Flat Ironed Hair Update: Days 1 through 4 with "Natural Hair"

Bantu Knots on Flat Ironed Hair: Slight Wave

To my surprise, Lil miss Dimples kept up her flat ironed hair! Day 1, I tried to do a wrap with the satin scarf, and of course she sleeps so wild that the wrap came off. That wasn't the bad part. The bad part was when she came into our room at 3am in the morning asking if one of us could fix it!! Her Dad said he didn't know how to fix it (big shock), and so he woke me up and asked me to fix "the thing".

Day 2 and 3 I opted to put some Bantu knots and pin it down then scarf it down (y'all could tell that I didn't want any more early morning disturbances). That worked out well, but I think I used the wrong product that night for hold. I used the Jane Carter Nourish and Shine (which is great for shine and moisture of sorts), but I needed like a lotion for all day hold of the Bantu knot curls. You can see them on the right side of her head LOL!

By Day 3 (Wednesday), we stuck with the Bantu knots, and that was a safe bet. She was enjoying her straightened hair, but was no longer overly excited. I'm glad because I don't plan to flat iron her hair more than 2 to 3 times a year. The main reason being that her hair is very fine, and I don't think fine hair was really ever equipped to handle a relaxer or too much heat. If you check it out, most of the people who struggle with getting length and thickness on their relaxed hair, their unprocessed hair is probably in the fine category. That's just my take on it....

 This ponytail was miss Dimple's request by Thursday. We kept up with the Bantu Knots at night. I didn't comb through her hair at all. The reason being: Her ends seemed to be "matted" together during this heat process, and I didn't want to risk breakage by continuously trying to detangle hair that was seemingly frozen together. That didn't cause any problems with her styling, so not a problem. I have a different mentality on detangling now. I will not force hair to detangle while in a fragile or vulnerable state. I can just wait.

I put some of the tea tree on her scalp too (I did a patch test first). She typically has itchy scalp too by day 5, and this time--she has not been scratching her scalp. This is great news all the way around! Longer style time with two strand twists, flat ironed hair, the sky's the limit!

Bantu Knots held better when I used the Shea Moisture Styling Milk. I just used a little bit. This was a good product to choose because it's pretty thick, while adding great moisture. It didn't revert the hair, and it gave a nice style aid.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Bantu Knot Attempt. But I Worked It?

 Part of the Holiday happenings was that hubby and I got a chance to catch a movie. We haven't been to the theaters in a while, and I wanted to go see "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". I'd never read the book, all's I know is that I saw the preview a while back and knew that movie was going to be raw.

Well, raw it was (but not in the sense that I originally meant). It was great, but don't bring your young teen to watch it---I'm glad I didn't. I must've not read the ratings!

Anywhoo, I can't stop thinking about the hairstyles that were done in this movie!

 When the actress, Rooney Mara first walks into the scene, you are in for a shock. Hair, clothes, piercings, tattoos, the works. And at first, I Hated (with a capital H) the hair cut. I thought "hideous". She had a 1/4'' bang laying down--leaving a go-head-fo-head situation. Her sides appeared "scraggly" for a lack of a word (and why didn't my spell check blow up on that word)? Her sides were stringy and longer than the crown and the nape. Pair this with the 1/4'' bang and fo-head, then you have a mess.

Well, as the movie progresses, there were a variety of hairstyles done on this cut that were phenomenal in my opinion. Apparently, the 1/4'' bangs were able to be covered by the longer section of hair behind it. Those longer strands were sometimes pulled over the crazy looking bangs, and that gave a totally different look! There were a few styles with Mohawks, Bantu knots (yes, Bantu knots), cornrows (yup), ponytails, buns, beanie caps, I mean, you


name it--they did it. You have to see the movie to believe it.

 It just goes to show, hair doesn't have to be long in order to be sexy. A cute cut that allows a little length for some versatility will work wonders for a person who likes to change up their look often. This style here--I couldn't forget the Bantu knots they did on her hawk cut in the movie, and I tried to replicate it a little bit with my twists. It definitely wasn't the same, but I enjoyed the style anyways. I don't know what that blue thing is in my hair, but it wasn't supposed to be there.

I put a black banana clip about 2'' above my nape, and left about 3'' of hair out at the front (from the forehead, and going back). I did Bantu knots all the way up and down the middle section. It's a work in process for me, and I will try it again to get it less sophisticated LOL. And amp up the "punk" look!

 This served as a great protective style. I was ready to get all that hair off my shoulders and out of my face, so this saved the day while I did a little after Christmas shopping.

I couldn't remember what they did with this style at the front in the movie. I'm telling you, when you see this movie, don't blink and miss 1 hairstyle!

 So I worked it, and made it my own. That's what you gotta do. I just braided up some twists in the front and pinned them up so they could loop around some.  See this is why I love two strand twists. They allow so much versatility.