Easy Up-Do on Stretched Natural Hair

Easy Up-Do on Stretched Natural Hair

There are all sorts of ways to stretch natural hair and I've pretty much tried them all.  Thing is, I am always stuck trying to figure out how to style my hair once it's stretched.  Enter the Up-Do.  After watching plenty of videos on the subject, I can finally say I've got a few tricks up my sleeve.

The Crown Braid style that I demonstrated in my french braiding video is a favorite of mine.  It can last several days if I keep it wrapped up at night.  Lately though I wanted something with a little more pizazz and found this look that was also really easy
to do.

This is similar to the look that Teyonah Parris rocked on the red carpet at the SAG awards last year.  I like that you can change this into a mohawk style or go with a simple bun.  This is truly where stretched natural hair shines because the texture gives fullness to the style.

Here's a pictorial of how I achieved this style.

I first sectioned off my bangs with a u-shape part

Then I split the rest of my hair into two sections parting from ear to ear.  Next, I pulled each section into ponytails using elastic bands to secure.  

Now it's time for some bobby pins.  I just took the bottom ponytail and split the hair into three.  I finger rolled my hair like I was pincurling it and bobby pinned the hair down towards the base of the elastic. 

Finger Rolling

Roll down toward the base of the elastic

Pin Down with a Bobby Pin

 I took the other two sections and did the same thing, pinning them around the sides of the elastic for a full bun effect.

This ponytail was split into three sections

I did the same rolling and pinning on the second/top ponytail and then moved on to the bangs. 

 The bangs can be pinned back into a pompadour or swooped forward.  This is usually where I freestyle a bit until I get the hair how I want it.  

Swooped bangs

I finished the style by smoothing the sides with a soft bristle brush and there you have it.  So Easy!

The finished look

This Up-Do is too easy to pass up.  Let me know if you give it a try!

 

Becoming Catwoman (Eartha Kitt Style) for Denver Comic Con -- Pic Heavy

Me as Eartha Kitt style Catwoman and
Wolverine from the X-Men
at this year's Denver Comic Con

Yes, I finally did it!  I have wanted to dress up as Catwoman from the Batman Television series and attend a comic book convention for ages.  When I heard that Denver finally had it's own Comic Con I knew it was time to put a costume together.

For those of you not familiar with what a Comic Book Convention is let me fill you in.  It's usually a three day event where fans of comic books can gather to meet people from the industry and other fans.  Science fiction movies and television series are also showcased.  There are conventions each year in several major cities and this year was the second convention for Denver.

At the Denver Comic Con my family and I were able to meet many comic book creators, illustrators and graphic artists.  There were even classes, gaming and a film festival.  One of the other fun things about a Comic Con is that there are people who dress up as their favorite characters or superheros.  Knowing this, I decided long ago that if I ever had the chance, I would dress up as Catwoman (Eartha Kitt style no doubt) from the Batman TV series.

We took the kids and had a blast people watching and looking at all of the cool comics and artwork.  My husband has a huge collection of X-Men comics and his favorite character is Wolverine so we were very excited to see someone dressed like him.  It was a long day but we had lots of fun.  I'm just glad I was smart enough to bring a comfortable pair of shoes because those Catwoman high heal boots were just too much!

Old Denim Belt I painted gold with
Acrylic Paint

Rit Dye to turn the Satin Gloves Black

old satin gloves

The costume took some time to put together but I managed to get it done in time.  I purchased the pants at Ross and went thrifting for the top.  The belt I already owned but had to change the color to gold with acrylic paint.  I also had a pair of vintage satin gloves that I died black to match the outfit.

Took this apart and attached
Cat Ears

Gold Belt for some
Catwoman Bling

I really had a lot of fun constructing the mask and ears for the costume.  They were probably the most time consuming but I loved how they turned out.  I took apart an old halloween bat headband and attached cat ears to it constructed out of material and foam from an old cami.  I used more of the same material for the mask after making my own paper template.

Used an old black Cami for
mask and ears

The mask took forever but totally
made the outfit

Now for the hair, my favorite part of course.  I googled the hairstyle Eartha Kitt wore on the Batman Series so that I could see it up close.  Come to find out she wore a braid crown just in front of the cat ears and a long flowy ponytail.  The ponytail was a sinch because I've bought drawstring pony's before but the braid was a little tricky.  I ended up buying a pack of braiding hair and cutting a big section of it to form one long braid.  I put rubber bands on both ends and used bobby pins to secure it.  I used Eco gel to smooth my hair into a high bun and placed the drawstring pony over it.  The style was so cute I didn't want to take it down!

Section of the braiding hair secured
with a rubber band

Braided down to the end and used another
rubber band to keep from unraveling

Slicked MY hair into a high bun using Eco gel

Attached the braid using bobby pins

Added the drawstring ponytail

Final look with the Mask and Ears

The Denver Comic Con was a blast and I can't wait to do it again next year!

My Easy Ponytail Roller Set

I sometimes get discouraged with my hair when I see those little tiny fairy knots on the ends.  Single strand knots (SSKs) can cause a lot of trouble because they tend to catch on hair strands and cause tangles.  Since I won't be doing any major cuts on my hair this year (fingers crossed) I figured I should try my best to keep the knots to a minimum.

Since I sometimes use heat on my hair I can tell it still has lots of curl and shrinkage but is slightly more manageable than if I had skipped the heat altogether.  I tend to think that this factor has contributed to my success with roller setting lately.  The drying time is still the same but I can sometimes get away with using larger sections than I used to.  I thought maybe I would put my theory to the test by doing a ponytail roller set using only a few ponytail sections.  Instead of doing 4 ponytails down the middle (like a mohawk) and 4 more sections along the sides, I just used 4 large ponytail sections; 2 in front and 2 in back.  I then split each ponytail in half and rolled each section.  I also placed 2 individual rollers for the bangs.  My new method only took 4 ponytails and 10 rollers which is much easier and still gave me great results.

Since my main objective right now is to keep my hair stretched this method will work just fine.  It keeps my ends smooth so I don't have to worry about them knotting up on me.  Not only that, it also takes a lot less time to get all of the rollers in.  Now that I have this figured out I can use this method to stretch my hair before doing protective styles like buns and up-dos.

THEN:  Ponytail rollerset using more sections

CHECK OUT MY ROLLER SETTING NATURAL HAIR VIDEO ON YOUTUBE 

NOW:  Fewer ponytails still worked fine

What I used to get the look:
Creamy Leave-in Conditioner
Heat Protectant serum (to minimize frizz)
Plain Water (to re-wet each section)

 CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY ORIGINAL POST ON THE PONYTAIL ROLLER SET

Goody Ouchless Ponytail Holders

The Results
Stretched hair with smooth ends

Braid Out Using Eco Styler Custard

Corkscrew Braidout using
DIY Eco Styler Custard

When I discovered how well my little recipe for Eco Styler Custard worked for my wash n' go, I never really thought of using it any other way.  This was until I recently revisited my Corkscrew Braidout method for an easy no heat style.  That's when I decided it was time to put the custard to the test.

Normally when I do the braidout I start with stretched hair so that I'll have more length and bounce.  This means pulling my hair back and letting it airdry for one whole day before starting the braids.  I just didn't want to be bothered with all that this time so I did the style on damp hair right after I washed, conditioned and detangled.

I pretty much followed the same Corkscrew Braidout method I used in the video (link below).  However, this time I decided to use Paul Mitchell's The Conditioner for my leave-in.  Then I applied the custard to each section of my hair before braiding and curling the ends.  I didn't worry about sealing my hair with oil because the custard mixture already has castor, coconut and grapeseed oil in it.  I also switched to smaller grey perm rods because they give me more of a spiral effect than the medium size rollers.

Check out my YouTube Video for the 

CORKSCREW BRAIDOUT

The back

I was really surprised with the results.  My hair was very soft to the touch and moisturized.  I've been wearing the style for three whole days without applying any other products.  I haven't seen any weird product build-up and it still feels pretty soft.  I re-braided a few sections that started to look a little fuzzy at the end of day two.  This was because I just slept on it as is one night.  Otherwise, I've just been pineappling my hair at night to help keep the curls in tact.

Small grey rods to roll the ends vs. the larger pink rods
both from Sally's

I'm really thinking about wearing my hair like this more often.  I get to have the big, curly hair I love while keeping my hair stretched.  The bonus is that my ends stay smooth which means fewer single strand knots.  It's a win, win if you ask me.

FIND MY DIY ECO STYLER RECIPE HERE

3 days later still lots of curls and softness