Hair Biz

December 30, 2010

After getting so many comments and emails with questions about my hair, I decided to do an entire post, with all of your questions answered. :)  I just finished my hair tonight so here we go!

First things first, I do my OWN hair.  And nope, I am not a hair stylist. 

I have been doing my hair now for 7+ years.  After paying tons of money to spend ALL day in a hair salon AND leaving dissatisfied, I decided to give it a try myself.  And after years of doing it, I now have it down to a science.  I can style it any way I want, making it longer, shorter, choppy, rocking a shorter bob in the summer or longer layers in the fall and winter.

The most commonly asked question re: my hair: YES, I do wear a weave.  I have natural, unprocessed hair underneath, that I wash, deep condition {I try to let conditioner sit in for at least an hour} and braid up before putting in the weave.  A weaving cap is sewn onto the braids {leaving my edges out around perimeter} and the tracks of weave are sewn onto the cap.

I do it once a month, washing it twice a month {mostly}.  The entire process takes about 2-3 hours.

The brand of hair I use is Outre', the Premium Collection.  Nothing too fancy, it's found at any beauty supply store.  :)

The length varies, depending on how long I want it. This time, I used 16 inches around the perimeter and the rest is 14 inches.

 
Here I am after sewing the hair in, not yet cut into layers. 


Here it is cut into the layers.  I didn't take much off at all, just trimmed it up to give it some shape. I am just about to start styling.


I use this Liquid Mousse by Fantasia to style it while curling.  It gives it a nice hold but doesn't make the hair stiff.  And it smells really good! :)


I use a 1 1/4 inch Hot Tools curling iron to curl my hair.  And yes, I curl it every day. It takes about 20 minutes. 10 minutes if I am in a hurry. :) 

I do want to try these hot rollers soon, we'll see how that goes.


I start at the bottom and work my way up when curling, spraying the liquid mousse on each section before rolling it around the barrel.

Here is the finished product.  Cut in long layers and curled.


Here I used a full 2 packs of hair.  I like it on the fuller side. :)  As it gets older, it loses some of the volume.


...and the back.


My signature 'swoop'.  I always say I will try blunt bangs or a lighter color.  Of course, I never do. 


Now here is the key to maintaining a soft, silky, natural looking weave, in my opinion: I wrap it every single night.  I don't care how tired I am, I will take the 5 minutes before bed to wrap my hair. 

Also, a CLEAN cotton or silk scarf is essential.

I do the infamous cylinder wrap.




I wrap it tight and tie it down with a scarf then off to bed I go.


And there you have it!  My hair...REVEALED. :)


xoxo, thanks for reading!


27 comments

  1. Love it! I should so learn how to do my hair too. Definitely cheaper. I just don't know how to sew tracks in!! You look beautiful as usual!

    MzDiva!

    www.mzdivaplus.blogspot.com

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  2. I love your hair! And good for you, you are able to do it yourself. I WISH! ;)

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  3. WOW!!!!!!!! JUST amazing girl! Your hair is GORGEOUS!

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  4. love it, thanks for sharing your secret haha! I was wondering about your hair for the longest!

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  5. I really wish you could do my hair. HAHA! :-) GORGEOUS! mystery revealed!

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  6. It's no secret I love your hair. You already know I'm recruiting you to teach me how to do/take care of hair if I ever have a girl.

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  7. Also... I probably should learn to wrap my hair at night & maybe my hair won't be a tangled matt of curls from rolling around in my sleep. Or maybe I should be lazy & buy some fancy pillow cases first...

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  8. Learning to do your own hair as an African American woman is essential if you want to keep your hair on your head!!! My hair is so much healthier since I started doing it myself. Great post...and love the tips!!!

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  9. Mmmhm, Mrs. Lush'n Such.

    That is all :)

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  10. You make me want to sew a weave onto my locs!! I wish a lot of women out there would read your blog because that's how hair is supposed to look.

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  11. I just found your blog and I'm loving it. I also do my own hair as well because I am very picky, but I just don't know how to close it if I sew it all in. I'm sure it can't be that difficult, but I have to get that part down first and then I will be good. Maybe you should consider doing a youtube video to show us how you do your closure..just a though ;-)

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  12. I'm soooo glad you did this post. I always wondered about your hair. I'm growing out my relaxer and am thinking about getting a weave similiar to yours.

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  13. As you already know I love everything about you LOL!!!!!!

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  14. Oh your hair is exquisite! And to know you do it yourself, well I am without words!

    I don't know how to braid my hair so I'm already lost :)

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  15. Your hair is and has always been fabulous, I love it!!! I too am wanting you to do a you tube video so I can try doing my own hair.

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  16. Your hair is and has always been fabulous, I love it!!! I too am wanting you to do a you tube video so I can try doing my own hair.

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  17. New to your blog, I really like ur style :-) Especially your thrify finds as I am thrifty myself.
    Sharonda
    http://www.lovesindies.blogspot.com

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  18. Thank you for this post! Your hair is outstanding. The fact that you do it yourself is so impressive. Happy New Year!

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  19. omg I love your mini wrap tutorial!
    im going to try it

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  20. I am so Jealous, not only do you do your own hair ( SAVE MONEY) it looks FABALOUS!! So, I've moving to live right next door...LOL!!

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  21. Ugh, I had this idea of how I wanted my hair, then last week I saw this post and saw your hair, and said that's it. I had the same exact hair on hand, so it shouldn't be hard for my hair dresser to get it right, right? Wrong, I knew I should have brought a pic of you, lol.

    Love the hair hun, and as a black women who wears weave, u definitely tricked me lol. Thanks for this post.

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  22. I was just hating on (drooling over lol) your hair in the most recent post. Love it! It looks SOOOOO pretty. I am a "big hair" lover too!

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