Monday Memes!

Hi guys! How are you at the beginning of another typical working week?
I’m pretty good today – I had an appointment this morning which is another step on the journey towards becoming a hairdresser. I’ll write about that in more detail tomorrow.
For today, I’ve decided to make my Monday posts themed. Because who doesn’t love alliteration? And memes?
This week’s meme isn’t really a meme, but an inspirational quote I saw on the Facebook page for BehindtheChair.com. I really like this message and I’ll keep it in mind as I keep working towards my goal.

What’s something that you want to learn? Or a goal that you need learning and determination in order to achieve?

Love and waves,
Astrid

Weekend Inspiration. Or should I say ‘hairspiration’?

So it’s Friday. I’ve made it through a working week of blogging about one of the things I like best: hair, specifically curly hair.
But something else I’m passionate about is body positivity and self acceptance. ShamelessMaya is a YouTuber whose main message is self acceptance – she’s an inspiring woman who decided to live her life without shame and from what I can see on her channel and other social media websites, she’s living that goal daily.

So without further ado, here’s a cheeky tune to get you loving yourself, frizz and all 😀

Love, waves and frizz,
Astrid

Ew… You don’t brush your hair?

Yesterday, I made a passing mention that brushing hair dry, especially hair with any kind of texture, is not a good idea. And why? Because not only does it look ridiculous (see the last image in this post), but it can cause breakage to the hair.
Bear with me now, because I’m about to whip out my rusty drawing skills:
This is what curly hair looks like when it is ‘clumped’ in a curl.

And this is what happens when dry hair is brushed.

The individual hairs separate, increasing volume and flyaways. Even worse, the bristles of the brush snag on the kinks in the naturally textured hair and cause split ends 😦

But, because I love you guys, I brushed out my hair this morning and took a picture of it, so you can have actual proof that brushed wavy, curly and kinky hair just doesn’t look good.

For as a parting quote, I saw this on NaturallyCurly.com today:

Never ever ever brush your hair when it is not sopping wet with conditioner.
Brushing hair while it’s dry causes breakage and split ends. This is because your hair curls and twists around itself and you are ripping the knots out with your brush.

You can read the whole article here.

Love and waves,
Astrid

I woke up like this: A tale of second-day hair

Something that many people struggle with, is getting second day hair. It is especially difficult to get hair that is semi-decent if you are on a low-to-no heat hair care regimen. And if you have wavy or curly hair, you can’t just whip a brush through your hair and walk out the door (I’ll talk in another post about why a brush and textured hair is a no-no). Things get trickier when you have short hair that can’t be pulled into a messy bun and be done.
So I’m going to go through the routine for second, third and fourth day hair that’s been working for me lately. Here is a picture of what I looked like this morning:

Then I took some DevaCurl Mist-er Right and sprayed it liberally throughout my hair. You can also use water in a spray bottle, or a mix of water and conditioner/leave in conditioner.

Next I took DevaCurl Set Up & Above and twisted it through sections and scrunched lightly at the end. The texture of this product is similar to a pomade, texture cream or styling wax. It’s fairly light, which works well for my waves and loose curl.

If my hair still has a bit of frizz or some limp waves, I might spray a little bit more of the Mist-er Right or a dab of water. But I usually don’t need much more than that. And this is what my hair looks like now!

I may have put on a little makeup too 😉

A note on DevaCurl: if, like me, you live in Australia or another country where they do not ship, StrawberryNet.com often have a range of their products and they also have free shipping!

Love and waves,
Astrid

She wears a t-shirt on her head?

She wears a t-shirt on her head? Well, not exactly. This is how I dry my hair after I wash it.
Why? Because a cotton t-shirt or micro-fibre towel does not have the texture of a normal bath towel, which can rough up the hair cuticle and cause frizz. The t-shirt absorbs the right amount of moisture so as not to dry out the hair too much.
This is a common technique for many curly and wavy-haired girls (and some guys I’m sure), but you can imagine the hilarity I’ve caused in past housemates, family members and my boyfriend. But they’re used to it now – it’s just another of my quirks.
As well as being easier on fragile strands of hair, this method also encourages and preserves curl pattern.
Now, you don’t just have to wear the t-shirt (or micro-fibre towel) the way I do in this picture, you can also turban it like a traditional towel (I did it like that when my hair was pixie-short), or just blot, scrunch or gently squeeze out the water. Just don’t rub your hair vigorously! It might be better than a bath towel, but it won’t help if you still insist on batting your hair around like it did something wrong.
Oh, and another thing that is almost sillier than the way this looks, is the name for this technique: ‘plopping’ or ‘plunking’. But it’s worth it, I promise.
For a tutorial on how to do this, check out this YouTube video by Waterlilly716. She uses a long-sleeved t-shirt, but if you only have short-sleeved t-shirts available, a hair-tie will work well to tie the sleeves together.

Enjoy trying this out!

Love and waves,
Astrid

Hi There: An Introduction

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening! How are you today? I’m good, and I’m excited to get started on this journey into writing about hair.

Starting a blog about hair care has been something on my mind for a while now, but yesterday my lovely step-mum called me and gave me the words of encouragement I needed to get started.

My passions lie particularly in textured hair: waves, curls and coils. I myself have wavy, curly hair (2b if you’re a regular over at naturallycurly.com). However, I also love styling, braiding, colour and just talking to people about hair care in general.

Please feel free to like this post and/or subscribe to my blog. I’m looking forward to getting to know you!

Love and waves,
Astrid