Product Review - Nudred

This review has been a long time in the making!  I received our Nudred in the mail RIGHT after I had given Young Man C a fresh short hair cut!  So I had to stick it in the closet and just wait, wait, wait for his hair to grow!  When his hair was about 1/2 inch long we gave it a try.  It kind of worked but his hair just wasn't long enough to really get a twist out of it yet....

When we finally made this video his hair was about 1 inch long.  According to the Nudred website this is a perfect length for twisting, but I still feel like it might have worked better when his hair was even longer than this.  It suggest that hair be between 1/8 - 2 inches long.  This is the look we got when his hair was 1 inch....

Now as for how Young Man C feels about this style.  Well, I blame it on the age, but he doesn't care for it.  His dad and I both thought it looked FANTASTIC and his whole soccer team complemented him on it, but since it was MY idea, that makes it the OPPOSITE of what he wants to do with his hair.  So the instant I finally got him to tape the video review he had me cut his hair all off again!  URGH!  I think with a little more practice I would have had this Nudred thing really figured out!

MISTAKE:  I don't know if it makes a real difference or not, but one mistake I realized I made in using the Nudred when I watched their video on their website was that they apply the Nu-potion directly to the Nudred sponge, but I applied it to his hair.

Here are a few other details about the product:

Website:  www.nudred.com
Question and Answer page on their site: Nudred Questions

Price: $29.99 for 1 Nudred and 1 4oz bottle of Nu-Potion

Time to make twists:  10-20 minutes

Ease of use:  Simple!

Opinion of product:  I think this product is really cool.  I have made twists in C's hair in the past and it takes painstaking hours!  This only takes a few minutes.  HUGE timesaver!

Locs:  According to their website you can also use Nudred to start and maintain locs in the beginning stages.  I can't speak to how well this would work since we have not tried it, but it sounds like a cool idea.  I would LOVE to try it on C, but again, he is NOT interested!

To see the Nudred in action here is our video review:



If you would like to try the Nudred for yourself, make sure you come back tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Katie

Braided Yarn Ponytails

G has been asking and asking for a new ponytail and I FINALLY got to finishing it! And JUST in time for her to now have long hair so she can sing "Whip My Hair" and "whip it real hard!" See the end of the video for a sample ;-)

 

The video walks you through how to install the ponytail once you have all the yarn braids done. To create the ponytail, basically, all you do is get your favorite yarn (it's most fun when you just let your child choose the color scheme. If you don't want it to be too insanely colored, choose black or very dark brown and then let your child choose what the accent color will be), decide how long you want the ponytail to be, then cut your strands TWICE as long (you'll be doubling it over). I try to vary the lengths of the braids a bit so that it hangs like a real ponytail (which would not have all strands the exact same length), Then braid away! Six strand braids work best, I think, otherwise you'll be braiding till you fall over. Nine would be ok too, they'll be a little thicker. I put some beads on the ends for weight, then just knot the yarn below the last bead. I leave some loose yarn hanging down like real hair would be. Once the ends of the ponytail start to get a little raggy at the ends of the strands of yarn, then you have some excess to trim off.

So, just make enough braids to suit your liking, till the ponytail is as full as you want it. If you are doing a ponytail on each side, like this:

make sure you do some extra.

Remember, though, all the braids will be folded over when you install them...

I will now let the video do the rest of the talking!

Tidbit Tuesday

Did You Know??????

That Sidewinders are the PERFECT holiday hair accessory?  Not only do I love to have my girls hair accessories match their outfits, but I also love to have them match the holiday.  The only drawback is that if I spend hours loading their hair up with Christmas, St. Patty's, or Independence day colored hair accessories I am not going to want to change them out for at least a few weeks!  But then that goes against my whole coordinating with the outfit plan because I usually don't have weeks worth of Red, Green, or Flag colored clothing.

That is why I am proposing that Sidewinders are the best choice for holiday hair!  They are so much faster to put on the hair AND they can be easily swapped out for a different color long before you are planning to change the rest of the hair style.  AND sidewinders come in every color you could possibly need!

I don't actually have any examples of holiday box braids, but I think you all understand what I mean.  I DO however have some fun pics of things the girls and I did with sidewinders last night for some FUN Halloween styles.

On V we did a modified veil style with her yarn braids.  I could only fit 2 or 3 braids into the sidewinders so I had to get creative on the veil.  I did not include ALL of the yarn braids, I just used some of them and left the others hanging down underneath.  I also didn't use two sidewinders twirled together, ya know, I put in the first part of the sidewinder and it held so nice and snug that I didn't think I needed to try to wind a second one on with it.  Also I was planning to use black mixed with these oranges, but I figured you wouldn't really even notice the black up against the black braids.  This is a good way to stretch your sidewinders - it's like doubling the amount of sidewinders in your stash!

This was a simple and quick style for B.  We used solid Orange, translucent Orange and Purple.  They mixed beautifully with the pumpkin pony holder from Target!  Again, I stuffed so many locs into each sidewinder that I didn't double them up - I just put on the one sidewinder and it held so snug, it actually would have been difficult two twist the second half of the sidewinder up in there.  All we did was grab a few locs across the front and put on the sidewinder,  we did this all the way across the front and then just pulled all of her locs on top up into a half pony!

We didn't have any cute Halloween shirts for Little E, but of course she still wanted her hair done like her sisters!  We used the Orange and Black twisted together for the little missy.  Two braids going into pigtails.  Nothing to exciting, but still cute!

It might be a little late to order sidewinders for THIS Halloween, but there is always next year!  And of course, now would be a GREAT time to start thinking about Christmas and Valentine's Day styles!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Katie

Fall Inspired Yarn Braids - Part 2

After 3 weeks of the half cornrow half yarn braid style we took out the cornrows on top, washed just that part of her hair, and finished her off with another 50 yarn braids this weekend! The end result is gorgeous and let me tell you, this girl LOVES yarn braids!

Had to add this pic with B in the Halloween headband we got from Target 

Yesterday at Young Man C's soccer game I was playing around with V's braids and made this fun little twisty, weavy type of style.  I didn't have any hair ties so I just used the braids to wrap around the end and tie a knot.  She slept in this style last night and wore it this way to school today, so we will see if it actually held up.  I wasn't trying to seriously style it, I was just playing around, but I thought it was really cute.  It inspired me to try doing a basket weave next.  So stay tuned for that.

And if V looks sad to you in this last picture it is because she was.  I am a very mean mom and I made her sit on the sidelines with me during the game instead of running around with her sister because she had made some poor choices.  Sorry V, but at least your hair looks cute!

Katie

What Language Is That?

I could NOT resist posting this video of G with her new favorite song....7 year old plus headphones plus Willow Smith song = "Whip My Hair" in an alien language. I got to hear this thru about 5 times. The hardest part was not jiggling the camera because I was laughing the whole time.

Ok, I admit it. After watching this, I DID kinda Whip My Hair!

I'm sure a whole lotta people have a whole lotta opinions on Willow Smith's debut video, "Whip My Hair." She's 9. If you have been living under a rock since Monday, when it came out, here it is for you:



Personally, I think the thing rocks, I've watched it about a dozen times, and it makes me want to dance and do all her little saucy moves in the mirror. And yes, I'm 41! Till now, I haven't found a catchy tune that I wanted to play over and over and over again since Beyonce's "Single Ladies." Unfortunately, I cannot in good faith share many of the lyrics of Single Ladies (at least not the video) with G. As to which dance moves I look more hysterical doing, Willow's or Beyonce's, no one will ever know, except me and the mirror!

I love that Willow is not dressed in any kind of a sexual way. She has her fashion grind goin' on, but is not wearing anything that a 9-year-old ought not wear (I'm not sure if rhinestone lip-stickers are "ought not" or just kinda eyeroll-worthy). She sings about being herself, not paying attention to the haters out there, how she's gonna keep on keepin' on, and that no one whips it like she does. Yeah I'd probably agree! The darn thing has infected my mojo and all night I couldn't wait to show it to G.

G watched it this evening and it only took about 20 seconds for G to start singing "I whip my HAIR back and forth...!" I love that she saw a girl that looked like her, that was her age, being confident and shaking her braids around, and having big fat zulu knots on the top of her head. I love that there were all different kinds of people and hair whipping around in the video. And I sure hope whatever new songs Willow comes out with to go on her first album are this fun, catchy, and appropriate. This would be a peer role model for G that I would wholeheartedly support. I think as long as Will and Jada don't allow Willow to start singing about things that are way beyond her years, and keep the videos appropriate and fun, we have a winner here.

Here is what G had to say about Whip My Hair:

It's so RADICAL! (is this word back in style??) I like how you can dance to it, and that they have crazy hair. And that you should be yourself (I told her what Willow said the song was about) and just shake 'em off, shake 'em off.... (she shakes it off like Willow)

I explained to her what "haters" are and she agreed that haters should be whipped off and shaken off like paint on your hair. She loved it when Willow's hair painted the walls, which it looked like they actually did for the video!

RADICAL!

And before we left the house she declared she wanted to watch it again tonight because it was

"...soooo BUMPY!"

Which is good, I think :)

Tidbit Tuesday

DID YOU KNOW??????

That Little E looks adorable as a curly girl?  She has been waiting and waiting and waiting for her turn to try out the Soft Spikes and today was the day!  Here are the pics:

Spikes In: 20 minutes, 37 Small Spikes used, On dry hair, Setting Gel - yes, End papers - no

Spikes Out:  After allowing to dry and set for 1.5 hours

After Separating the Curls and Adding a Head Band:

Katie

C-R-A-Z-Y Hair Day!

I know I keep saying this, but life has been so hurry, hurry, hurry around here lately that I have now missed a few good photo opportunities.  So you will have to forgive the gaps in this post, but do read on, because I did get pics of some of it!!!

It was C-R-A-Z-Y Hair Day at the kids school yesterday, as you might have guessed from the title of this post and that CRAZY looking girl in the picture!  As you know, V currently has yarn braids, so there was really only so much I could do with her hair.  I started by taking the twisty bangs she had and cornrowing them from the sides up to the middle.  When they both reached the middle I braided them together and added beads.  V actually thinks this is a good style and doesn't want me to take that part out!

Then I took the Criss Cross Cornrows from the top (they were all together in a half ponytail) and I split them into pigtails and looped them through some hair things.

Then with all of the hanging box braids in the back I made two arched cornrows.  Which looked super crazy because the ends with the beads were sticking out of the cornrows all over the place.

The End Result:  In BACK

In FRONT

A little later I was thinking that adding a bunch of different colored sidewinders might spice it up a bit more and I thought it would help make the loopy braids on top stick up more.  It did make the style look even busier, but didn't have quite the effect I was looking for.  But all in all V was pleased.

V's style was nuts and all over the place, but I really liked my idea for B even better.  But guess what?  NO PICS!  SORRY!!!!!!

Maybe you can visualize it....  I put 6 large cornrows from the nape of her neck to her forehead.  In the front where the tail ends of the braids were hanging down across her face I made bantu knots, which I secured with different brightly colored terry cloth hair ties.  I thought it was clever.  I will have to recreate it some day and take pics for you.  

On a separate note:

I am going to do a really proud mom bragging moment.  My oh so talented son, Young Man C had an amazing soccer game last night!  His middle school soccer team went totally undefeated this whole season and they were in the championship game last night.  It was super intense and I was crazy nervous the whole game.  C had an awesome goal and then scored on a penalty kick for a 3-1 win!!!!!!!!  It was super exciting!  (Also, his club soccer team is currently undefeated this season!)  Excuse me for a moment while I brag!  I took a few pics at the game, but then my battery died before I could get pics of the end of game celebration!  Here are a few:

Right after a header!

Taking a penalty kick

Can you see it?  Buried in the Net!  

Katie

Dad Life

This is a viral video on youtube. It's just totally funny. And awesome! It's completely un-hair related, but I guarantee you'll watch it over and over.

Let's hear it for the Dads out there!

Tidbit Tuesday

Did You Know?????


That putting chunky braids in locked hair is not only C-U-T-E, but gives you adorable waves when you take them out?  Yeah, Yeah, I am sure you did know.  It's not rocket science.  In fact, when I was a kid in the 80's and early 90's my sister and I used to do this to get that AWESOME crimped look.  Ya know, because we weren't cool enough to own a crimper.  The only difference is, we didn't go out in public with the braids in.  We just put the braids in over night to get the cool crimped look in the morning.

(Yes, I also realize this is pretty much what we normally would call a Braid Out - but I had never done it on locs before, so let's just all pretend I came up with a brand new idea.)

Well, these pics are terrible.  My apologies.  I told everyone on Facebook yesterday that life in my family is just totally crazy right now.  I only saw B in daylight for about 10 minutes yesterday and that was when I stopped by Young Man C's soccer game for a few minutes before heading off to teach a sign class.  So I quickly snapped a few pics of the chunky braids:

We are having some crazy hot and sunny weather for October here in Michigan.  Can you tell?

Anyway, we quickly took those braids out before B headed to school this morning, but that beautiful sun wasn't up yet, so again, more horrible pics.  Sorry.

I believe both of these styles were cuter in person, but you get the idea.

Hoping you are all having as beautiful weather in your neck of the woods as we are!

Katie