Diva Spotlight: Andraya

Tell us a little about yourself & your daughter:
Hello. My name is Latrese and my daughter’s name is Andraya. Her nickname is “Nooey”. She is 10mths currently. I‘m not sure of her hair type. But it‘s a mixture of different one‘s.



What is your daughter's hair care routine?
Andraya‘s hair care routine is pretty simple. I wash every Saturday or every other Saturday. I normally braid or twist her hair. Depending on the style, they can last from a week to 2 weeks. When her hair is in twist, I just re-twist them once they become old. We don’t do anything special for bed. I‘m not sure what I could use that would be safe to put on her head and be okay if it came off during the nighttime. However, during the day when she naps, I do use a satin cap and this is because I can watch her.

What kind of products do you use on her hair?
Our products depend on the style. I wash her hair with Taliah Waajid - Kinky, Wavy, Natural. (3 in 1 Shampoo)

Bee Mine- Juicy ( Daily Moisturizing Spritz), Cantu- Shea Butter ( leave in conditioner), Organic- Olive Oil Girls(Moisturizing lotion), Summit- Liv (leave in conditioner), and just Olive oil. I do not use the products all at once.

Have you ever used chemicals on her hair?
No.

Can we see a few of your favorite styles?
Sure















How did you learn to do all of this?
I have been doing hair since I was young. I love styling little girls hair. Thought about going to school for it but never did.

How does your daughter feel about her hair?
Since she is too young to say, I think she feels great! Each time she looks at herself in the mirror, she smiles.

If you had to share one hair care tip, what would it be?
To never leave your child’s hair open while sleeping and if you use rubber bands, not to put them too tight. I dip mine in olive oil or just use the rubber less hair bands.

D.I.Y. Fabric Flower Tutorial

Hey all! I haven't been posting much lately for a couple of reasons, 1. I've been sick! and 2. A's mini braids are still in! So I don't have too much to say right now but I did want to post this adorable fabric flower tutorial. This is a guest blog from Addy of Noah's Crew, please check out her blog and Etsy shop.

So, just a little about Addy, she's a mother of two and she enjoys making accesories (particularly for her children). She has 2 little girls, one is 7 and the baby is 7 months old. Check out her tutorial below!

Cuteness overload!

I don't know about you, but I am OBSESSED with flowers, fabric flowers, beaded flowers, paper mache flowers, you name it, I love it. This is what I made for Baby S this weekend and of course girls of all ages can wear it too :) Enjoy!

Materials:
Fabric
scissors
piece of felt in a coordinating color
needle and coordinating thread
alligator clip
brooch pin (optional)
headband (optional)
button
loaded glue gun

1. Cut out the 6 large and 6 medium circles in your chosen fabrics. I used two fabrics here but the possibilities are endless, its up to you.

2. Cut a medium sized circle piece of felt. Fold each of the large circles in half and then in half again and lay them on your cut out felt, overlapping them as shown below. With needle and thread at the center, sew through the first layer and then the second layer, to secure the flower petals and hold everything together. Leave the thread intact, do not clip it yet.

3. Use the same thread you used in step 2, attach button to the center of the flower, then clip the thread.

4. Secure the brooch pin, I used hot glue but you can sew it on. Cut another piece of felt, apply the hot glue and attach as in the picture below.

5. You are done! yayyyy! :) Attach as a brooch, hair clip or headband to your lovely one.

Crowning Princesses in Uganda 2011

Remember the "do you want to help a little girl feel beautiful?" post? Well, you did! Check out this amazing video Kari Gibson put together. They received over 4,000 bows, headbands and accessories!

I really want to thank Elisa for bring this to my attention. Check out her blog for more pictures and updates. You and Kari are both amazing women.

Huge thanks to everyone who sent hair pretties and/or spread the word!

Crowning Princesses in Uganda 2011 from Kari Gibson on Vimeo.

Diva Spotlight: Anisah

Tell us a little about yourself & your daughter:
My name is Akisha and I am the mommy to a 2 year old diva. My darling daughter's name is Anisah. I believe she has a mixture of 4a and 4b. We are both naturals!



What is your daughter's hair care routine?
I wash and deep condition Anisah's hair weekly. As far as styling, Anisah's hair tend to frizz easily so we can not maintain styles for a long period of time. Usually when I braid her hair it lasts about 4 days, and with twists she can go about 3days before I have to re-twist. Keeping a headscarf on her head at night was a bit of a problem because my baby is a wild sleeper....she gets that from me, so right now she sleeps on a satin pillowcase and it seems to be working out well.

What kind of products do you use on her hair?
Currently we use Shea Moisture products. Her hair loves that stuff!!! I detangle with Kinky Kurly Knot Today and I use the Curls creme brule' and the lavish curls moisturizer. For Daily moisturizing I use a moisture mix of water and oils (usually Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Almond Oil,TeaTree Oil, or Castor Oil.....depending on what I have).

Have you ever used chemicals on her hair?
I have never used any chemicals on Anisah's hair and I don't have any plans to do so. I learned from the mistakes that I made with chemicals in my hair, so I would never put chemicals in her hair.

Can we see a few of your favorite styles?
Sure, I still have not completely mastered the art of hair styling but I make it work.















How did you learn to do all of this?
I learned from basically trial and error. Youtube and websites like BBB, have definitely been a blessing in my life!!!!

How does your daughter feel about her hair? Can we see her favorite style?
Anisah loves her hair!! She does not enjoy the process of getting her hair done but she loves the final product!!! All of her styles are her favorite styles right now, Im sure as she gets older she will have one that she prefers but for right now she just enjoys being the girly girl that has a hair-do!

If you had to share one hair care tip, what would it be?
Take the time to learn what your hair loves! Dont just assume that a certain product will work well on your hair based on someone else's hair. Educate yourself and be mindful of what your putting in your hair!

Mini Braid Update: Day 31

The protective styling Facebook challenge is over but A's mini braids are still going strong. They have been in for 31 days now. I took out some of the braids on top and added some cornrows on day 21/26. I have been trying to keep it as simple as possible. Moisturize with Bee Mine Lucious Moisturizer, wash when needed or after swimming and added a good holding product. In these pictures here I used the bit of Kinky Curly Curling Custard and put her braids in pigtails. There are a few braids that are quite tangled in the back and I blame this completely on her father not putting her hair up when she swam over the weekend. I was tempted to go ahead and take them down this weekend but I think they still have a lot of life so I'm going to take out and re-braid the 3 tangled sections in the back and continue with my plan of leaving them in as long as possible.

We went to the creek and splash pad yesterday, here's a few pictures.













Is everyone enjoying their Summer? How is your child's hair currently styled and how has it been holding up through all the Summer activities?

The List

I'm having a yard sale this week so I spent the weekend getting old stuff out of the attic, while I was searching for stuff to sale I found an old purse with a folded up paper. I remember the day (3/13/09) just like it was yesterday. I went to the library and asked the librian if she had any books about African American hair care and styling because I was having a hard time with my daughters hair. She did a quick search and handed me this list. Oh the memories. Look at how far we have come...

Creative Mini Braid Styles

Guest Blogger Aisha and her beautiful daughter Anisa are back at it again! Anisa has been rockin' mini braids for a couple of weeks now, check out how her mother Aisha has been styling them!

A heart:




"I made 6 cornrows on each side and secured into a ponytail using an ouchless band. I rolled her braids using satin covered rollers but since the rollers weren't in long her hair didn't curl. She only wore the rollers during the day and not over night. I still loved how it turned out."




Mohawk:


By the way, she has a grand total of 239 braids.

Cornrows & Mini Braids + Lil Man's Cornrows

I decided to switch up the top of A's mini braids after 21/26 days of being in. I didn't take out too many, about the first 2-3 rows of mini braids in the front. It still took about an hour to take them down. The take down was pretty easy, I didn't wet the braids and add conditioner as I normally would because I was on a time crunch and I prefer cornrowing dry hair. As you can see, the cornrows at the top are really basic I started in the very middle and parted at an angle the entire time. The cornrows took about 30 minutes.

I braided Lil Man's hair as well. As you can see, I just did some basic straight back cornrows. It took about 30 minutes as well.

Mini Braids & Eco Styler Gel

We're on day 20/25 of A's mini braids, I mentioned how frizzy they were in the last post so since I'm out of Kinky Curly Curling Custard (which I prefer) I decided to try Eco Styler gel on her braids to hold the frizz down. I spritzed her braids with water then added a generous amount of Eco Styler Gel to the ends of her braids. The ends of her braids have unraveled quite a bit, I mostly blame this on her swimming every day but I believe her trim is also partly to blame. I added a bit of Eco Styler Gel to the top of her braids as well since her roots are so frizzy. Her hair is still damp in these pictures but the Eco Styler did a pretty good job at making her braids look decent. I hope to take the top of her braids out soon so I can restyle. Possibly cornrows on the top instead? Stay tuned!

Mini Braids: 19/24 Day Update

A's mini braids have been in 19/24 days now. As you may know from the previous post, I did these braids over the course of week so there's no specific date. I started them on May 15th and it is now June 7th. I think they have held up pretty well considering she has been swimming every day since we set the pool up, which was shortly after her braids were in. They are quite frizzy, especially the top, but she has been having a blast in the water so who's complaining?

Before she gets in the pool, I rinse her braids with water and apply a generous amount of Bee Mine Deja's Hair Milk. I then place the braids in 1-2 buns. After she's done swimming I rinse her hair well once again and I shampoo with Kinky Curly Come Clean shampoo. I picked up some bottles of Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (old ingredients) so I have mostly been using that. After washing I usually apply Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer (makes her hair feel amazing) but I have been experimenting with a few different things. One day I tried Curly Q's Custard, another day I used Kinky Curly Curling Custard alone, defined the ends of her braids quite nicely.







I haven't been styling her hair much. There's really no need since she's just going to get it wet but I did do a super quick style today. I took the top section of her braids and placed 3 large cornrows going to the side.





A couple of random pictures above. As previously stated, her braids are quite frizzy on the top (not visible in the pictures) so I think I may take the top down and restyle later on this week.

You can view more updates on our Facebook Page. Be sure to check out all the other amazing protective styles done by our readers! :)