job mommies and kiddos.

    Sorry to here Anisa cut her hair. I know it will grow back quickly because you take great care of her hair. Did she tell you why she cut her hair?

    We just want to thank you for such a great challenge... It was great.
    Good luck to the mommy and child that wins...everyone did an excellent job.

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  5. I really had a good time with this challenge and i'm so glad I don't have to pick because everyone did such a great job.

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  6. Great job everyone!! I have really enjoyed the challenge! I too have continued with the protective styles. She has been rocking a braid out for the last few days. I plan on keeping the styles nice and simple throughout the summer.
    @ Dimples - Anisa's response when asked why she cut her hair, "It was bushy." Yes, that is what she said!! The part that she cut was still in the braid so when I took them down, the hair was in my hand! :-( I was not happy!! But I used this incident to further talk to her about how precious her hair is. I don't think she'll cut it again.

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  7. Congrats to Makena's family on the new baby!!!! I forgot to include this in my other comment.

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  8. @ Aisha. Omg. She is a doll...my mouth would have dropped if I had a daughter and she said that to me. It is so amazing how quickly our children grow and say words we would have never thought they would say. That is so positive that you had a mother/daughter talk. Good luck and keep us posted.

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  9. Where is my picture? Did I get disqualified for some reason? I know I sent it. I also have it at http://mylittlerascals-letty.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html and more playful styles with the box braids. I really wanted you guys to see it.

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  10. @Letty, I didn't receive your email. I actually emailed you several days ago about it because while I was getting the post together I noticed I hadn't heard from you. So I sent you an email and waited several days before I made the post but I never got a response. The winner has not been decided yet so if you want to reply to my email I can still get you up!

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  11. I love tk's and ray's curly braids. I wonder who will win??? Anisa's hair looked very cute to have held so long; i would have never guessed they were that old. Great job mamas!

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  12. Great job mommies!!! You all did a wonderful job and I can't wait to see who will win!! Thanks so much for this challenge Nikki, I can't wait for the next one

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  13. I'm loving Ray's hair...so pretty. How long did it take you to do her box braids?

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  14. @ dimples
    In sections about 3+ hours, I have the process on my blog http://mylittlerascals-letty.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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