Part 1: Protective Style Challenge Intro Post - Meets the Participants!

As you may know from this previous post we are going to begin our Protective Styling Challenge on May 1st sponsored by Blended Beauty Products! You can use code cBB&B for 10% off your Blended Beauty Products purchase. Happy Shopping! Now lets meet the participants....

Name: Naomi 

Age: 4 years old 

Goals: For this challenge I plan to keep her hair in twists. I will be using mostly Shea Moisture products & probably some KBB & Hairveda. She will be sleeping with her hair covered. I'm participating in this challenge because I like the idea of little manipulation to the hair. This pic was taken right after the last protective style challenge( Kandy Land Kurls) we did that ended in March.

Name: Miss Vaeh
Age: 5yrs old(going on 15)
 Goal: Grow and retain length, while maintaining moisture and overall healthy hair. Plans: Most likely mini-twists, a week of cornrows, and small or mini box braids(aahh! not sure about the braids). We usually wash/dc/moisturize/band on Fridays, then style on Saturday. Currently using Shea Moisture products, Beautiful Textures Moisture Butter and extra virgin coconut oil. Excited and looking forward to the challenge!

Name: Fifi (nickname)
Age: 3
Goals & Plan during the challenge: Protection. We will do mini/micro braids, that will hopefully last beyond the challenge, using Shea Moisture/Cara B products for moisture and coconut oil to seal. Kinky Curly gel and homemade flax seed gel for the actual braid-in. Will only wash her hair if her scalp eczema acts up, but will leave the braids in if we do so. Looking forward to laughs and learning! :-D

Name: "Bunny"
Age: Ten Goals &
 Plan during the challenge: My goal for my little sister is that Bunny will better know how to care for her hair by the end of the moth. More than anything she wants to go to the Olympics so she's always with her coaches in the gym so I really haven't been taking care of her hair as well it needs. I definitely want to improve in that area. Overall I really wanna get her a more set hair care routine before the summer. We love Darcys products so that's probably what we'll be using =)

Name: "N"
Age: 7
Goals & Plan: I wash &condition once a week. Deep Condition twice a month. Prepoo&Protein Treatment once a month. I plan on starting off the challenge with mini twists. Our goal is some more growth. I use natural/organic hair products and Im always switching with each wash. But the main brands I use are Blended Beauty, Bee Mine, Shea Moisture, Cara B naturally, and Eco Styler Gel.

Name: Alayah
Age: 4
Goals: My goals this challenge are to establish a routine for her hair. I'm really bad about braiding and then doing nothing to it until it's time to take it out as far as moisturizing goes. I really want to concentrate on her ends and I hope to retain length. I plan on washing once with Curls cleansing cream, co-washing with curls conditioner, and moisturizing with shea moisture curl enhancing smoothie. I will also use jajoba oil or coconut oil on her scalp as needed. I plan on doing some type of conrows on her head that will hopefully last the whole challenge. :)

Name: Bunny
Age: 5
Goals and plans: My baby's ends are a mess, so first we're doing a good trim. I plan to style in box braids and wash/condition biweekly. I'll moisturize daily, and spritz daily. Hopefully she'll retain and gain some length. Products: Shea moisture curl and shine shampoo, suave almond and Shea cond., knot today leave in, coconut oil, and wax to seal her ends. I'll Spritz with a mix of water,almond oil, olive oil, jojoba lol, and Aloe Vera gel. Im hoping to get at least 3 Weeks, with the box braids. She gets fuzzy fast, lol.

Name: Lani
Age: 2
Goals: My goal is to retain length and keep her hair healthy as possible. We are doing mini twist for the first time. Then we will do box braids ( not mini) lol good luck to all the mommies and kids!!!!!!!

Name: "Babydoll"
Age:3
Goal: Keep hair healthy and retain lenth I have been cowashing my babydoll's hair for over a year and have seen great result with so much less shedding. We are always trying new products as we have not found anything that truely works to keep her hair moisturized. I have learned how AMAZING moisturizing and sealing really is. Looking to keep her ends healthy and moisturized so I am not cutting so much off during trims. Will be trying a few of the Darcie's products. I really hope they work for us. Fingers crossed!

Name: Jazmyn
Age: 6
Goals & Plan: My goal for Jazmyn is growth and overall hair health. I want to work on moisture retention most of all. My plan is to keep her hair in cornrows and box braids. Those work best for us. I use a sulfate free conditioner made by Melaleuca and add olive oil, honey, and a little coconut oil as a Pre-poo. I use the As I Am deep conditioner, and finish off with the Kimaytube leave-in conditioner. I use the Shea Moisture Curl Pudding, Shea Butter, and coconut oil during styling.

Name: Nene-Bean
Age: 4 (about to 5 in June Woop Woop lol)
Goals: gain more length Plans: micro braids Products I'll be using: Curls (Condish, spray leave-in) and Kinky-Curly (Come Clean, Knot Today, Custard)

Name: JJ
Age: 7
Goals: length retention and healthy hair Plans: will try a set of mini twists I think. Satin bonnet for night time Products: Bee Mine and Kinky Kurly

Name: Kobz
Age: 4
Goals - Healthy hair all the way to the ends! Products - our first order of Bee Mine products is on the way from the UK to OZ, yipee! Will keep his hair in cornrows, try to stretch each style out 2 weeks.

Name: Baby KD
Age: 3yrs old
Goals and Plans: goal is to bring back health to her ends, establish a good moisture routine and to retain length. Plans are to put to the test our new first time order of Bee Mine products. We will be dong braids and twists threw out the month. (MAY attempt mini braids/twists but i'm scurred!)

Name: Carmen
Age: 6
Goals: Retention, growth, and moisture!! Products: Organix Coconut Milk shampoo and conditioner, Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Hair Milk, Oyin Burnt Sugar Pomade, organic, unrefined coconut oil to seal, and Oyin Greg Juice as a spray-on moisturizer Styles: cornrows, 2-strand twist and/or mini-braids. I will moisturize daily with Greg Juice and seal with coconut oil and she'll wear a satin bonnet or scarf at night. Can't wait to get started!

Name: STARR
Age: 8
Goal and Plans: Our goal is to grow her hair and retain length. just want to Note: lil starr is in transition. we plan to wash & condition her hair and do mini braids/(KINKY CURL/SHEA BUTTER) for 2 weeks. we will use Growth oil, coconut oil, castor oil). I will keep her ends sealed twice a week with coconut oil. after 2weeks we will will co-wash. MOMS WE CAN DO THIS!!!

Name: Naomie and Maelyss
 Age: 20 months and 4 years old
 Goals & Plan during the challenge: create a good hair's routine for my girls including sleeping with a bonnet or something, moisture retention, and grow length to Maelyss ( 4 yrs ). I will try to keep hairstyles for 3 weeks for both of them with rope twists and last weeks maybe some flat twists.

Name- Alani
Age- 5
Goals- MOISTURE!!! and length retention. Products- Hello Hydration shampoo and conditioner, coconut oil, Lush R&B olive oil cream, ORS edge control and gel.

Name: Mini Q
Age: Newly 3 (going on 30)
Goals: Length retention, growth, and just plain overall healthy hair Products: Most likely Bee Mine, Blended Cutie, and Shea Moisture products, though we have many more brands in our collection Styles: Ummm, probably some form of two-strand twists or braids. Not sure yet... Will probably wing it as I go, as I usually don't know what I'm going to do to her hair until the day of. Looking forward to the challenge!! =)

Name: Miss A
Age: 9
Goal and Plan: Our goal is length and maintaining good haircare routines. The plan is to keep her hair in twists and box braids. We have ordered some BeeMine products and will be trying those during this challenge.

Name: Eniola
Age: 7
Goal and Plans: Our goal is to grow her hair and retain length and moisture. I stopped relaxing her hair in November 2010 and transitioned her for 1 year. I cut off her last relaxed ends in January 2012. The plan is to keep her hair in cornrows for two weeks, take out the cornrows, wash with Elasta QP Creme Conditioning Shampoo, deep condition with ORS Replenising conditioner, leave in conditioner will be my modified Cantu Shea Butter. Styling will be done with either Shea Moisture or Taliah Waajid Style and Shine. I plan to do a Protein Treatment with ORS Hair Mayonnaise this week. For daily routine, I will spritz her hair three times a week with water, aloe vera, and glycerin. I will then put my oil mix (Growth oil, coconut oil, jojoba, jb castor oil). I will seal her ends twice a week with my Shea butter mix. Once a week, I will cowash her cornrows with VO5 Milk Moisture... since she exercises a lot.

Name: Lia & Taylor
Age: 8, 4
 Goals: I have never had a set regime of doing the girls hair. It always seems like such a challenge. After finding this site I felt like there was hope for me yet! I want to learn about healthy hair & growing both girls hair. I relaxed the eldest (Lia) & could just slap myself. Currently in the process of transition with her. Also just to be able to better care for Taylor's hair & find a product that will moisturize her hair. The products that we use now are kids organics and KCCC. I also want to try the Bee Mine products during this challenge. Any suggestions regarding products & protective styles are all welcome! (I am not the most creative)

Name: Baby girl
Age: 21 months
Goals -Style for challenge: twists/ box braids Goals: healthy hair, low manipulation of hair , grow and protect her edges and bald spot that is still growing in and learn new techniques from everyone else. Products : ACV, curls products. california baby and olive oil.

Name: Choca
age: 2
Goal: My goal is to continue healthy hair growth and maintenance throughout this challenge. Plan: I plan to keep her twists right and tight... Keep her hair moisturized daily and get a little more growth going on...

Names: Olivia and Andrea
Ages: 3 and 42
Goals: Healthy ends, good practices and improved techniques, have fun!

Name: Zi
 Age: 2.5
Goals: Our goal is length retention so that I feel more comfortable chopping off the damage I did to her hair dry combing/brushing before. I plan on doing a cornrow with chunky twist or braids and then box braids after that. Our routine is usually once a week wash/condition and band and then style the next day. We are still using up some of our old products and experimenting with our new found oils… Taliah Waajid Kinky, Wavy, Natural shampoo, Suave shea and almond conditioner, Blue Magic Olive oil Leave in conditioner, ev olive oil, and shea butter, and Sofn'free n'Pretty Olive & Sunflower Edge Tamer. Once a month a Coconut oil deep condition

Name: E
Age: 5
Goals: to retain length. Am planning on doing braids that will probably last the whole length of the challenge. We will be using coconut oil and shea moisture products. This is our first challenge so looking forward to having lots of fun :)

Name: Paris
 age: 5
Goal: Lord help me not dread my child's hair because it's so thick (grow healthy long hair-Also grow out her relaxer and go back to her natural curl pattern. Products: Kids Organics Shea butter/Olive oil lotion and Organic root stimulator no more flakes for the scalp and edges. For this Challenge I plan to braid my daughter's hair and straw set the ends. No heat will be required because it is hot enough for it to dry on it's own. No brushing will be needed either. This normally lasts about 4 weeks. After about two weeks, there may be a curl or two starting to drop, I just put a little setting lotion on it and roll it up.

Name:Chaela
Age: 3 in 2 days
Goals: Our goal is length retention I plan on doing mini braids for this challenge and using Curls of the World curl cream and our coconut oil water mixture, I will moisturize her ends daily and co wash once a week for this challenge the mini braids will remain in the entire time

Name: Skye
Age: 6
Goals: Growth and more growth!! Products: Creme of Nature Argan Oil Shampoo, Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and Curly Butter, Coconut Oil, and Jojoba Oil.

Name: "Goldilocks" aka "G"
Age: 7
Goals & Plan during the challenge: It would be great if we could retain one whole inch of length during the challenge. But I may dust her ends before the challenge starts because she has some ssk's that are bugging me. I'm planning on doing 3 styles including mini or small box braids (2 weeks) and a couple of cornrow styles (1 week each). Our routine is normally to wash/dc/moisturize/band on Friday and either to braid on Saturday or Sunday, depending on our schedule. Daily moisturizer will be Cara B Mist, and on occasion I'll spritz with water, then Cara B then an oil as needed. My biggest challenge will be figuring out a nice p.s. for her piano recital at the end of May. And maybe I'll try a whole head of flat twists too, eek!

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WAIT...THAT'S NOT ALL! Stay tuned for Part 2 which will be posted later on this evening. Is this a BEAUTIFUL thing or what? So many different hair types all in one place. I absolutely love it and look forward to seeing all of the protective styles. Thank you all for joining our challenge! Another big thanks to Blended Beauty Products for sponsoring this challenge!

Beads, Braids & Beyond Protective Style Challenge

I am very excited to bring to you our one month protective styling challenge sponsored by Blended Beauty Products! By the way, the protective style Miss A is rocking in the above picture was styled with Blended Beauty products. You can use our reader discount code cBB&B to receive 10% off your purchase only at www.blendedbeauty.com

This challenge will run through the month of May. We will post updates in *this* private Facebook group and I will post them on the blog. I think it will be easier to have everything in place. Please only join the group if you are going to participate in this challenge. Also note, to save time I will not be watermarking pictures.

The purpose of this challenge is totally up to you. Want to retain length? Learn more about protective styles? Get back into a regular styling routine? If you answered yes to any of this questions, then join us! :-)

So, what is a protective style you ask? Well, a protective style is simply a way to protect the hair from constant manipulation (detangling, styling, etc) and to protect the ends from other harsh elements! Protective styles include: Box braids, two strand twists, buns, cornrows, bantu knots.

There are a few rules, of course.

1) No beads, barrettes or rubberbands during this challenge.

2) No heat (flat irons, curling irons, blowdryers, etc) during this challenge.

This is only one month long. You can have up to 4 styles or you can just have one, completely up to you! I encourage you to try to make your protective styles last longer for less manipulation though.

Once you are added to the Facebook group, you will have a list of questions to fill out. Looking forward to meeting you all! :-) https://www.facebook.com/groups/219930491449891/

Weight Loss Blog + Polar FT60 Heart Rate Monitor Review

Guest Post: Straightened Natural Hair for a Cut

By: Rae of Tweeny Hair

The ends of Syd's hair have been looking kind of rough for a while now. Several factors joined together to cause that damage, including the cold, dry winter, more "out" styles as she gets older, and the fact that Syd is learning to do her own hair. Let's face it - natural hair in the hands of a beginner is probably going to get a little damaged. No biggie, though. We just decided to cut the damaged ends off and keep moving. It's only hair...it will grow back in no time.

I usually trim her hair while it is in small twists (you can see a post about that HERE), but this time I decided to straighten it with a flat iron and then cut it. After all, it had been over 2 years since Syd's hair had been straightened. We were both interested in seeing how it looked all straightened out. Here's what we did:

Syd washed her hair and I detangled it, added some Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer, and banded her hair overnight.

Starting in the back, I removed one section of bands. I added some heat protectant and used a flat iron (set to med-high) on somewhat small sections of hair at a time. I tried not to go over each section more than once, but I did need to make a second pass on a few sections. Bottom line, I used as little heat as possible to get the desired results. This took the first back section from this:

to this:

(Yes, I did this while we were both sitting on the floor....lol)

I then repeated the process for the other 3 sections of banded hair. When I finished, I was actually shocked that her hair reached her waist. I didn't realize it had gotten quite that long!

I let her wear her waist-length hair down for a day, but the following day I followed through with her hair cut. Instead of taking her to a salon, I opted to cut her hair myself. If you choose to do this, I cannot stress enough the importance of using hair shears. Do not use your regular household scissors, as they are not sharp enough to cut your hair cleanly. They can tug and pull at your hair as you're cutting, and you will have damaged ends on the hair that has just been cut. Talk about counter-productive! I digress...

I ended up cutting between 3 and 4 inches of Syd's hair, just to be sure we removed all the damage.

The shadows in this picture make the ends look really uneven, but by the time I realized it, her hair was no longer straight, so I couldn't take a better pic. :/

Day 3 of straight hair was Easter. Since her hair was still looking good, I decided not to do much styling. I just made 2 french braids around her hairline and brought them around to meet in the back. 4 minutes and we were done!

After 4 days of straight hair, Syd spent an afternoon being very physically active, so she got sweaty and her straight roots began to get puffy. We knew it was time to move into another style. She liked having her hair straight...she was amazed at how easy it was to comb. But that being said, she still truly loves big hair, so straightening will remain something that only happens on rare occasions. You just can't argue with her "bigger is better" hair theory!


Also - have you heard about our upcoming trip? After spending 9 days doing missions work in Guatemala last year, Syd and I are going back for an 8 day missions trip this August. You can read all about that on our MISSIONS TRIP POST and see more pics of last year's trip HERE. In addition to accepting donations, I am also using 100% of the proceeds from my etsy shop, HUFFLEBLOSSOMS, to pay for this trip. I would love for you to check out my shop, where you will find duct tape flower hair clips, fabric flower clips, and ladder ribbon jewelry. More items are added all the time, and I'm always willing to make custom pieces for anyone looking for specific colors, sizes, etc. You can contact me at huffleblossoms@gmail.com. Thanks to anyone who is able to help support us!

Little Girls Hairstyle: Side Swept Two Strand Twists into Puff

Click photos to enlarge

I have a feeling you will be seeing a lot of Miss A's older cousin so let's go ahead and give her an alias. We'll call her Ky. Ky spent the night again this weekend and asked me if I could do her hair like her little cousins so of course I said yes.

I washed her hair with Cara B Naturally products (shampoo and conditioner). After washing I applied a generous amount of Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and banded her hair for the night (see picture below).

Check out our Banding Frequently Asked Question post.

Banded hair

Stretched hair after banding

Ky's hair was ready for styling the next morning so I parted a square in the top middle section of her head. I cornrowed medium sections straight down and ended them in basic two strand twists.  I used Bee Mine Curly Butter for styling. I pulled her hair into a side puff with an ouchless ponytail holder and pinned her twists to the side near the puff. I added a headband and she was all done! She absolutely loves it. See more pictures below.

Here's Miss A's version in case you missed it. Check out the post here.

Miss A's version of this style.

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Side Swept Two Strand Twists into Bun

Click photos to enlarge

 Such a simple but elegant style and perfect for all ages!

The pictures are pretty much self explanatory so this post will be short and sweet. I cornrowed the top middle section of her hair straight down, as mentioned in our previous post and twisted the remaining hair. After finishing the top I grabbed medium size sections of wet hair, added a little products and finished the rest of the hair off by doing basic two strand twists. The next day, I gathered her twists into a side ponytail, leaving the "bangs" out. I rolled the twists around the ponytail holder to create the side bun. I then gathered the twisted bangs and pinned them so the side, near the bun with a couple of bobby pins. I twisted the remaining hair back around the bun and added a cute headband.

I wanted to try something new so I used Blended Beauty Butter Me Up and Curl Styling Butter for this style.

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