We Have a Winner!

Random.org chose lucky number 49 this morning for our Giavana's Bow-tique bow and korker giveaway. And our winner is....

Congratulations Kara! Please email me at joyfulmom@happygirlhair.com by October 7th to claim your fabulous prize.

Many thanks to Giavana's Bow-tique for sponsoring this giveaway and for making such pretty accessories for our beautiful girls.

Hair Product Synergy

I'm always learning. Sometimes I'm learning things I should already know. Take this past Sunday for instance. I was detangling Little B's hair after a week of a pretty cool afro. Usually a week, or even two, of loose hair doesn't make for a particularly difficult detangling session, but there I was confronting several huge chunks of near-matted hair. I broke out in a sweat trying to get those knots out.

I did get them out, after a long time and much holding-in of both panic and four letter words, but the experience left me with something to think about. All last week, I was fighting a nasty cold which had me on the couch and miserable. I was also low on leave-in but my head was so rocky I didn't even trust myself behind the wheel to run to the store for more. Consequently, Little B's afro didn't get nearly enough moisture or care. I had started the week with nice deep conditioning, but that lack of additional moisture throughout the week was bad news. Little R wore a pony tail that also got the barest minimum of moisture and upkeep. By the end of the week, her hair was, um, well, how can I describe it? Oh, I know, the phrase rat's nest comes to mind.

This made me think of our experiments this summer with a new conditioner. Then, it was the exact opposite situation. That conditioner didn't provide a lot of moisture and no amount of additional care or my tried and true leave-in helped relieve the dryness. These two experiences have me considering product synergy. It's all well and good to do use an excellent conditioner, but without adding a generous amount of additional moisture in the form of a rich leave-in, especially when the hair is worn loose, things deteriorate quickly. For us, a too-light conditioner paired with even the best of leave-ins is like a house built on sand.

We've done our share of product testing and found that when we have a conditioner and leave-in that work well together, we have hair at its happiest.

Do the products you use work well together? What is your favorite conditioner and leave-in duo?

Giveaway Closed

As those of you who follow the Happy Girl Facebook page may remember, the other day I discovered that my cousin started a new business called Giavana's Bow-tique. She is making and selling adorable bows, headbands, korkers, and clips. I really like the sweet accessories, but I also love that for every three accessories sold, one will be donated one to a patient at her local Ronald McDonald House. I thought it would be fun to help celebrate the launch of Giavana's Bow-tique by having a little giveaway of her fabulous accessories here at HGH. I'm so glad she agreed.

One winner will get to choose one bow and one korker from Giavana's Bow-tique. As we head into Autumn, this is the perfect time to get some accessories that go with all those new school outfits or chose something with a Halloween or Thanksgiving theme.

To enter all you have to do is the following:

1. Go to Giavana's Bow-tique and look around. (This link opens in a new window so you won't lose this giveaway entry page while you're looking. You're welcome ;)

2. Come back here leave a comment on this post telling me what you might chose if you win. 

Please leave your first name in your comment and if you love what you see at the Giavana's Bow-tique site, check out their Facebook page and give them a Like so you'll be in the loop when new accessories are available.

A winner will be chosen at random on 9/30/11 and announced here on HGH. All entries must be received by 9/29/11. 11:59 EST. This giveaway is open to US residents.

Good luck!

From Twist Out to Wash to Style, The Easy Way

As long as we're talking twist outs, I'd love to share an easy way to accomplish a full washing, conditioning and detangling and styling session after your child has been wearing a twist out. A twist out is a loose hair style, so you may anticipate a marathon detangling session, but the good news is that if you begin before the twist out pattern has lost definition, you can use that well-stretched and fairly tangle-free hair to drastically reduce the amount of time you spend detangling, and that reduces your overall time spent transitioning from twist out to a new style.

Little B wore her twists for 4 weeks and her twist out for a full 7 days. The twist out probably could have been worn it for another 2-3 days before the pattern began to look indistinct. In the last few days, she wore the hair gathered in to two low pig tails at the nape of her neck. I think that helped preserve the twist out pattern.

This was our simple process for washing and creating a new style.

• Using my fingers, I sectioned her hair into quarters, not worrying about the part lines. I banded them with ouchless pony Os, wrapped around only enough to hold the section loosely.

• I wet the hair thoroughly using the hand held shower head.

• I removed the band from one section, made sure it was very wet and washed it with shampoo. I rinsed well and replaced the band. I repeated the process with each individual section.

Post-wash, the twist pattern is still visible.

• I had Little B move away from the tub and settle down on a pillow on the floor while I sat behind her on a couch. She had a cloth headband around her ears and just below her hairline as well as a towel around her neck to catch water drips.

• Working with only one section at a time, I did the following:
• I removed the band and added a generous amount of conditioner. I chose a deep conditioning mask with good slip. Any good conditioner with slip will work.
• Using my fingers, I loosened any coils still intact and then did a little more finger detangling. This took just a couple of minutes.

After finger detangling

• I further detangled and removed shed hair using my detangling comb. This took just a minute of two.

After comb detangling

• In large sections, I divided the section in two to make combing easier, but joined them back together when the whole section was done.

Big sections are easier to tackle if they are broken up into smaller bits.

• After detangling a section, I used a rat tail comb to neaten up the parts and I banded it loosely again.

• We went back to the tub to rinse the conditioner out. I rinsed well but did not remove the bands.

• I briefly removed each band in turn to add some leave-in and coconut oil to her hair. I could have left the sections as puffs, but since she wanted to go ride her bike, I braided them.

This whole process took only about 50 minutes. Not bad, huh? 

If a four puff or braid style doesn't do it for you, you could do more sections, or fewer, you could style any way you'd like from here or use a sectioned puff style as a place holder until you have time to do another style.

Tips for a Great Twist Out

Yesterday, you saw my process for turning four week old twists into a lovely little twist out. Today, I'd like to share some tips that I've learned through trial and error. The key to a great twist out is disturbing the pattern the twists have left in the hair as little as possible during and after removal.

• Think about whether or not you plan a twist out when you are installing the twists. If your goal is to style in a twist out, pay particular attention the ends of the hair. If the ends of the twists are puffy, the twist out won't look nearly as good. When installing the twists, twist as far down as possible and then finish with a  tight coil, or a band if needed.

This twist is a bit too puffy at the end to hold the twist pattern as well as the rest of the twist.

• When putting the twists in, using a good moisturizing styling product with heavy hold will make the twists look better, keep the frizz down and hold together longer, all of which will make the twist out look better. Don't forget to moisturize and co-wash regularly while the twists are in, especially if they are worn for over a week or two.

• When removing the twists, the hair should be completely dry. If the twists have been in for a long time and the hair needs to be washed, wash it several days before the planned twist out so it has plenty of time to dry. You can use this method to keep the twists from becoming really fuzzy during the wash.

• Avoid all water-based leave-ins, conditioners and detanglers while taking the twists out. Removing the twist when they are dry and without product is best for preserving the pattern, but if the ends won't unravel using fingers alone, dab a tiny bit of oil on the hair to provide some slip. I use coconut oil, but olive, jojoba, sweet almond, and grapeseed are all fine choices too. If the ends are very stubborn and still won't part, use the pointy end of a rat tail or pin tail comb to gently separate them. Be careful though, using a comb can really disturb the twist pattern at the ends.

• There is a tiny exception to the no water twist out technique. Sometimes, the very ends of the unraveled twists have single strands hanging down from where the rest of the section ends. To encourage these little stragglers to curly back up, take a little bit of water-based conditioner, leave-in, or just plain water and spread it on your palm. With your palm open and flat, approach those hair from underneath and get just a little bit of product on them. They should react to the product or water by curling, making for a much neater look. 

• Generally speaking, the longer the twists have been in, the longer the twist out should last. Twist outs usually last anywhere from 1-6 days. For the duration of the style, water and water-based products should be avoided or the hair will revert to its natural curl pattern.

• Using a good quality sleep cap will help make the twist out last longer. Loosely gathering the twists in several sections also helps keeps friction to a minimum during sleep, protecting the pattern. Here, Little B's hair in gathered into a low pony tail for the back section and a high ponytail at the crown of her head in preparation for a half up/half down style. I used wide cloth headbands to hold the sections rather than pony Os for their ability to provide gentle, dispersed hold. Her hair was then covered with a silk sleep cap from Pretty AnntoiNet's. 

I hope these tips are helpful and lead to many happy and beautiful twist outs. 

The Twist Out, Step by Step

Over on our Facebook page, Happy Girl reader Jamey recently asked if there is a secret to twist outs. That reminded me of my first twist out attempts. It was a long time before I understood the steps to complete a twist out that was recognizable as a twist out. While the techniques aren't quite secret, they aren't obvious either, especially to someone new twist outs. Today I'll show you how we accomplished the twist out Little B wore for her first week of school. Tomorrow, I'll share some techniques that make for successful twist outs. 

Before we begin, I want to welcome everyone new to HGH and to curly/coily hair care. For those of you just beginning, I'd like to define twist out so we are all on the same page. A twist out is a style in which two-strand, rope, sister, or three-strand twists are untwisted to reveal the unique pattern they have produced. This is accomplished through specific removal techniques and forgoing hair washing after the twists are removed, and through the duration of the style.

Little B wore these rope twists for about 4 weeks before I took them out. I didn't count the twists, but there were quite small. I'd guess she wore between 100 and 125 twists. She has now been wearing her twist out for about 5 days.

We began with dry hair that had been co-washed a few days before. After the co-wash, I styled her twists in two large cornrows and left them in for several days. The cornrows made the twists curly, as you can see in this photo. I didn't plan that. Normally, I would have left them down before a twist out, but it slipped my mind that we would be doing a twist out soon. Oh well. No harm done.

I started in the back, at the nape of her neck so I would have to reach under twists that were already unraveled while working. I took a twist in my hand and using just my fingers, gently uncoiled the end. When I had two distinct strands, I gradually pulled them apart, letting them unravel themselves at a slow pace. Another option is to use more finger motion to untwist them turn by turn.

This is what they look look completely undone. When each twist was finished, I let the hair fall wherever it wanted to go and moved on to an adjacent twist.

Occasionally, a twist will resist coming apart because some of the hair from one section has gotten caught on the other section. Whenever I came across that, I put a finger above the point where the hair was stuck and slowly teased the caught hair back where it belonged. Although I did most of this twist out without product, I did use a tiny bit of coconut oil on a few ends or in situations like this. There will be more on product use during twist outs in tomorrow's post.

This whole process took about 40 minutes. She wore her twist out in a variety of ways. She wore them with a long, purple scarf that we used as a headband, then she wore them half up/half down, and finally in two, low pigtails.

Tomorrow, I'll share more tips for producing a fantastic twist out...