....And I'm back in Protective Styling!

Channeling my inner Diana Ross 'I'm coming out! I want the world to know, gonna let it show! lolll

Phew! As much as I love pampering and caring for my hair, as it's gotten longer and thicker my arms have started to ache anytime I'm detangling, styling etc lol. I had planned to keep my hair out for 2 weeks maximum but because I wanted to try out a couple of new D.I.Y things (which I've brought to you) I ended up leaving my hair out for close to a month! No bueno! This year is supposed to be about protective styling for the most part.

Anyways, of course my go to style at the moment is crochet braids and that is exactly what I got! I've been wondering what big hair would look like on me so I planned on getting crochet braids with Marley hair but not doing anything with it (at least not immediately). We'd just taken delivery of some really soft Marley Hair called 'Jamaican Braid' and I knew it would be perfect for what I had in mind.

So I got hold of some, and cut the length into 2 so that I would get some sort of layered look going. Braid pattern was one going all back and the hair was installed pretty quickly. Used just 2 packs of hair and this is the result!

Blowouts, Big Hair and My Twisted Updo Using Braiding Hair!

I had planned on going the whole nine yards with straightening my hair (blow dryer and flat iron) so I could do a proper length check but by the time I'd done a blow out with the hand dryer, I was too tired to be bothered with a flat iron to straighten it further, so I just made do with the semi straightening the blow dryer gave.

In preparation for my my blow out, I pre poo'd over night with my Vatika coconut oil, and in the morning shampooed with the Design Essentials Curl Cleanser, Deep conditioned with the Keratin Deep Conditioning Mask from Shea Radiance ( my hair had been in my last style for 2 weeks so I felt the need for a strengthening deep condition).  Applied my leave in (Kinky Curly Knot Today) and let it air dry for about half an hour then applied  my heat protectant and straightening serum ( IC Fantasia Hair Polisher and Heat Protectant).

 I then blow dried on low speed medium heat with a paddle brush and the above picture is the result! As much as I'd hoped to carry the 'big hair' hair look for a while, the impossible humidity made it all shrivel up in a couple of hours!