Hi Friends! Happy holidays! Some of you may have noticed a few hairstyle changes in my Instagram photos.
I'll first start by saying my husband is a hairstylist- I AM NOT.
Because of this "safety net" I love experimenting with my hair. So in a sporadic decision to go from black to white I took to Youtube to investigate the most effective and least damaging way to push these extremes.
Thanks to months of babying my hair with hot oil treatments, deep conditioning, and transitioning hairstyles my hair was already pretty strong to begin with.
Step 1: Bleach
A lot of people on Youtube choose to bleach their hair 2-3 times but Hubs did a fine job the first time around so one bleach bath was all it took. Helpful hint: lather your hair and scalp in coconut oil to minimize damage.
Step 2: Ion Hi-Lift
This product is amazing- it got my hair to that pale yellow (inside of a banana) color you will often hear about if trying to go this color (or gray) on your own.
Step 3: Tone
I'd read a lot about the Manic Panic White Snow toner but this did nothing for me. So instead we toned my hair using WellaT14 and viola! White I was.
Now for the box braids:
Hubs and I recently took a much needed 7 night cruise to the Western Caribbean. But because my new hair requires so much maintenance I decided to try out box braids.
Like most things we only ever want the end result without putting into consideration the growing pains. 30 minutes after the stylist had left my house I had a massive migraine. Again I hit Youtube and realized it was caused by too-tight braids. I took 2 Tylenol every few hours, tried all
the methods including oils, steaming hot showers, hot towels and eventually just ended up staying in bed for 4 days leading up to our vacation.
While on vacation I received several compliments; and when sharing my woes with other braid buddies I realized this was the norm. Their advice was to take an Advil prior to getting their hair braided and to brace yourself for about a week before feeling 100% again.
