Old Reliable - Box Braids

We decided that since we just had to trim Syd's hair due to damage, maybe it was time for a little protective styling. We've been doing twists almost non-stop for months, so we settled on one of our favorite protective styles - box braids.

I did these braids on Syd's straightened hair, which made parting her hair a breeze. I used my regular crescent shaped parts, starting in the back and making half-moon shaped parts that build on each other as I move up her head. I also added a bit of Bee Mine Curly Butter to each little section before I braided it.

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Since her hair was straight when I braided it, the ends didn't have any curl to keep the braid from unraveling. To fix that, we just wet the very ends of her braids with water and some Bee Mine Luscious Balanced Cream Moisturizer after the style was complete. The ends coiled right up, ensuring that the braids won't be able to unravel on their own.

These braids have already been in for almost a week and they still look fabulous. I wonder how long they will last!

Straightened Out And Cut Off

The ends of Syd's hair have been looking kind of rough for a while now. Several factors joined together to cause that damage, including the cold, dry winter, more "out" styles as she gets older, and the fact that Syd is learning to do her own hair. Let's face it - natural hair in the hands of a beginner is probably going to get a little damaged. No biggie, though. We just decided to cut the damaged ends off and keep moving. It's only hair...it will grow back in no time.

I usually trim her hair while it is in small twists (you can see a post about that HERE), but this time I decided to straighten it with a flat iron and then cut it. After all, it had been over 2 years since Syd's hair had been straightened. We were both interested in seeing how it looked all straightened out. Here's what we did:

Syd washed her hair and I detangled it, added some Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer, and banded her hair overnight.

Starting in the back, I removed one section of bands. I added some heat protectant and used a flat iron (set to med-high) on somewhat small sections of hair at a time. I tried not to go over each section more than once, but I did need to make a second pass on a few sections. Bottom line, I used as little heat as possible to get the desired results. This took the first back section from this:

to this:

(Yes, I did this while we were both sitting on the floor....lol)

I then repeated the process for the other 3 sections of banded hair. When I finished, I was actually shocked that her hair reached her waist. I didn't realize it had gotten quite that long!

I let her wear her waist-length hair down for a day, but the following day I followed through with her hair cut. Instead of taking her to a salon, I opted to cut her hair myself. If you choose to do this, I cannot stress enough the importance of using hair shears. Do not use your regular household scissors, as they are not sharp enough to cut your hair cleanly. They can tug and pull at your hair as you're cutting, and you will have damaged ends on the hair that has just been cut. Talk about counter-productive! I digress...

I ended up cutting between 3 and 4 inches of Syd's hair, just to be sure we removed all the damage.

The shadows in this picture make the ends look really uneven, but by the time I realized it, her hair was no longer straight, so I couldn't take a better pic. :/

Day 3 of straight hair was Easter. Since her hair was still looking good, I decided not to do much styling. I just made 2 french braids around her hairline and brought them around to meet in the back. 4 minutes and we were done!

After 4 days of straight hair, Syd spent an afternoon being very physically active, so she got sweaty and her straight roots began to get puffy. We knew it was time to move into another style. She liked having her hair straight...she was amazed at how easy it was to comb. But that being said, she still truly loves big hair, so straightening will remain something that only happens on rare occasions. You just can't argue with her "bigger is better" hair theory!

BIG NEWS - We're Going Back!

Remember when Syd and I went on a missions trip to Guatemala last year? If not, you can see a bit about that trip HERE. Well, as you probably guessed from the title of this post, we're going back!

Take a look at the difference that can be made when a group of willing individuals team up for the good of others:

A pastor, his wife, and their FIVE children were living in the bamboo hut below when we arrived in Guatemala last year:

The kitchen was an open flame inside that filled the house with smoke whenever food was cooked.

And all seven people lived and slept in a single room:

But after we were finished, they had the concrete block house shown below...complete with 3 rooms and a separate kitchen so they never have to live in a smoke filled house again.

We also reached out to people like this poor little guy. He looks as though he's been crying, but that's not the case. In fact, he had a severe case of pink eye and his family didn't have the money to take him to a doctor. Things are different there. There is no such thing as a free clinic in town. If not for the medicine we gave him, there's no telling how long this little guy would have suffered.

We hope to make an even bigger difference this year!

Our trip will last 8 days, from August 4 - 11. During that time, we will be giving up the first-world luxuries we all take for granted - toilets, running water, hot showers, air conditioning, etc. We'll be trading those luxuries for the third world conditions the people of rural Guatemala face every day of their lives.


While we are there, we will be helping with construction projects, distributing food, conducting medical clinics, loving on the children of the village, and much more. We are so excited to go be a blessing to people, and we will definitely be sure to share our experiences with all of you again this year.

I mean COME ON! How can anyone resist the chance to go make a difference when it means you get to see adorable little faces like this one??? :D

 
The lifestyle there is rough, but another challenge for us when it comes to trips like this is the cost of the trip itself. The total cost of this trip is $1300 per person, which means $2600 for us. We are doing what we can to change our lifestyle while we raise the money....no more cable, a streamlined food budget, etc. But we could still use some help from those who are willing and able.

One way you can help is through the purchase of Huffleblossoms products. You may or may not know that I am the owner of Huffleblossoms, which has thus far been specializing in fabric and duct tape hair flowers. (Yes...you read that right....duct tape hair accessories!) But stay tuned because starting next week, Huffleblossoms will also be selling necklaces and earrings at very affordable prices. Super excited about that!

From now until we reach our financial goal, every bit of money Huffleblossoms brings in will go toward funding this missions trip. Visit our etsy store at huffleblossoms.etsy.com.

If you feel led to help us in a more substantial way, you can follow the link below, which will soon be added to the sidebar on the blog. It is simply a way to donate through paypal to help us reach our goal. Also, feel free to share the link!


http://www.payitsquare.com/collect-page/5219

If you're not able to sponsor us financially at this time, we completely understand. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Wordless Wednesday: Curly Cousins

Quick Pretty Style with Twists

There was a dance at Syd's school last week. It was really just an informal thing where most kids wore jeans, but Syd and her friends wanted to dress up....so they did!

(Gotta love it when they display their personalities with confidence!)

Syd's hair was in about 120 twists, so that meant parting for an intricate style was out of the question. Then I remembered that there was still a center part under those twists from the cornrow style she had before I did the twists.

I decided to use that center part and make two french braids that met at the nape of her neck. I gathered the ends of both french braids into one ponytail and added a flower that coordinated with her dress. The style took less than 5 minutes, but definitely looked nice enough to wear while all dressed up.

 

And because I'm a proud mom who loves showing off my pretty girl, here's a shot of her right before she walked out the door. :)

Twists to Twists, Still No Comb

Hi all. I apologize for my recent absence. My computer decided it was finished working for me, so that was that. But now we're back, and I wanted to give you a hair update from these past few weeks.

The last time I posted about Syd's hair, I showed you how I created this twist style without using a comb to detangle between styles.

Well here it is, a month after first doing that simple twist style, and I still haven't used a comb on Syd's hair. Sounds crazy, huh? Here's what we've done.

After a week, the twists I mentioned above were looking pretty rough...we never get much more than that out of such thick twists. So I removed the twists one at a time, used my fingers to gently detangle and remove shed hair, sprayed the hair with plain water, added a bit of styling product, and then made a new twist out of each of the tendrils that resulted from the previous twist coming out. Does that make sense? Basically, each twist became 2 twists. Her hair went from this:

To this:

The new set of twists lasted about a week and a half. They didn't look horrible yet, but I knew it would be another week before I could devote some time to Syd's hair, so I figured I'd be proactive and style while I had the chance.

It had been a few weeks since her hair had been washed with shampoo, so she shampooed her twists before I styled them. Then I did the exact same thing I had done before: remove one twist at a time, detangle with my fingers, spray with water, add product, turn each old twist into 2 new ones. Here's what that process looked like.

10 day old twists, after being shampooed earlier in the day:

2 old twists becoming 4 smaller new ones:

The end result:

We're just about 2 weeks into these latest twists, and they're not looking too bad at all. I'm pretty sure we'll keep them for another week....I'll let you know!

So in the last several weeks, Syd has gone from cornrows to big twists to medium twists to small twists....all without a comb touching her hair. And this means little to no damage caused by detangling and styling. Can't beat it!

Wordless Wednesday: Syd With A Mic