New Hairstyle-Shaved Sides.

Hello to the Beautiful YOU.

I know that I haven't been here in a minute! But Motherhood has been kicking my a**!! Truth be told I haven't had much "hair" time between my master's program, language class and taking care of my 16month old boy. So last October I finally decided that I wanted some change with my hair, I was tired and bored of the same old routine, the same looks and what not. Upon Hubby's suggestion, coupled with postpartum hair shedding and other hair madness I just couldn't deal with, I decided to shave my head. No, not Amber Rose kinda style (although I'm tempted to think I can pull off the Bald look?) but an undercut.

It's been 5 months now and I have to say that I love love my shaved sides!! It takes me less than half the time it used to take me to condition, detangle and wash my hair. And detangling now is such a breeze.

Before The CUT. 

During The CUT. 

After The CUT

I love my shaved sides!!! This was 5 months ago. I have have to shave the sides again since it grows so fast! I will update soon with the different styles I have tried so far. 

Later, 

Roots4LiA. 

Chunky Twist Out. Afro'.

Here are some shots of my hair texture after I took out my big extra chunky twist outs.  I don't like to wear my hair in an afro, in fact I have never worn my natural hair in an afro...except today! After combing out my chunky twist out I was left with an afro, which is exactly what i was going for because I needed to braid cornrows on my hair for a protective styling. Anyways, here are some shots!

The Afro*. 

Later,

Roots4Lia.

The Deep Conditioning Issue

I normally deep condition my hair every two weeks when I'm not feeling so lazy. Usually it is recommended that for the deep condition to penetrate the hair follicles, you should use a heating cap or a steamer to add extra moisture. Living in Germany it's almost impossible to find my regular hair products, which means I either have to spend a whole load of ca$$h and shop from the US amazon or pay triple the price in EUROS to get the most basic hair products from the German Amazon. I usually opt for the former, though the price of shipping always ends up doubling the amount i pay for the products. #thestruggle.

Anways, for the past few months I've been using this hair steamer to deep condition my hair, the only disadvantage is that it's not cordless and I have to sit in one place to let it do the job, plus its LOUD. It works great and leaves my hair super moisturized and soft, but I rarely use it because I just don't have the time and sometimes I completely forget about it...

So I recently went on Curlmart.com and bought myself a bunch of hair products, which I'm still trying out and will let you know how they pan out. I also bought myself a "hair therapy wrap thermal turban heat wrap". wow! that's a mouthful!! What I love about it is the fact that its cordless and I can walk around the house and do some errands while my hair is deep conditioning. It works really great and leaves my hair super soft! I also use it for hot oil treatment.

This thermal heat wrap makes my deep conditioning a breeze! Definitely worth the price. 

Later,

Roots4Lia.

Style post: Roll and Tuck

One of my favorite protective hair style is Roll and Tuck or more like flat twist and tuck?! Usually it can last me two weeks before I change it up.

These are some of my to go styles! They are so easy to do and look great. And being a mom of a10th month old, this style is an added bonus because I can just wake up and go about my day, no hair hustles!

Later,

Roots4LiA.

I'M BACK!

Hello to the beautiful you!

I haven't been here in a min! Yea, I know I've been gone and completely neglected updating my hair blog on the regular, but motherhood is a FULL TIME job and I find myself having absolutely no time to keep you guys on the know. So first things first, an apology is in order for my prolonged absence. Sorry my dear natural hair readers. I'll try my best to do a regular update!

I have some hair styles that I have tried these past couple of months, some I loved, some I liked and some I hated. Let me show you em'...


This was a twist out that went terribly wrong, I didn't like how it looked so I opted for a side twist out fro hawk...below.

A side twist out fro hawk

Bantu knot outs
I have a love hate relationship with bantu knot outs. Sometimes they look great on my hair, but sometimes not so much. I think much of it have to do with the type of products I'm using. I've only been using shea moisture enhancing smoothie for styling and truthfully there are days me and shea do not see eye to eye. I hate it then i love it, then I hate it...like when I get such results

Absolutely NOT impressed. 

I need to go back on research mode and find styling products that can give me great definition. I haven't bought hair products in a while so I think I'm about to go on a product junkie drive...will let you know what I purchase and how they test out.

Later,

Roots4LiA.

LENGHT CHECK VIDEO COMING SOON.

Video of my two year hair growth coming soon…

Later,

Roots4LiA.

Been MIA, Now I'm Back!

Wow!

Haven't posted on here in like forever! The last post I did was a year ago and since then, a lot has happened! Life has happened and it has blessed me with such grand things! 2013 was incredibly an amazing year. My whole life changed, I become a mother to the most beautiful son in the whole entire world. It's been a great journey, learning new things as I go along and adjusting to my new home in Germany. Before I jump to the hair talk, let me just summarize why I've been MIA for a whole year!

1). I was pregnant, gained tons of weight and by nature, did not feel like doing anything hair related for the whole 9 months!
2) I moved to my new home- Germany. (NY you still have my heart!) I love it here, but the natural hair scene is almost nonexistent so of course am still learning where to buy my hair products and currently on the hunt for places to get my hair done.
3) Becoming a mother has left me with absolutely no time to do my hair, heck I barely have time to shower!

I've always heard/read how pregnancy makes your hair grow, how it gives you glowing and shiny hair! WRONG!. Pregnancy left me with severe breakage. Like the depressing kind, the kind of breakage that when you wash your hair, the shower drainage blocks because you're simply shedding too much hair. The amount of hair I've lost is too much, and now at 4 months postpartum, my hair is yet to recover. It's dry, no amount of moisture can do the trick. I'm constantly deep conditioning, moisturizing and sealing, but  my ends are so rough, crunchy, and super dry that I don't know what else to do. I want to switch to deep conditioning once a week instead of every two weeks, but I simply do not have the time. I recently changed my weekly wash regimen so maybe that would do the trick, but for now my thirsty hair is in dire need of some serious moisture!

During pregnancy, I wore my hair in either kinky twists or senegalese twists. I didn't have neither the patient nor the strength to do my hair. When you're pregnant and your back is aching and you're constantly nauseated, throwing up and what not, the last thing on your mind is doing your own hair.


I had these senegalese twists done when I was 8 months pregnant. They lasted me almost three months!

Senegalese Twist.

After the take down, my hair of course was on another level of damage! But I was kind of prepared and expecting the damage because I knew going 3 whole months with a protective style was a recipe for a complete disaster. Split ends, fairy knots, dryness, breakage, you name it, I had it! Check the mess below...

Later.

Root4LiA.

Natural Hair Traveling Essentials + Travel Pics

Hello Beautifuls!

I'm excited for my one year anniversary which is coming soon!- in February. I know I haven't been updating my blog frequently but that's because I've been traveling and haven't really had much time to update. On Dec 14th, I did my hair in a protective style-Janet Kinky braids, one of my most favorites styles. I like to keep my hair in protective style especially when I'm traveling because it makes my traveling much easier. But there are some things that I always travel with, some hair essentials that I can't do without. Even when my hair is in a protective style, I make sure that I deep condition at least once a week-this is mandatory for me. I love LOVE Olive Oil deep conditioner, I don't travel without it and I always have to make sure I stock up on it before traveling.

Another hair essential I carry with me is my vatika coconut oil, this stuff is amazing. My hair /scalp gets dry really quick, so I always have to make sure that I keep it moisturized and vatika-coconut oil works wonders for me.

Last but not least, I can't go anywhere without my spritz bottle. It is a must have to for me. I usually spritz my hair twice a day, when I wake up before I get out of the house and at night before I sleep. My spritz bottle has only water in it, I usually add a little coconut oil but water by itself also has its own magic. I always ALWAYS have to spritz my hair twice a day to keep it moisturized, because on the days that I forget to give it some water, it gets really DRY and I hate dry hair.

Of course at night when I go to sleep I always have to make sure that my edges are protected so my hair is not rubbing against the pillow. I also take some vatika oil and rub it on my edges, this is something i do on a daily basis before sleep.  To protect my edges, I take a scarf and tie it around my hair, something like this... (and when I'm feeling lazy to style my hair, I sometimes leave the scarf on my head and go on my daily business).

So at the moment I'm still in Spain, I'm leaving Spain in three days and flying to Denmark, then back to Germany and finally back to New York in Three weeks. My Europe vacation has been awesome! I saw the most amazing building in Valencia, and fell in love with Barcelona.

Here are some travel pics...

 Valencia- The City of Arts and Sciences Building, Amazing Architecture!

 Barcelona- Love this place

Sugarrush

I love Barcelonaaa!

I'm Addicted to Tea!

Park Gaudi

La Sagrada Familia---One of the most amazing churches I've ever seen!

Spain has definitely been awesome. I love this place!

Next hair post will be MY ONE YEAR NATURAL! Can't wait.

Later--

LiA.