Soft Spike Curlers - Product Review

***Sorry everyone there was a miscommunication between Katie and Steph! This is the post that was supposed to go with the Soft Spike video!***



I am so excited today to review my favorite loc curling products - Soft Spikes! Here is some info for you straight from the Soft Spike website:

www.softspikecurlers.com

About Soft Spike Curlers

Soft Spike Hair Curlers are the Original self-locking hair curlers. Soft Spikes are designed to handle all types of hair, including heavier locs. Made from a closed cell foam material, Soft Spike Curlers don't absorb moisture or hair products, are easy to clean and will not dry out your hair.

Note: Pink, purple, lime, and teal made from softer foam and may not be suitable for heavier types of hair.

Soft Spike Curlers are specially designed with a self-locking loop that will not slip out after your have set in your curls. What's more, they are soft and smooth, making them easy to sleep in without damaging your hair or causing discomfort.

Now that you know what Soft Spikes are, I will tell you everything I have learned from using them on B's Beautiful Braidlocs! Watch this video for all of the details about Soft Spikes and for a demonstration on how to put them in. If you prefer reading, I have restated all of the key info under the video:

Size: Soft Spikes come in 3 sizes, Small, Large and Long. For B's length of hair the SMALL spikes are plenty big enough! I think even if your locs were twice the length of B's the short ones would work, but I guess it depends on how many you put on each loc. I didn't know which to buy so I got small and long. The long are WAY longer than necessary - maybe I should cut them?

Quantity: One set of Soft Spikes actually comes with two packages. Their are 30 spikes per package so a set is 60 spikes. The first time I did B's locs I used 72 spikes, but I was putting more locs per spike on that time. The next time I used the spikes I used close to 100 spikes. I would recommending getting TWO sets, which would be 120 spikes and you will have plenty! Unless you have a lot more locs than B. She has 188.

Locs per Spike: The first time I used the spikes I was putting 2 to 4 locs on each spike. I decided that I preferred to only use 2 locs per spike because the hair dried better with less per spike and the curls were tighter. The more locs you put on each spike, the looser the curls will be. So now I do 2 locs per spike for her whole head.

End Papers: The first time I used the spikes I put end papers on half her head and no end papers on the other half. Turns out that with locs, the end papers are just an unnecessary hassle! They actually made taking the locs off the spikes HARDER instead of easier! And it made it take longer to put them on, so totally not worth it. If you are using the spikes with locs than I don't recommend purchasing the end papers.

Curling Spray Gel: I also do not find this necessary for those with locs. I am super picky about what touches B's locs since I don't want anything causing buildup or getting trapped in them! I have found that B's curls only last a day or two, so maybe the gel would help them last longer, but I am thinking of finding a product that is meant for locked hair to try instead.

Wet or Dry Hair: I first tried them with very wet hair straight from the shower. We put the spikes in before bed and she wore them all night and some of them were still a bit damp when we took them out in the morning. So the next time we started with dry hair that I lightly dampend with our usual Taliah Waajid spray that is watered down. This worked much better.

Sleeping in them: Not To Bad! B is not one to complain a lot about sleeping with stuff in her hair. But these things look like they are going to be really uncomfortable to sleep in so I was expecting B to put up a fuss! NOPE! The first few times B used them she didn't have a problem, this last time she got a bit uncomfortable but I think it was because she had them in too long! Of course there is no way I was going to fit a sleep cap over those crazy spikes so she has to sleep without one. But I figure that one night without a cap isn't the end of the world.

Time to Put In: It took me less than an hour to put them in B's whole head of locs!

Time to Take Out: It only took me 15 minutes to take them out! This worked really well on Easter morning when we didn't have a lot of time, but she was still able to go to church looking FABULOUS!

B hunting for eggs on Easter morning! We used a lot of long Spikes, shorter ones don't look as crazy!

Remove spikes, add a white bow - Ready for Easter!

Cost: One set of (60) Small Soft Spikes is only $19! I think that is really reasonable! The Large cost $20 and the Long are $21. You can buy them with End Papers and Curling Gel for more money or you can buy the End Papers and Curling Gel separately. The spikes are also sold in large quantities for less!

Overall Impression: I give Soft Spike Curlers TWO THUMBS up for a great product! They are fun and easy to use and create adorable curls! I have yet to try them on any of the other hair types in our house, but when I do, I will be sure to update you!

Right after removing the Soft Spikes

After shaking out the curls and adding a double cornrow headband.

Gorgeous!

*I was not paid to do this review. I already owned this product and decided to share it with you. Soft Spikes IS donating some products for a giveaway. Better check back here tomorrow!*

Katie

How to Easily Restring an Old Hair Ballie!

Ok this is super easy. Crazy easy. But perhaps some of us hadn't thought of it! 

In addition to using old ballie fobs as beads (because the hole is usually off center they would be great to end braids/twists with!) you can also easily restring your ballie fobs onto new elastic.

Here's a quick vid to show you how simple it is.

One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that of course this trick will work with ANYTHING that you want to make into a ballie. Anything with a hole in it! This includes BUTTONS! Buttons with a shank or the ones with 2 holes. There are so many cute buttons for every holiday, event, season, animal, etc. All it takes is a button for each end and some elastic! Here is a photo of some Fall/Halloween ballies I made for G last year. I put the big jack o lantern at one end, a shank pumpkin button at the other end, then cut some smaller pieces of elastic and tied on smaller shank buttons in the shapes of corn, small pumpkins, acorns etc. She got LOTS of compliments on them!

If you have made your own ballies out of something, show us! We love to see creativity.

Shout Out for Guests AND Feedback

Hello everyone, this is a shout out! 

This is something I am very excited about. We already have a few people who have agreed to guest post for us on various topics. We also have all you awesome readers sending us hairstyle pix, which is great. We have received some fab ones!

I would like to put a call out to any reader who would be interested in guest posting for us on the topic of keeping hair natural as a girl grows into a teen. Ideally, a mom with such a teen would be wonderful! We want to know HOW DID YOU DO IT? LOL

Seriously, if you have a teen who still has natural hair, embraces it, and you have some great teen style advice to share, and/or style pix, please email us at keepmecurly@gmail.com and let's talk! We would love to have you do a guest post for us. If you successfully helped steer your child away from wanting a relaxer, we want to know your secret to that, too.

Secondly, now that we have a few giveaways under our belt, we would like to hear from those of you who won items or who have ordered products from the featured vendors...we want to know what you think! Please email us with comments, stories, photos, anything!

For example, we were forwarded some feedback from our reader Sheila who had ordered Sidewinders.....now LOOK at this adorableness!

 Here is what Sheila had to say about her experience:

This is our "Halfro" style.  The half-cornrows stagger diagonally with over-lapping parts.  The 'fro in the back half gives the added fullness that really seems to frame her cute smile.

 

The orange and black was for back to school.  The multi-colors are perfect with her "giggle" shirt.  We LOVE that we can change these every day to match clothes or momentary whims.  We have even used the 2" size to "racer-back" the straps of a swimsuit that was a little too big.

 

Thanks for your quick service and great color selection!

 

That racer-back idea for shirts and swimsuits? LOVE IT! We use cute barrettes to do that now but I can't wait to try the Sidewinders for this purpose!

So let's hear from you!

Why are there only 24 hours in a day?

So, most days, there just doesn't seem to be enough time!  Right?  I am assuming that ALL mom's feel this way!  I was supposed to have a post all about yarn braids today, but we are going out of town again tomorrow and I just haven't had a chance to put it together.  You can be looking forward to reading that some time next week though!

In the mean time, I have a little treat for you.  Young Man C and Little E have always been best buddies!  Since the two of them don't make as frequent of appearances on the blog I thought you might enjoy these pics of what they were up to the other day!

Aren't they special?  

I don't know what Steph has planned for this weekend while I am away, but I can tell you that I have an AWESOME review and giveaway in the works for Sunday and Monday.  So keep checking back, we like having you around!

Katie

Tidbit Tuesday

Who likes to save money?????
I do, I do, I do!  We live on a very limited budget so I LOVE to find ways to save money.  Sales and coupons are my friends!  Did you know that there are online resources for great deals on kids stuff?  If you didn't, here is your tip for today:

Check out these websites....

Those sites all have daily deals at GREAT savings!  Just click on the picture to go to the website.  They all also have facebook pages so you can find them there.  

Speaking of facebook, I found this great resource that informs you of sales and coupon codes for all of your favorite stores and kid/baby gear!  Check it out...

This last tip is really a one time thing, but SO COOL that I need to share it!  I have started making online photo books for my kids every year for their birthdays.  It is a scrapbook of the last year of their life.  A priceless memento!  In the past I have used Shutterfly, and though they are a good quality product and have given me EXCELLENT customer care, there were some things about using their book making program that drove me crazy!  I decided that I wanted to try a new place I heard of called Picaboo for my next book.  Well, right as I was getting ready to start Little E's book (yup, her 3rd birthday is coming up!) I found a coupon for a FREE book for first-time customers!  If you are in to this sort of thing, you have to check it out!  I just finished making the book and I had so much fun using their software!  Sale is only good through the end of the month!

Did you already know about these sites?  Do you know of other ones I didn't mention?  

Katie

Reader Contributions

Thank you to the lovely ladies who emailed us some super BLINGY photos to share on Keep Me Curly!

If you all remember last week Steph and Katie showed you some pictures of their favorite hair styles that were embellished with colorful hair accessories.  We asked for some of your favorite pics, and it was SO fun to see your creativity!  Here are a few of the pics we received:

MeLanie sent us these cute pics of her daughter.  Aren't those butterflies lovely! And look how LONG her hair is!  Great work mom!

Holly sent us a bunch of great pictures.  Her styles are so creative and her color combinations are beautiful!  The heart shaped box braids are SO COOL!

Karli from Curly Hairdo Ideas sent us these cute pics of little Q.  Don't babies look precious with simple embellishments?  And we just love Q's curls!  Karli and Katie are both wondering if anyone has good tips on how to end the braid with beads on different hair types?  Notice the little tail of hair sticking out the bottom of Q's beaded braids.  Just like Little E's!

Thank you to Patrice for sending us pictures of this awesome fish bone style!  The brown and yellow bead combination is also very pretty!

Crystal shared this picture with us on our Keep Me Curly Facebook page.  Katie is SO in L-O-V-E with this style that she is planning to copy it for V's back to school do in a few weeks!  Thanks Crystal!  (Do you have any pics of the front?)

Thanks again to everyone who shared their pictures with us.  We welcome reader photos ANYTIME you want to send them to us!  You can email them to us at keepmecurly@gmail.com.

Our First Blogger Award!

My friend Corey thinks we are beautiful! She has given us our first blogger award, and we couldn't be more tickled. Corey is beautiful, and I read her blog faithfully. I met her on my very first trip to Haiti where I also met G. She was picking up her second Haitian child and we were at Wall's Guest House together. We sat together and chatted and had her daughter's birthday party at Wall's...a wonderful place that is no longer there because it collapsed in the earthquake. But I am so grateful to Corey and her family for answering enduring my few several  million questions on that first trip, and sharing their experiences with me. Her oldest daughter Jess was 9 or 10, I think, and was REALLY into Littlest Pet Shop. She and her little sister Tina wrote down "observations" every day in a notebook. Tina couldn't actually write yet and just made lots of marks, but she wanted to do everything that her big sister did! I also remember poor Jess was COATED in mosquito bites (worse than me. I didn't think that was possible) and klonked her head on the side of the pool one day and had to get stitches! Anyway, Corey has gone through a lot since all of her children have come home, but just keeps on swimmin'! And THAT is beautiful!

So, we here at KeepMeCurly want to recognize three beautiful blogs that are on a mission like we are....to keep hair beautiful and naturally curly. And to celebrate it!

1. Hair With Purpose - Just the name alone is beautiful! Andrea and Jennifer have two biracial girls. They are getting older and I love seeing that the girls are still natural. If you read their latest post on their blog, you will see why they are beautiful! That is what the post is all about!

2. Princess Hairstyles - The amount of time and love that this Mom spends on her daughter's intricate hairstyles can't be anything BUT beautiful! Katie has gotten a lot of her inspiration for styles from this blog, even though the styles she does are on very straight hair. But braiding is braiding and these braids are byoooootiful (we can tell her "little princess" feels very beautiful too!)

3. Cherish My Daughter - This is Natacha's blog, and she is Mom to FOUR "mocha girls." She styles all their hair and has learned from trial and error what works.  She is chemical-free and dedicated to making sure they feel beautiful and great about themselves. We are amazed at how busy she must be with four heads of hair to style, plus her own! This video in particular hit home with me, because I have thought about this a lot with G....and what she says is, I think...beautiful!

If you are one of the above, here are the rules:

Post the award on your blog, link back to the person that gave it to you, and give it to whomever you want to. But make sure they are beautiful.  You cannot give ugly people the beautiful blogger award.  It would just be wrong!

WINNERS! WINNERS!

HOORAY for Robin and Alice who have both won $15 worth of Snapaholics merchandise AND free shipping!!!  Compliments of random.org, these were the two winning comments: 

Robin said... 

I would love to use the BGP Pink & White Sheen beads on some box braids (since that's about all I can do besides puffs and veil syles). Or, maybe I'll FINALLY get daring and attempt some conrrows with them! 

I am a fan on Facebook. I have your link on my blog. Follower on Twitter (Ellagracesmom). Posted this as my Twitter status "LOVES keepmecurly.com!". I'm a blog follower.

Alice said... 

I'm a facebook fan.

The winners can contact Steph at keepmecurly@gmail.com for further details.

We are so glad that you all participated in this weeks giveaway.  If you didn't win, don't be discouraged!  We have plenty more giveaways planned for the future!  

Loc Trim!

Finally! I finished tightening B's locs! That always feels like such a big job, but what a relief when it is done! I worked on her locs every morning this week since she had soccer camp in the afternoon. I was going to time how many total hours it took me, but I forgot! Next time! While working on her hair, I thought about it, and realized it had probably been 10 to 12 weeks since I last tightened! WHOA! I think it is totally worth one weeks worth of work to tighten them when I won't have to do it again for 3 months!

For quite awhile now there has been one thing about B's locs that was bugging me. They were really starting to get uneven in length. Every now and then I would have a loc that was a good inch or more longer than the ones around it! It really shows you how unevenly hair can grow. I had wanted to trim some of the long ends off but three things were stopping me. 1) Is trimming locs a no-no? 2) I love the curly Q ends, and if I trim them off they will be gone forever! 3) If I trim the ends will her braids unravel? This wouldn't be a problem for most people, but B's hair is so resistant to locing that the parts of her hair that you can still see the original braids, look as though they could EASILY be undone.

Well, a few months ago I came across a blog of an adult woman with locs. She had a post about going to her beautician to get her hair cut and styled. Her locs were long and gorgeous! But they were getting heavy for her and she wanted them cut into a style. If I remember correctly she had them cut into a layered look. The after pictures of her hair were GREAT! So, that answered my first question, it must be OK to cut locs.

For the second question, I realized that now that B's locs are two years old, many of her curly Q ends were looking pretty scraggly. It really wasn't going to be that hard for me to cut off some of those yucky looking ends!

For the third question I really don't have an answer. But, for most of the locs that I trimmed, I only cut off part of the curl and didn't even get all the way up to the braided part, so it was't really a problem.

So, yes, I took the plunge and I did it! And it felt good! I wasn't a perfectionist about it. I wasn't going for a perfect blunt cut look. I know that would be to hard to achieve. So I just trimmed off the ones that were poking really far out the bottom, and I took off as little as possible. It takes a LONG time to really see growth in locs, so I wasn't about to go scissor crazy!

B also has an area above her right ear that is way shorter than most of the rest of her hair. This bugs me a lot, but I am hoping that if we keep doing little trims every once in a while, eventually it will catch up with the rest of her hair. By parting her hair to the side, I am able to kind of camouflage it, but certain styles that we do make it pretty obvious. That being said, I bet no one notices beside me!

These are pictures from a previous tightening. I don't know if it was the last one, or two times ago, but you can see some of those long ones hanging out.

These pictures are from today when we finished tightening! I think her hair looks GREAT! So fresh!

In this picture of the back you can see that I didn't get them perfectly straight. I wasn't willing to cut that much off! But I think it looks a lot better than before!

You can also see that the back is longer than the sides. At least this side (this is the short side) I am hoping to slowly even it up over time.

***CHANGE TOPIC***

Forgive me for being a bit scattered today, but I promised I would show pics of V's twists after they settled in a bit. Turns out that they shrunk up a bit! This is why locs end up looking so much shorter than the actually length of hair. Super curly hair just has a way of shrinking and shrinking and shrinking! Anyway, I put some flower barrettes in today so this is how it looks after a week and two days:

***CHANGE TOPIC***

Lastly, I will leave you with a few pics from our family trip last weekend!
Sorry this one is a bit blurry, but it was the only one I took of my whole family. They are at the dinosaur exhibit at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

This is B on the runway at the Barbie exhibit!

Here is little E on the Barbie phone.

Here is a BEAUTIFUL and incredibly rare moment with V and Young Man C. (who don't normally get along very well!)

And last...a lovely natural hair ornament, this butterfly decided to take a ride on V's head for awhile!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Katie