What! Another straight hair post? Yes! I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t post it if I didn’t think it was valuable. After 4 years of running Mane and Chic, the one major pain/problem that I see is problems with hairstyling. I agree. I have the same issue. I want to be creative with my hair styling, but I don’t want it to look forced or done up. I’m not really into harsh/hard styles, I prefer natural, loose, easy (and perhaps a bit messy/undone) styles that don’t pull my hair, don’t cause headaches and are easy for me to do. You remember I did the “Worked” feature a year or so ago where I showed you 30 different outfits in 30 days. Around the same time, I got the idea to do the same thing with hair and many of you were also craving the same thing and had the same idea. Well, this is what happens when you sit on your hands… someone beats you to the punch and I’m so happy the doll behind Hair Romance had the same idea that my readers and I had and was able to feed our hair craving. The only caveat, her hair is straight (duh… you can see that from the pic above), but I don’t think that will stop you from attempting most of these styles. Well, maybe… it depends on your hair type and you can always stretch your hair to get less shrinkage which might help you achieve some of these looks.

You can see all 30+ styles on the Hair Romance blog that will show you the style, but if you want to learn how to do each style, you’re going to have to shell out $9.99 for the e-book. I have not read the book, so I can’t say if it’s a good investment to get the step by step tutorials, but imagine how much time and money you’d spend trying to get a hair stylist to give you 30 different looks. Yeah… $9.99 is looking like a pretty good investment, right? Books are always a smart choice… most of the time.

On Twitter, I challenged some other bloggers, but no one wants in… I might attempt something like this in the near future, but don’t hold your breath… I’m hoping someone else with my hair type does it. If you find that anywhere, shoot me a link!

So, before you tar and feather me for posting videos of straight-haired girls, I thought these videos would be really helpful for our hair types. In all the polls that I’ve done, the number one problem that all of you seem to have is being stuck in a hairstyle rut. A few months ago, I stumbled upon The Beauty Department, which is basically Lauren Conrad’s beauty blog along with her hair stylist and makeup artist. I love it. Love everything about it and I thought you should know about it. I love the hairstyles featured, the videos on YouTube. Everything is just so fresh, clean and it was my inspiration when I was renovating Mane and Chic.

Here are are few of my favorite features from The Beauty Department that I think you should try on your curly/high textured hair ASAP:

For those of you who know how to french braid, here are two super chic buns from the Spring 2011 Valentino show and a semi-step-by-step pictorial on how to get it. You can see that the bottom left image is a little different because it doesn’t utilize a full center part. You can’t loose with either.

source:Style.com

It’s hot, you’re going to the beach, you want your hair up and out of your way. I have a solution for you! I scoured Style.com to find these über cute buns. They are from the Spring 2011 and Fall 2011 runway collections. You can rock them on hair type. Try!

Carolina Herrera F2011	Nina Ricci S2011
Jill Sander S2011	Nina Ricci S2011

SCRITCHING is a form of scalp stimulation that uses a comb to stimulate scalp and hairs. I first found out about it on longhairs.com. I would never use a comb on my bare scalp and scritch/scratch it, so I decided to use a satin bonnet or some sort of barrier. I tried using a scarf, but the knot from tying it was getting in the way of my scritching. Here’s what I do:

I can not do a better demo than the people that invented the shingling method — Miss Jessie’s. Check out the video on YouTube.

As promised, here is a side-by-side comparison of “The Twist and Coil” and a “The Braid and Coil” setting techniques.

As you can see from the image, “The Twist and Coil” appears a little shorter, but more voluminous, while “The Braid and Coil” features more defined waves, a little less shrinkage (so it appears to be a little longer), it also isn’t as voluminous as “The Twist and Coil”, but that can be fixed with some careful fluffing, shaking and perhaps using a diffuser to create volume. You can also separate the braids into smaller clumps to create more volume.

In a previous poll, 52% of Mane and Chic readers said they preferred twist-outs, while 28% preferred braid-outs. I’m a fan of braid-outs and I almost never do twist-outs. I feel I have more control over my hair when I set it in braids. My hair shrinks drastically with twist-outs and I’m not really into shrinkage. Next, a lot of people say braids take longer and well, that depends on your skill level. It takes me the same amount of time to twist and braid. If you braid slow, practice makes perfect. So, practice. After doing this for a couple of years I can set my braids in about 15-20 minutes after washing and less than 10 minutes at night when I re-set. I typically do 10-15 medium size braids when I wash my hair and 5-7 large braids every night when I re-set.

The baggy method makes use of plastic shower cap or sandwich bag to help lock in hair’s moisture. I used the whole head “Baggy Method” during my first year of transitioning. I would do it at night to help retain moisture. Most of the time I use this method, I just moisturize my hair and seal my ends with an oil, but some people like to coat the bag with an oil or moisturizer. The elastic on the plastic cap bothered me, so I rolled them up around a headband and then covered with another head band (see video below). I typically use a wider band than the one I feature in this video. I cover the bag with a satin bonnet or scarf and then go to bed. This method is not for everybody. Some people complain that they wake up with wet hair. I suggest this for women that wear “wash ‘n gos” or women that don’t mind if their hair is a little damp. A couple of ways to prevent that damp feeling in the morning is to use less product and just baggy your ends. I don’t do whole head overnight “baggying” anymore (unless I’m doing an overnight deep treatment). I wear my hair in braid outs with the ends set on flexi rods 95% of the time so when I do my flexi rod/braid out, I just slip a plastic shower cap over the rollers on the ends of my hair and secure a hair band around the cap to make sure it doesn’t slip out while I’m sleep. When I use this method consistently, I never see split ends. If I get lax about it and fall off the regimen, I notice a decline in the condition of my ends. The better condition our hair ends are in, the less we have to trim and the quicker we can see longer lengths.

Do everything in sections. It will be easier to style, detangle and apply product in sections. When applying deep conditioner in these sections, you’re ensuring that you reach every centimeter of your head.

I part my hair in six sections. The first part goes straight down the middle of my head from my forehead to the nape of my neck. The next part runs from the left front of my ear to the right. The next from the back left of my ear to the right. That leaves me with 3 even sections on the right and 3 even sections on the left. I co-wash, wash, detangle, oil, deep treat, braid, roller set, twist and trim my hair using this 6 section foundation.

I used to do four sections while I was transitioning and when I went completely natural, I realized that I needed more sections because I have at least two different types of hair on my head that are polar opposites. The crown section of my hair is naturally frizzy and the curls are not defined. This section is also very dense. The hair at the crown of my head makes up 90% of my hair. You could literally take the front section and nape of my hair and multiply by three and you might get close to the amount of hair in the crown section of my hair. The back, sides and nape area of my hair are smoother with well defined ringlets. Sectioning allows me to segregate the sections because they need to be treated differently. The crown area requires a lot more attention: more moisture and more smoothing to ward away frizz and one strand knots. I strongly suggest this method for transitioners, as it helped me successfully transition from relaxed to natural for over a year and a half while retaining most of my hair. I still attribute much of my length retention to using the sectioning technique.

Originally posted 11/18/08, updated and revised.

Here’s what my hair looks like after my Curlformers Braided Flexi Rod set. I use the Curlformers to stretch my hair for length and as a method to prevent one strand knots. Anybody can do this style: relaxed, natural and especially transitioners. It can be done on any hair type and if you can get your hair in a braid, it’s long enough to do this style. I do bigger braids for looser waves and because it’s less time consuming to do fewer braids. I also just set 1.5-2″ of my ends, if you want tighter curls use smaller braids and/or roll the ends either all the way up to your scalp or just further up towards your scalp.

This is my process…

1. Hair is sectioned into 6 sections: part down the middle with 3 sections on the left and three on the right, held in place with Marianna Duckbill Clips.
2. Deep conditioned with heat using the Gold N Hot Professional Heating Cap.
3. Washed with diluted shampoo.
4. Rinsed with diluted Bragg’s – Apple Cider Vinegar.
5. Conditioner washed with Suave Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner.
6. Detangled with Jilbere Shower comb.
7. Coated hair with Suave Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner.
8. Hair was parted as close to the final style as possible. I wear an off center part with the majority of my hair being on the right side of my face so I parted it that way. Read 10 Tips for Perfecting Your Wet Set Braid Out for more details).
9. Hair is smoothed with Denman brush.
10. Began to work on 1 section, the rest of the head is placed under a shower cap to lock in moisture until it’s time to work on said section.
11. Hair was throughly smoothed with fingers dipped in conditioner.
12. Hair was set in extra wide and extra long Curlformers.
13. Dried under Pibbs Kwik Dri for 30 minutes on a medium heat setting (45 on the dial).
14. Took out the Curlformers.
15. Re-moisturized with a leave in.
16. Set the hair in braids, sealed the ends with shea butter or and oil and rolled 1.5″ of the ends on skinny red flexi rods (Hair Art Super Rollers). I use end papers to make my ends super smooth.
17. Dried under the Pibbs Kwik Dri for 30 more minutes on the medium heat setting (45 on the dial).
18. Unraveled the rollers, removed the end papers and then the braids.
19. Added a little more oil for sheen and to prevent frizz. I used Carol’s Daughter Lisa’s Hair Elixir.
20. Shook the hair with hands to hide parts from sectioning.
21. Clipped back left side with a contour clip.

That’s it! To recap, I basically set my hair Curlformers, dried for 30 minutes, set in a braid out and rolled the ends, let it dry and that’s all she wrote.

At night, I just re-moisturize, re-braid and re-set my ends. I do use end papers on my ends every night. I top it all off with a satin scarf (for smooth edges) and a satin bonnet. This style can last me about a week, but after 3 days… I need to wash.

As for time, the whole process can take as little as 1 hour and 30 minutes and up to 4-5 hours if you’re using a dryer. Of course, if you’re air drying, it could be longer.

You could also try banding to stretch the hair instead of the Curlformers. You could also do twists instead of braids. I  prefer this way as I get to make use of my  $200 Curlformers and because I prefer braid outs over twist outs. I have about 6 of the hooks, so the process is super fast for me.

Do you have any questions about my technique? Feel free to ask in the comments.