Tidbit Tuesday

Did You Know????

That my son has wanted to get designs shaved in his head....FOREVER!

I have always said "no" because I knew I couldn't do it, and I thought it was sort of a waste of money to pay someone else to do it when I figure it will grow out pretty quickly.

If you all recall, when I posted about my experience with doing boys hair in the past, I told you about the time two years ago when the Young Man had grown his hair long enough for me to cornrow.  It was finger cramping work trying to get his short hair into cornrows that reached from front to back but I did it.  ONLY to have him turn around and take them out the next day!  I was so upset I shaved his head!

A few months ago he started growing it again, saying he wanted me to braid it again.  I kept saying..."are you crazy?"    Well, it is starting to get VERY warm here in Michigan and my boy really works up a sweat during a soccer game under normal conditions.  I figured he should shave his afro so that he wouldn't be so hot.  (I don't really like the way he looks with an afro anyway, I think he is much more handsome with short hair!)  I thought maybe bribary would work.  My money hungry son took the bait!  He would shave his head for $20!

He went to school the day after we made this deal and came home with a new plan.  He would be happy to shave his hair off if he could use the money to get designs in his hair.  DARN IT!  He got me!  I didn't really feel I should say no.  I want him to be able to express himself through his hair as long as he isn't asking for something inappropriate.  So here is the result -

My husband has a friend that doesn't have a barber license yet but is practicing cutting hair in his house.  He did a great job.  Young Man C LOVES it and got plenty of attention at school with this new style!  My sisters response was, "Katie, you could do this!"  I agree, I could do this, if I had the proper tools.  But even the hair cut and line up that C got from this friend is so much nicer looking than mine.  I just don't have the fancy top of the line clippers and trimmers!  Nor can I afford any new ones!

Young Man C has all sorts of plans for future designs that he would like in his hair.  His club soccer team just took second place in the WHOLE STATE OF MICHIGAN, and is headed to regionals in Wisconsin in a few weeks.  He might be sporting a new design for this very important event!

Katie

2011 Natural Hair Show in Atlanta, Part 1

Hey there everybody! We have a guest poster today, it's Lydia, the owner of Nandikids! She recently returned from someplace any KMC reader would LOVE to go, the Natural Hair Health & Beauty Show put on by Taliah Waajid in Atlanta! WOW! She is going to tell us about her trip to the show, in two parts....here's part 1:


Hi!  This is Lydia from Nandikids.  I’ve posted here once before on Tidbit Tuesday.  I started Nandikids a year after I brought my daughter H home from South Africa.

Being in Canada meant that we didn’t have great access to products needed to properly take care of her hair and skin needs.   I quickly tired of having to spend a fortune to import products only  to find I didn’t like them.   We are a huge fan of Taliah Waajid’s products so when I learned of their annual Natural Hair and Beauty Show I really wanted to go.

The World Natural Hair and Beauty show was held in Atlanta Georgia.  I wanted to attend for several reasons.  First, I wanted to scout out new products for Nandikids and to learn more about caring for Black hair naturally.  Secondly, I wanted to put myself in a situation where I was the minority.  My daughter is the minority every day.  At school, at home, at dance class…..  I thought it necessary for me to experience this first hand.

Attending this show was a terrific experience.  Yes it was a little strange to be one of four non-Black attendees (2 of the others were half of a mixed race couple).  And yes, we did get some inquisitive looks.  However, we were not made to feel uncomfortable.  Some vendors treated us like any other customer explaining the benefits of their product.  Other vendors took a minute to figure out why we were there.  Armed with that information, they were all over us.  This was especially true at the workshop that I attended.  The instructor made the class feel very comfortable asking questions.  My sister-in-law and I were the only non-black, non-hairstylists in the class.  I explained that I had a daughter that was Black and I wanted to learn more about caring for her hair needs and how to style it appropriately with my limited skill.

The next thing you know I was in the front row, then standing by the instructor watching as she worked, asking questions as she went.  Then to my amazement she told me to go ahead and practice cornrowing on her son’s hair.  I am terrible at this and have only attempted it once on H. 
In the end I got some great tips on managing H’s hair (how much product to use, what products to use) and styling tips ( how to maintain locks, how to tighten locks, better cornrowing and twist techniques) and some new cool products (strawllers for example).  I can’t wait to go again.

September show, anyone???

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Lydia's experience at the show!

A G Style Worth Posting About :)

SHE LIVES! Hi everyone. Yes it has been awhile. It's just been so crazy and I have been doing not much with G's hair other than some kind of 'tails or just leaving it down (ahhhhh the ease of locs!). She was also was way overdue for tightening and it just seemed to take me forever to get them all done this time.

All the second grade classes at G's school had a little performance last week, the theme was "It's a Bug's Life," and all the songs were, you guessed it, bug or garden related. So, how could I pass up that opportunity to use the Snapaholics butterfly beads with flower snaps on the ends?! I couldn't! I didn't!

It's always a dilemma for me to hang especially large hole beads on her locs, because I feel like I should twist or braid the locs in order to make them thicker to fit into the large hole. I wasn't sure what I was gong to do until I started cornrowing the locs at the front....the thing now is that the locs are fairly thick once you cornrow a bunch of them, and though I could cram the beads on there, they won't "hang" well, they would be too stiff. So once I cornrowed all the front, I just started fooling around with what I was going to do with the resulting braids, and I really liked the result, especially how long it makes her locs look....stretched out! Here it is:

So all I did, since I had six cornrows, with a part in the middle, is to braid the braids together that I got from doing the six cornrows. There was just enough to do one or two stitches of braid, then I gathered it together, barely, and I put four butterfly beads on a plain elastic (check back here for how to do this). Then I just randomly installed beads and snaps on some of her locs, tried to spread them out evenly. The beads are SO bright, which went along with her crazy green shirt, and she was all ready to perform at school!

I've done lots of beaded styles over the years but honestly against the black hair I still ADORE the bright rainbow look :)

 

Hair Accessories I would LOVE to buy!

I have been drooling over these awesome hair accessories for a few weeks now and I thought I would share them with you.  It isn't exactly in our budget at the moment to spend money on frivolities such as these, but if it were, you can believe I would be getting quite a few!  So maybe if you like them as much as I do, you can buy them and let us know what you think!

 Flexi Clips by Lilla Rose also on Facebook

I think these would be PERFECT for B's locs!  They look so easy to use but cute and elegant and awesome!  I love that they would also work great for my hair so we could share them!  With the variety of sizes they sell I might even be able to use them in Little E's very thin hair!

 Lilla Rose also sells these cute Head Bands and O-Rings.  Aren't they pretty?  And if you are a jewelry person they nave necklaces and bracelets and things of that nature too!

Now check out these AWESOME pics of Flexi Clips with locs!

GORGEOUS!

I think this is the BIGGEST size - can you believe it holds all that hair!

This would HAVE to work on little E!

Do you have any great new accessory finds to share with us???

Katie

Loving the Box Braids!

Hey all!  It's been over a week since I put in V's latest style, sorry for the delay in posting.  But the delay may be fortunate because now I am able to tell you how glad I am about the style I chose!

We decided to go with all over box braids.  That's it!  No cornrows, no beads, nothing!  It is funny because after I did the style I found out that there was a protective style challenge going on at Beads, Braids and Beyond.  Doing protective styles isn't really new to us, but it is a fun challenge that they have put out there.    Part of the challenge states that you may not use beads or rubber bands or things of that nature in your style.    I am happy to say that I follow this philosophy myself.  I like to switch back and forth between decorated styles and unadorned ones to give the hair a break.

My thought process for this style was that box braids might be the PERFECT summer style!  Steph directed you to this summer time post the other day and I am doing it again so that you can see what I am talking about.  Box braids can easily be worn under a bike helmet, a swim cap, whatever!  I can treat them like B's locs by putting in pigtails and ponytails and even french braids or other creative styles.  V is so excited about this style because she really likes to wear headbands and most of her styles don't allow for that!

Love those little curly ends!

After a week of this style I am happy to say her braids are still looking FABULOUS, almost like I just put them in!  I think we will leave them in for about 4 weeks.  Then after I do something different for a few weeks, I think I will put them in again!!!  That is how excited I am about using this as a summer style.  

I actually did a similar style last summer if you recall but I used twists and a few cornrows.  I didn't want any cornrows this time and I decided to go with braids because even though they take slightly longer to put in and take out, they have better longevity.  Besides, I have Miss B to help me take out braids now so that cuts down on time considerably!   

We were out of town this weekend and we stayed in a hotel with a pool.  I decided to be the best-mom-ever and let the girls go WITHOUT swim caps!  I had them soak their hair in the shower before getting in the chlorine and then of course we rinsed like crazy when they got out.  I can see how much the girls love the freedom of swimming sans caps and that makes me smile!  As I have said before, we don't swim that often, so I don't have a firm position on how important I feel the caps are for my girls.  I don't think I would want them swimming in chlorine daily without caps.   But, it just depends on if what you are doing is working and you don't notice damage, then go with it!

Look at those braids fly!

Locs fly too!

Katie

Snapaholics having a 25% off sale!

.Hello everyone! Come to Snapaholics for a big 25% sale, with NO MINIMUM ORDER amount!
Use the coupon code "almostsummer" during checkout.

Hurry to get the new pastel rainbow ballerina wide headband, I only have 24 of them (probably less since the sale went live this morning) and man, will they look cute with a big 'fro! If they are hot sellers, I may order more. (Imagine big 'fro on this model head...and a cuter, little girl gap-toothed grin!)

This sale will go for an undetermined time, but some popular items are low so don't wait too long!

Here is Katie's post from last year regarding tips and styles for summer hair.

Come stock up on colorful beads for summer: remember, all-over cornrows and beads make great, fun, colorful, long-lasting styles for summer swimming and long trips when redoing styles is not an option.

Have fun y'all!

Fun, Fun, Fun - Toddler Hair!!!

Introducing adorable Little C!

How cute is she?  I had so much fun working with Little C and her mommy.  Mama S and I had never met in real life before, so it was pretty cool to finally meet an online friend in person!  We live in the same town and we share a mutual friend.  It turns out that Mama S had already been following me on youtube before our mutual friend put us in contact with each other about a year ago.  So this meeting was a long time coming!  

Mama S is doing a great job of taking care of Little C's natural curls, but she has not learned the art of cornrows yet!  This sweet little punkin is about to celebrate her 2nd birthday and so her mom gave me the honor of styling her for the big event!  Also Mama C is headed out of town for a week and wanted Little C to have a no fuss hair style for dad while she was gone!  We all know what that is like!

I asked Mama S to take a look through the blog and pick a cornrow style and she decided to go with the Sun Ray pattern.  I have to admit I was a bit nervous about doing cornrows on such short hair.  It has been a long time since V's hair was that short!  But we kept the rows short up top and that allowed them to stay pretty tidy.  We finished off the back with box braids, some of which mama had put in the day before to save on time.

You can see that Little C has tons of new growth around her hairline.  This makes for some really cute little curls.  I pretty much just left those little hairs alone and only tried to include the hairs that were long enough.  Even so, I am worried that that front point where the rows originate from is going to get kinda fuzzy, pretty quickly.  But I guess that is toddler hair!

Little C sat fabulously well for us!  Her mama came equipped with a seat to strap her in, snacks, and beads (good for hair and entertainment!)  Her head was a bit more wiggly than I am used to with my older girls, but I was really impressed with how well she sat.  

Mama S chose a bead pattern that she thought was versatile enough to match most outfits!

Look at those tiny little box braids!  I remember when my girls used to have those all the time, sniff, sniff.

Happy Birthday Little C!  I loved meeting you and your mom and I hope your hair was a big hit at the party!

Katie

Recently on Little E

Happy Spring everyone!  Yes, spring has FINALLY decided to come to Michigan, thank goodness!  We were all starting to go a bit crazy around here!!!!!  With the nice weather has come the motivation to play around with hair again.  I just knew it was the winter blahs that had me in a slump!  So here are two recent styles:

This first one is just two cornrows.  I wanted to get away from our usual routine of using her ever-present side part, so this is what I came up with...

Not intentional, but this ended up looking a bit like a heart in the back.  

The second style I wish I knew a name for.  It's been done a million times before, I am sure I wore this style as a kid.  I have done it with B's locs.  So in an effort to be creative I added a twist!  Literally.  With each ponytail that was going to feed into the next section of hair, we made a twist.  

These aren't just regular twists though!  This was my attempt to imitate one of my hair idols, the Babes in Hairland momma.  I saw this post on uneven rope twists and totally fell in love with the idea.  I didn't realize at first that you need to make these rope twists the same way that I do rope twists on V - by first twirling each individual section of hair before you twist them together.  DUH!  But once I figured it out, they are as simple as can be and a fun twist on twists!  Check out her blog though, she also has a bunch of cute styles done with uneven braids.  SO CUTE!  Who am I kidding, every style this lady does is AMAZING, ADORABLE, and INVENTIVE!

I thought I would throw in these pics of Little E playing around.  We always use these close up pics of styles and sometimes I think the styles are actually cuter from a distance and seen as a whole.  So, here she is, my not so little, little.  Gonna have to start calling her Miss E soon.  Sniff sniff.

Go ahead, laugh at those tooth pick legs.  I know you want to!

Katie