My Flexi-Rod Experience & Results: Take 1

Before washing out the SheaMoisture Souffle yesterday (see my last post), I decided that I wanted to try flexi-rods. So I dressed my son and let him scooter to the beauty supply store with me :) I really want to buy some Curlformers, but I can't drive myself to spend $60 on them with shipping. I saw on YT and read reviews that flexi-rods produced the same/similar results, so I decided to give them a whirl. The prob with buying curlers is you never know how many packs to buy. I decided to go with 4 packs of the short orange ones (5/8" wide) and 1 pack of the short grey ones (11/16" wide) for the front since I didn't plan on doing small sections. The brand is Diane and they were $2.99/pack of 6, so that ran me about $15, not bad.

When I got home, I washed my hair with the SM African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo (had to get that sticky souffle out), then the SM Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo (my absolute favorite!!), then conditioned with the SM Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner. I decided since I was doing a roller set I would use light styling products to let it air-dry faster. So for each section of hair, I spritzed some water, then put some Jane Carter Revitalizing Leave-In Conditioner and her Wrap & Roll setting lotion and combed it through end to root with a small tooth comb. I really had no curling method, I was just made sure to smooth the ends of my hair on the rod, then I twirled the curler and bent each side to keep it put. I didn't go in a uniform direction or anything, I just did it. I swear, these chicks on YT make it look so easy! It wasn't hard per se, but it was a little tricky at times, especially since my hair isn't long so by the time I got into a groove, I was at the end, lol! I used the orange ones on the back and sides and the grey ones in the first two rows in the front. I was left with about 3 or 4 orange curlers, so I used about 27. Not bad, better than not having enough. I let it air dry the rest of the afternoon and night. Slept with my bonnet as usual. I have to say, it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. Though I did end up with a headache in the middle of the night that I'm blaming on them :P

This morning I took them out and the results were good. Not exactly the smoothest, especially at the roots, but I think that's because it was my first attempt. I also didn't do it to achieve a smooth look, just some curls. I think I'll try the little papers with them the next time. 

The curls are tight and the only way not to look like a grandmother in my opinion was to do the mohawk look with the sides pinned back. That seems to be my go-to hairstyle since my hair is in that in-between length. This time I used hair pins instead of side combs. I separated each curl in 3 before doing that and used an afro pick to fluff the roots a bit. I sprayed some SheaMoisture Raw Shea Butter Reconstructive Elixir (LOVE!) throughout, put some Karen's Body Beautiful Hair Growth Serum on my edges and Jane Carter Nourish & Shine on my sides to smooth it a bit. Nothing with water to ruin my hard work! I ended up using Ecostyler Olive Oil Gel on my edges last minute to smooth them down as well. It looks cute...something I don't necessarily strive for, haha. I look like Little Bo Peep or something, lmao! As the week progresses, I'll pull it out more and mess it up a bit to create some volume and oomph.  

Shirley Temple or Little Bo Peep?

Close up, sides pulled back

Bang area needs to be fluffed more

 

My hair today, quasi faux-hawk!

Not the greatest angle :/

Last night I just spritzed the bang with water and did 4 braids.

This morning I spritzed some water because it was a little too flat.  Then I put some Curl Junkie Curl Assurance Smoothing Lotion throughout, and Eco Styler Argan Oil gel on the sides and used two comb clips at the sides.

It expanded by the time I got to work, I had to re-twist pieces for a minute and undo

Going to try to fix it a bit.

Connected by MOTOBLUR

Carol's Daughter Monoi Repairing Shampoo & Repairing Hair Mask- First Impression

Heyyyy, so I got samples of the above at the natural hair meet-up last Friday and used them both Saturday morning. When I first saw that the line was coming out, I was interested because anything "repairing", I want a part of, my hair is a bit damaged because I picked out my locs and didn't do a "big chop" at the new growth. I plan on trimming the damage as I go along. I absolutely love the smell of this line ever since I first smelled it when it debuted on May 9th (ummm, I just happened to be on my way to Target when I passed by the Carol's Daughter store, I swear). Anywho, the shampoo went on nicely (it's sulfate-free by the way) and made my hair soft where I was actually able to detangle with it. I put the mask on and a plastic cap for about 1/2 hour and when I washed it out, my hair didn't feel soft, it had that squeaky feel to it where you feel like if you pass a comb through it, it will break off...so I put some Oyin Handmade's Honey Hemp Conditioner in and washed it out and it was all good.  The sweet Monoi smell was gone though. Not sure if I'm a fan of that Honey Hemp orange peel smell, but let's leave that for another post, lol. I'm wondering if I used the mask too sparingly seeing as it was a trial size and maybe that's why my hair didn't feel moisturized? Not sure, but I'm going to use it up and give my final verdict when I do ;) I wish I got a sample of the conditioner, I love conditioners :)

The 8.5oz Repairing Shampoo is $18, $16.20 if you're a Carol's Daughter member, which I am because the membership was $5 at the time :D (10% discount).
The 8.5 oz Repairing Conditioner is $20, $18 for members
and
the 7 oz Repairing Hair Mask is $29, $26.10 for members

My hairstyle:
After I applied the Honey Hemp condish, I passed some Karen's Body Beautiful Heavenly Jojoba Hair Oil throughout my hair. Then I used some Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie (great natural-ingredient line and everything is $9.99 at Target) and Eco Styler Blue gel (Stockngo is the BOMB btw!) and did a two-strand flat twist on my wet hair and took it out the next day to go to another natural hair meet-up that I will post about later. My hair looked great I must say. I'm really digging the flat twist method more than the individual ones. There are less gaps and it looks more cohesive, which is ideal for my hair length right now. Chunky twist-outs look better when your hair is longer in my opinion.

How to do a two-strand flat twist-out you ask? I can't remember, but I think I got the idea from PrettyDimples01 on YouTube, I love her vids, check it out. I am entertaining the thought of starting my own vids, but I'm not sure, I feel like there are enough natural hair chica's doing hair videos, lol.