Tag Archives: Curls

DIY African Black Soap Shampoo (Liquid)

Hello Maicurlies!

I am BACK! (again lol) Let’s skip the wishy-washy and get straight into it.

Today I’ve got a new DIY recipe to share: Black African Soap Shampoo.

So as the name suggestions, it is a hair shampoo, it is all natural and yes, it is simple!

As with any commercial shampoo (which I personally don’t use) I use this to help cleanse my scalp from product buildup (my roots) and then I slowly work my way down the length of my hair. Previously I had been using Shikakai as a cleanser and I have nothing “bad” to say about it but I wanted a change and stumbled upon Raw African Black Soap.

What Is Black African Soap?

Black African Soap is traditionally made in West Africa from harvested plants such as sun dried dried plantain, cocoa pods, barks of Shea tree and palm leaves. Palm oil, palm kernel oil and water is also added to form the soap, which is left to “cure” before it is ready for use.

Black African Soap can be used for both your hair and skin ( I will have a separate recipes for the skin – I use it to cleanse my face). Some of the many properties of this soap:

Anti-fungal
Antibacterial
Cleansing
Reducing Oil productions (for overly oil skin since it does contain moisturizing properties to help balance the natural sebum produced by the skin).
Moisturizing
Helps sooth irritated skin
Reduces acne, blemishes and fine scars/lines

Recipe:

1 oz Raw Black African Soap.
8 oz warm Water (I use bottled water because my facet has hard water).
1 tsp Almond Oil
1 tsp Grapeseed Oil
1 tsp Glycerin Oil
5 drops Peppermint Essential Oil
5 drops Lavender Essential Oil

Ingredient Alternatives:

You can use any oil/oils you have at home, you must not stick by what I personally use. You can skip the use of Essential Oils (or replace them with your favorites) I like using Peppermint Essential Oil because it has a tingling effect on the scalp that helps to stimulate blood flow which helps to stimulate growth, it also has cleansing properties, anti-fungal & anti bacterial properties and smells AMAZING! Lavender Essential Oil has a relaxing and soothing effect. I add glycerin to my recipe because it is a humectant and while Black Soap has moisturizing properties on its own I don’t find it moisturizing enough so the addition of glycerin seems to boost that (but it is optional).

If you use Black African Soap, please leave me a comment below with your own recipe! I love learning and love sharing your recipes with my readers! And if you happen to try mine, please do leave me some feedback on what you think!

Thanks

Maicurls

How To: Turning an old Twist-out to Braid & Curl Low Manipulation Style

3 Replies

Hello Maicurlies,

Today I wanted to share one of the methods I use to remoisturize old hair & how I style my hair in a low manipulation style (when I went camping for 2 nights).

wrap up braid-out

So I was off to a beach camping trip for 2 nights and my hair was a MESS! I had it in a twist out that turned into a messy bun. The curls were tangled, dry and just not in a good way! Since I was camping I knew I didn’t want to do anything “drastic” especially since I would be washing my hair once I got back. I also knew I wanted my hair tucked away since sand and my hair just don’t play nice at all so I figured I would remoisturize, bring back some texture but still keep my hair tucked away.

My remoisturizing method was simple, the L.O.C method (Leave-in/liquid, Oil, Cream/Whipped butter) I also used permrods and that was it. I did not use a comb to get through my hair since I wanted low manipulation and to protect my hair during the trip I used a scarf to keep my hair up and away from my shoulders and presto.

Braid and Perm Rod Set

Braid and curl

Braid and curl after separating

Braid and curl

Products/Tools Used:

DIY Spray Leave-In Conditioner (I have two versions on my blog: here and here)
DIY Coffee Infused Almond Oil
DIY Whipped Double Coffee Butter
Perm Rods
Scarf (the next day for styling)
Bobby Pins (to hold my hair in place)

Method:

I parted my hair into sections (roughly 15 – 18 in total), spritzed my hair with my DIY Spray Leave-In Conditioner followed by my oil. I then gently, carefully and slowly detangled my hair and get rid of shed hair. I braided my hair but left my ends unbraided. I added a little extra spray leave-in on the ends, smoothed on some whipped butter before wrapping them around the perm rods and then rolling up to my roots.

wrapped up braid out

Once I was done I covered my hair at night (I kept it uncovered right until I went to bed). The following morning I took down the perm rods and using a little oil on my fingertips I undid the braids. Now if you want to have definition then take the braids down carefully to keep the integrity of the curl pattern (since I just wanted a little texture, a little volume and was going to cover my hair it didn’t really matter for me). After I took down the braids I separated my hair a tiny bit and covered my hair with the scarf, leaving a swooped bang at the front (the ends tucked away) and pinned the rest of my hair upwards. Presto: happy moisturized and protected hair ready for camping!

I have a video of the whole process:

P.s. In case you were wondering, here is a peak at the spot where we camped.

What is your go to method to remoisturize “old hair” mid-week/before washing your hair?

Thanks

Maicurls

1st Attempt with Super Large Perm Rods

5 Replies

Hello Beautiful Maicurlies,

So today I wanted to do a quick post on my first attempt with one of my newest hair tools – Super Large Perm rods!

I actually purchased two different perm rods sizes from Amazon (I will provide links to both the sets at the end of this post) but for this particular style I used the black Jumbo Perm Rods.

I bought:

36 x Diane Cold Wave Head Band ( 1-1/4 inch diameters) – Each pack contained 6 perm rods so I got 6 packs.

36 x Perm Rods Jumbo Tangerine (3/4 inch diameter) – Each pack contained 12 perm rods so I went for the option of 3 packs (it worked out cheaper that way)

I will say that the rods arrived as promised actually even earlier than anticipated! Payment and delivery went smoothly and like I said the perm rods turned up as anticipated so I do recommend buying from these sellers (based on my own experience). Please note: I was not asked or paid to mention the rods, the buyer experience or the point of purchase and I bought the rods with my own money.

My Process:

I was working with super stretched hair (heat free) which started of as a twist out, then was stretched when I used a hair donought to make a bun and finally I had two flattwists. I used a little of my DIY Spray Leave-In Conditioner to very very lightly mist my hair (it was barely damp) just so my hair would take on the curl shape of the rods and I also use a tiny bit of gel right before twirling my hair around the rods.Using a hair net and satin scarf I let my hair set overnight (sleeping wasn’t as bad as I’d imagine it would be). The next morning using a little DIY Coffee Bean Infused Almond Oil on my fingers I took my hair down and separated the curls and that was it.

Heat Free Stretched Hair

Jumbo Perm Rods Installed

Rods taken down to reveal soft curls

Jumbo Perm Rod Curls Separated

I really do love the results!

I need to practice a little on how I roll my hair because since the rods are so large it took a little getting use to (you know I am styling challenged lol). I will try different ways of rolling my hair to see if I get different curl results but for a first attempt I was happy. 😀

These are photos from day 3 of the same perm rod curls. Of course I was even happier with the results on day 3 because my hair was fluffier and bigger! Give me volume…give it to me!!!! 😀