Hi people, what's been on?

May I first wish you a happy new month!

It's March already, people and I'm marching on with the bread God baked for me...Olajumoke... me too! You hear....me too!!
Somehow balancing that bread on my head makes it difficult to settle down and update my blog as often as I would like to (like everyday) but I do try to respond to all the emails. I noticed though that some emails were about topics I'd already treated on the blog.

I have tried to make navigating my blog easier by dedicating a page titled "For Beginners" just beneath the header with links to posts treating topics I get emails about the most but maybe it is not so effective.....and I've kind of hit a brick wall on possible solutions.

Making natural hair care look easy is what I try to project on this blog, so I'm putting this out to you guys,
 'How best can I make the information (about 250 posts and counting) much more accessible?'

My brilliant idea was digging out those older posts that can answer a question I've gotten more than three emails about such as
 'How can I take care of my natural hair" or
'What products can I use for my hair that is available in the market" or
 "what regimen can I use for my teeny weeny afro"...you get the picture, abi?

I've treated these questions in different posts and since I'm not a full time blogger, I may not be able to have time to reply to these questions in detail.

I'm open to suggestions on how to make things easier for you guys and myself!

Should I continue with the re posts?

Epp me!!!

Today's post is kind of a way to offload my experiments with my natural hair and pictures on my phone before I delete to create space.....and when a girl says she's gonna offload anything, better make Lipton tea and have your box of cabin biscuits handy!
Personally, I like to chew on dry cornflakes.

Let's go there!

This blog acts like my natural hair diary. When I look back on hairstyles I've done or products I've used, it helps me out of any hair care rut. It also helps me remember what particular combo of products gave me the best results.
Maybe it will be useful to someone too.

Early this year, I relocated. I couldn't take my whole product stash with me and this forced me to select carefully, the hair products I would use for at least two months before making the trip back home.
As usual, I decided to pack the five basic products a naturalista needs which are:-
- Sulfate free shampoo
- Conditioner
- Leave in conditioner
- Styler
- Oil

The little problem I had was, which ones exactly?

I had grown used to switching up products, and putting them into different categories (mental categories as the product drawer is a disorganised mess). I had products I always fall back on when my hair wanted to misbehave, products I put in the 'maybe' pile, products in the 'give a second chance' pile and products in the 'give my sisters when they come home' pile. I also had several in the 'never been tried and waiting for when I'm bored to try them' pile (Thanks to product junkism and gifts from peeps who know what I love...
which are shoes and hair products....I have my eye on Q Redew steamer...) and of course the 'never again' pile. This is rare though because I've perfected the art of knowing what my hair would like. My money cannot be wasting nau!

To cut my story short, these are what I finally took....




First few days (two actually) in my new environment, I had long kinky twists I did myself.

I did them with First Lady Afro Twist Braid. The red was from Equal Freetress Jamaican twist hair in color 35.

Two days later, the weather was so hot that I gave up putting them in a bun and took them out. So much for 'relocation hair'.

Cold water running down my kinks felt so good.

Unfortunately the weather was still very dry and I needed to keep my hair stretched to prevent knots, tangles and splits which my fine textured natural hair is prone to.

One random midnight hair styling session (I either style at night or on the weekend), I rolled my hair in permrods.
I first cowashed using As I Am Coconut Cowash (the weather was too dry for regular shampoo), oiled with NappyGirl Growth Enhancing Oil (prevents breakage) and moisturised with NappyGirl Ubermoist Pudding (my hair always behaves with this stuff).
Then I applied Cantu Shea Butter Loc and Twist Gel (smells lovely and gives good, soft hold).I ran out of rods (used 24) and had to bantu knot the rest of the front.

This was around 1 am at night. I find it hard to sleep some nights probably because as soon as I return home I eat and crash in bed waking up around 11pm or 12. Sometimes project work keeps me up throughout the night and I can't go back to sleep.

Looking at the result the following day, I wondered why I bothered wasting space on the permrods. The bantu knots came out beautifully and I found a new combo that worked well. My usual product combination for sets was Jane Carter Twist Out Foam, NappyGirl Pudding and a leave in conditioner but I ran out of the foam.

I had these in for a week, bunned for two days after that and washed it off. I was about to repeat the steps again when it rained!!!
No  oh....not on my hair!!!

So I proceeded to switch over to my rainy day regimen. Stretched hair doesn't fare well in wet, rainy season and I was not about to waste my time trying.
I usually start embracing the shrinkage during this period.

My yearly natural hair regimen is very straightforward. Straight hair during the dry season, curly hair during the wet season.
Fight the shrinkage during the dry season (I'm more likely to win), embrace the shrinkage during wet season (something about if you can't beat them, join them...)




My go to rainy day style is the wash and go. It used to be twists but as my natural hair got longer and my arm muscles got tighter, I settled for the wash and go.

It all went well until the unpredictable weather struck again and the rain disappeared and harmattan made a comeback.

So I tucked in my wash and go'ed ends.



I had this in for two weeks just rolling and tucking every 2-3 days. I bunned as the hair began to loose curl definition and stretch out.


Then when I returned home to get more products, I spied the weave I hadn't used in almost two years ( natural hair can make you forget your weave like that...lol) and I had it fixed with a leave out in front which I later braided down to crochet in my DIY closure.


And thus begins my new love affair with weaves....

Recently, I was contacted by a company TwentySix85.com to test run a new collection of Afro Kinky weave called 'The Zoe Collection'.
The message came at a good time (I had planned to keep my hair hidden for at least 6 months) and I was happy to try it out.

According to the company,, the hair is virgin, remy kinky hair, was not steam processed to create the curls, can be dyed, straightened (with a flat iron or blow dryer), and can be manipulated to achieve twistouts, bantu knot outs, perm rod sets etc.....and it would revert just like my hair!

Personally I was sold on the 'can be flat ironed part' because my experience with curly weave was when I straightened it, it would not revert back to curly when wet. This makes me wary of the so called virgin curly hair (and they are usually very expensive) which was why I bought the Brazilian body wave instead.

I communicated this fear and was assured that this was it!



Okay o...review coming up soon when I put it to the test.....and I will!!

I currently have it on and have been posting my first thoughts on my Instagram page @nappilynigeriangirl.


That's the update hairwise.

How has yours been faring?