Jenell Stewart

Have you ever been separated from your coily styling products and tools when you need them most — to prepare for a night out? When you find yourself in rush to change your look from day to night, you need a quick coily style that will complete the transformation. You don’t need your favorite go-to product or 5 hours and a wide toothed comb. You’ll just need your coils, your hands, and a few bobby pins!

Day to Night Bobby Pin Hairstyle

BlakIzBeautyful shows us how it’s done.

Making the decision to transition to natural hair is very exciting, but it can also cause much anxiety for many women, myself included. After spending most of your life wearing your hair straight, who can fault you for being nervous? In fact, most of the women I know that are now completely natural were very nervous about beginning their transition and/or big chopping. I’ve found that we all have similar concerns.

Will This Look Fit Me?

Remember when Rhianna set the new hair trend with her short asymmetrical cut? This hair style looked very different on her than when she wore her hair in large beach waves. Becoming fully natural will change your appearance in the same way.  Yes, you will look different, but you will still look fabulous.

How Will Others Feel About Me?

When you look at yourself in the mirror now, you see the woman you’ve always seen. When you become fully natural and look in the mirror, I’m positive that you will see the same woman, but with a new do!  Your friends and family won’t see YOU any differently, but they will see your HAIR differently. If you’re confident about your decision, this will exude onto everyone around you.  Most people will share their appreciation for your new style choice. Others may have lots of questions. In the end, hasn’t your decision to style your hair differently always been a personal decision? Let’s keep it that way.

Do I Need to Invest in all New Products?

Many of the products you may currently own can “transition” with you from relaxed to natural. Shampoos, conditioners, deep conditioners, and carrier oils are perfect examples of products you can continue to use in your natural hair. However, you may want to browse the styling products aisle in your local beauty store and on CurlMart, because some of the products you were using may have supported retaining moisture and shine on straightened hair, but don’t give the same results on textured hair.

Also, I highly doubt you have a wide array of curl definers, curly butters and puddings. Why would you? There was no need for these products before, but they are greatly needed in caring for natural hair. Curl definers activate your natural curl pattern and holds it into place, while butters and puddings add moisture, shine, and prevent frizz for many textured styles like twists and braids. You will need new products, but you don’t have to break the bank on them.

Will it Take More Time to Style and Care for My Hair?

When your hair is very short, very little time is spent caring for and styling your hair because you don’t have a lot of hair to care for and style. As expected, longer hair will take more time to care for, but it doesn’t have to be much more time. If you choose low-manipulation styles and styles that last several days up to a week or longer, you will find that you spend less time styling your longer hair then you did your shorter hair.

My hair regimen has changed throughout my natural hair journey, and yours will too. When I had a TWA (teeny weeny afro) I spent about 20 minutes shampooing, conditioning, and moisturizing my hair, and I spent an hour every other night twisting my hair to give me volume and curl definition. This was a personal decision to spend several hours a week styling my hair, because I was excited about having new looks and well maintained hair. Now, I spend about 1-2 hours shampooing, conditioning and moisturizing my hair. I now only spend about 10 minutes preparing my hair for bed and about 5 minutes styling in the morning. This equates to about the same amount of time overall, but more time is spent in different parts of my regimen.

You’re allowed to be nervous and have questions about the impact becoming fully natural will have on your lifestyle. This is true for any decision you make in your life. Take the next step when you are ready.

One of the most common complaints by women with hair type 4a, 4b and 4c coils is frizz. I mean, dang, we have to accept that our hair is coarse, gets really dry, has almost no natural curl definition, and to top it off, we have to deal with frizz when we try to create that curl definition? Ugh.

Because my hair type (4b) has little to no curl definition, like most naturals, I style my hair in twists and/or braids and then loosen them to create a curly look, better known as a twist out or braid out. Frizz is always ready to hijack a style, so we have to learn to be creative when preparing our hair. It can take 40 to 60 minutes to properly prepare my hair for a curly style, only to wake up the next morning with a head full of frizz!

Guess what? There are things that can be done to help keep frizz at bay, but none of these are completely guaranteed to work. Try them all to see what gives you the best results. Something is bound to work because I am proof that is possible to get great curl definition with low frizz. I’ll say it again, it IS possible!

Evaluate Your Technique

Twisting is very simple, but not all techniques are effective in giving good, smooth definition. When you twist your hair, you start off with two sections. You twist these two sections around each other repeatedly, until you get to the ends.

I suggest, keeping your two sections of hair completely separate all the way to the very end. It’s very tempting to “borrow” some hair from the longer piece and add it to the shorter piece when you get to the bottom, but keeping the sections completely separated ensures that the hairs aren’t weaving together. This results in clean and smooth separations when it is time to separate the twists, thus low manipulation and low frizz.

Is it Time For a New Product?

Not all styling products are created equally. What may be a great moisturizer, may do a poor job at giving good hold. If you want good curl definition for your twist outs you need a styling product with hold. This means you may have to get a brand new product or reach in the back of your cabinet and pull out that product that made your hair hard the first time you used it and deemed it unfit for your hair.

Products that give your hair hold tend to make it feel hard, but if you moisturize properly before applying this product, your hair will feel softer then using the product alone. Products with hold freeze the hair into place and helps to hold your curl definition in place. The stronger the hold, the less the frizz.

Wet Styling vs. Dry Styling

In addition to figuring out which products help fight frizz, try styling your hair on soaking wet hair, damp hair and dry hair. For textured like mine, styling my hair wet gives me the best curl definition, at a price though: good curl definition also means lots of shrinkage.

On the other hand, when I style my hair when it’s dry, I get elongated curls that are looseer. Testing this out could help you discover many things about your hair, most importantly your frizz levels.

Time for a Trim

If you’ve tried everything and your ends seem to be the main area where you have frizz, it may be time to trim. I know we don’t like the sound of that, and it seems counter productive if you have goals of growing your hair to BSL, but rough, dry, brittle, split ends will harm you more in the long run if you don’t end the relationship with them now. Any efforts you make in achieving perfect curl definition for that banging twist out will be done in vain.

In the end, you can get a great twist out with little frizz. You just have to keep at it. Practice makes perfect, curlies. Practice makes perfect.

How do you do your twist-outs?

Transitioning to natural hair doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive. It’s just what you make it. There are many naturals, myself included, who spend countless amounts of dollars on new products, countless hours watching YouTube and reading NaturallyCurly.com and many other natural hair websites/blogs. There are many naturals, myself included, who also spend countless amounts of time taking care of their hair. And let’s not forget the naturals who spend time reading product labels.

These things all have their pros and cons, but let’s be real, not everyone has this kind of time or level of commitment — and that’s OK!

Shampoo Overload

Do you really need more then one shampoo? Let’s take it back a few steps. The purpose of shampoo is to clean the scalp and hair of dirt, skin particles, dandruff and product buildup. We use shampoo because it has safe detergents that can remove all this unwanted build-up without harming the hair and scalp.

There are so many brands and types of shampoos to choose from — clarifying, moisturizing, anti-frizz, curl defining, invigorating, strengthening, volumizing — how can you choose just one? Actually, it’s a simple answer: choose a shampoo based on what your hair needs. Choose one that works, and stick with it.

I have type is type 4B hair which is thick, very textured and loses moisture quickly. I don’t have any scalp conditions like dandruff. Based on this information, what do you think would be the best type of shampoo for me to use? If you said moisturizing, you are correct. The other types of shampoos would not necessarily cause me harm, if used properly, but my hair would benefit the most from a moisturizing shampoo.

Evaluate your hair as I’ve done here, and tell me, what type of shampoo would work best for you?

Conditioner Contents

How many conditioners does it take to moisturize your hair? If you’re like me, you might have said 3 to 5, but if we pay attention to what conditioners are made for —  to condition, moisturize, add shine and protect — then any one will do. You don’t need the newest, most popular, most expensive, best-packaged conditioner to reap the benefits of conditioner. Most conditioners contain:

• Moisturizing humectants that attract and hold moisture in the hair

• Reconstructors to penetrate and strengthen the hair

• Acidifiers to maintain the conditioners pH levels to around 2.5 to 3.5

• Detanglers to soften and add gloss to the surface of the hair

• Thermal protectors to shield the hair against heat

• Oils to soften and mend the hair

• Glossers to reduce frizz on the hair

• Lubricants to moisturize the hair

• Preservatives to protect the hair

Now that you know that most conditioners are made with all of these forms of ingredients, the only thing you really need to do is find a smell that works for you.

Oils and Stylers

Oils are nature’s gift to you, use any carrier oil you want. Most oils are inexpensive and come in large quantities. My favorites are coconut oil and castor oil because they soften and add the most shine to my hair.

Styling products are a whole other issue. There are too many out there for you to choose from. They all promise different things, so choose wisely. Unlike shampoo, conditioner and oil, styling products do matter. I have way more styling products than I need, and you should find comfort in having at least one or two styling products.

More experienced naturals wouldn’t dare break things down to such simple terms, because we have invested our time into researching and have become accustomed to the time it takes to care for our hair, but this doesn’t have to be the same for everyone. If you choose to keep it simple you are no less natural than anyone else.

Did you know what you rinse your hair with is just as important as what you wash it with?

If you’ve ever suffered from dry hair that was shedding all over the place and had little to no shine, then you better listen up. Hair rinses might just be your new best friend, because with continued use, they do a great job of providing your hair with many nutrients it needs.

I’m sure if you looked in your cupboard, pantry or fridge, you could pull out a few great items that would make a great rinse for your hair.

Tea Time

The tannins in caffeinated tea help thicken the hair shaft and make hair appear fuller. If you’re a tea connoisseur and you’re wondering why your hair hasn’t “appeared” thicker at all, it’s probably because you aren’t pouring your favorite blends over your head. Well start. Seriously.

Rinsing your hair with black tea will leave your scalp clean and flake free, because black tea is a natural astringent that penetrates the pores of the scalp and dissolves excess sebum. Rinsing your hair with green tea can also soothe and reduce inflammation of the scalp affected by dandruff and psoriasis.

In general, tea hair rinses promote shine and clean hair. Brew a tea bag for a few minutes and allow the tea to steep for about 30 minutes. Then, shampoo and condition. Pour tea onto your hair and massage into your scalp. Do not rinse. Your hair will be smooth and soft.

Chug!

Rinsing your hair in one cup of flat (or non-alcoholic) beer will give your hair body and shine. In some less extreme cases, beer can even repair damaged hair. Some experts say it’s the proteins from the malt and hops found in beer that coat, rebuild and repair damaged hair.

To rinse with beer, simply shampoo and rinse your hair as usual. Pour the flat, warm beer on your hair and work it through. Rinse with lukewarm water.

Got Buildup?

You can get rid of it with an apple cider vinegar (ACV) rinse. An ACV rinse will help to rejuvenate your hair and get it back to looking healthy and full of life because it removes the gunk left behind from daily product use. It will also restore the sheen back in your hair.

Mix 1/3 cup ACV with 1 quart water in a spray bottle. You can use the ACV in place of a shampoo or you can shampoo first and follow up with the ACV mixture. Spray onto hair until water bottle is empty. Allow mixture to marinate on your hair for about 30 minutes and rinse with cold water.

Be strong!

Get your hands on some lemongrass if you’re looking for something to strengthen your weak hair.

Make a lemongrass hair rinse using 2-3 teaspoons of dried lemongrass (or 3 times as much fresh herbs) with 1 cup of boiling water.

Let it steep for 15 minutes, strain out the herbs and use it as a hair wash or rinse (before conditioning unless you have oily hair) when it has cooled. Add a teaspoon of vegetable glycerin as a humectant, if you like.

If you’re a mixtress in the kitchen, try out some of these other lovely hair rinses.

Have you ever been to a fashion textured fashion show? No, not wool and cotton textures, I’m mean curls, kinks and waves!  There will be lots of textured hairstyles on the modes this year thanks to a movement led by TextureMedia and NaturallyCurly.com.

I’m ecstatic about my role at the “Texture on the Runway” event this Feb 11, 2012.  Sorry, I won’t be a textured model, but I will be involved in the event as a textured media influencer allowing me an inside role at all the action! I’ll take pictures and video interviews directly from my phone, and I’ll be giving live tweets from my Twitter handle. Millions of people around the world will be tuned into this event via TextureOnTheRunway.com, so that means I have to make sure my hair looks FAB because all of you will be updated within moments of all the action!

Goodbye straight and boring, and hello kinky, curly and coily! This moment will go down in history and will change the conversation on both industry and consumer levels. From now on, women with hair like yours and mine will be represented on the runway in the season’s latest trends and fashions!

What curly styles do you hope to see? I hope to see a wide variety of gorgeous kinky, curly, and coily twist outs up and down the runway, in various colors, lengths, cuts and frizziness. But to be more specific, I want to see a BIG kinky afro!

Is it just me, or does textured hair make a bold statement and add flair to any look?  Think about how trendy an off the shoulder top looks with a big curly afro. Or how sexy a bathing suit looks with a teased curly bun!

I know “Texture on the Runway” will make a statement to designers and stylist from here on out to incorporate texture on the runway because once you go curly—you never go back!

If years ago you would have told me, “One day you will let go of chemical relaxers and weaves and embrace your natural hair,” I would have laughed hysterically in your face. The thought of going natural was the last thing on my mind. “How on earth could an African girl like me go natural? Do you know what kind of hair I have?”

I guess the joke is on me, because I’ve been natural for just about two years now and I can’t imagine my life any other way. When I big chopped on March 26, 2010, my life changed in a way that I never imagined.

When I looked at myself in the mirror with a TWA (teeny weeny afro) I knew immediately that I made the right decision. My confidence and self-esteem magnified to new heights. I also learned that I’m extremely creative when it comes to styling hair. Who would have known!?

My hair is tightly coiled (type 4b) and being tightly textured allows me to achieve the best twist, braids and afro styles! My hair is very thick and my texture holds shapes very well. I get great curl definition from styling my hair in twists and then let them loose, this is also known as a twist out. Whenever I wear my hair in a flat twist out I get tons of questions!

Favorite Products

There are lots of great products available for textured hair and, like many naturals, I’ve tried them all! My favorite shampoo and conditioner is the Design Essentials Natural for naturally curly hair. This duo leaves my hair clean, moisturized and uber soft.   My favorite deep conditioner is the Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise. This product would bring back to life the most damaged of damaged hair. My favorite oil is coconut oil because the protein strengthens my hair and leaves my hair very shiny.  And my favorite moisturizer is the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie because it moisturizes on contact and has the most delicious smell!

Hair growth and health are most important to me on my natural hair journey. Eating well, drinking lots of water and staying physically fit have helped me grow my hair to almost armpit length in just under two years. My hair has NEVER been this long and I know that it will only continue to grow longer with good treatment and love.

Living the Natural Lifestyle

I’m not sure if you can tell, but extremely passionate about natural hair and I want to spread the love of natural hair throughout the world! My decision to go natural has impacted many of those very close to me. After I big chopped, my mother, all four of my sisters, a bunch of my cousins and a handful of my friends all went natural. I’ve developed strong friendships with many women who are natural after simply chatting about their hair. Going natural has impacted me in more ways than just my hairstyles.

I’ve also created various mediums to support women in their natural hair journeys because going natural alone is no fun.

I offer consultations to give all women one-on-one attention and support in establishing functional hair regimens and advice on appropriate product selections. My natural hair website features tons of natural hair tips, advice, and product reviews that all naturals can benefit from. My YouTube channel features easy to follow hair styling tutorials that all naturals can benefit from. Finally, my Facebook fanpage is an open forum for all women to come and ask lots of questions for support.

I love my natural hair and I want you to love yours too!