Simple Braid-'Do 2 09/29

Hey everyone! I am not feeling so swift today, dealing with a raging migraine. I will have a hair do up tomorrow just not the one I planned, since I am spending most of my day at work with my head on the desk.

For this look, the braid. It is one of my favorites. It makes me feel super girly and frilly even though it is a pretty straight forward side braid.
A braid I had to re do SIX TIMES, the struggle is real with this one.

Braid 1. Looked really nice i liked it but over on the left side of my head it was really loose near the nape of my neck. So I took it out to re-do it and here are some pictures and comments I wrote down for braids 2-6
2: Lumpy weird bit where braid starts:

 (sorry for the blur) 

3: "What is it with this freaking lumpy bit!" 

Next thought: Maybe i can live with it, lets check a whole head shot: 

 

"No, No definitely too lumpy and weird I don't like it! I am just going to pull all my hair down and brush it and see if that helps: 

"Ahh so much hair! I need to wash it tonight its feeling annoying" Braid 4 was pretty much exactly the same as 2-3 no pic necessary. 

I finally figured out what I was doing wrong and was making it so lumpy and driving me crazy. I wasn't gathering my hair into a low side pony before separating and braiding like I did in the first almost perfect braid. I was just swishing my hair to one side, as in the picture above, separating and going at it.. hence: Lumpy bits I don't like. 

Braid 5: well I had the BRIGHT idea to maybe just start the braid a little higher, instead of a low pony a mid pony on the side of my head and the Results: 

pretty nice: but right over my ear and it was kinda bugging me. So I took it down and went back to a low pony and here for your viewing pleasure:

SUCCESS!!!! 

Until about halfway through the morning I go to wash my hands and bend in front of a mirror and see this one really weird part running along my head -.- REALLY??! 

But I refused to do it again, I was just going to have to have a weird part. Around 2PM from all the moving (and fidgeting with my hair) I had to redo my braid and made sure to not have a weird  part. 

OH happy Nancy with a not weird part!! 

The first "Do" 09/28/14 Beach Waves-Ish

Hey guys! Before we get into the hair do I want to up date the guide lines. I will be posting "a day late" for example: Sunday's Hair Do will be posted Monday, Monday's will be posted Tuesday etc etc etc you get the idea. Reason: 'Cause I said so! Yeah, yeah a little more explination would be nice. Here's the thing. I am a crazy busy person who does a crap ton of stuff, and I am going to keep doing that crap ton of stuff I am just adding a blog. And for me to take the time and do (and re do, and re do) my hair for a post, possibly have a good cry at the mess my hair is (I am still terrified of teasing my hair) will all take time. I don't want to rush some crazy half-done post in order to get everything done. And to be honest if i have a friend who sends me a text and asks if I want to have an A&E/BBC Pride and Prejudice marathon, I'm gonna say yes. Now that aside.. ON TO THE HAIR!!!

This first hair do on a scale of 1-10 on how well I think it turned out is hovering around a 5.
For this style I went with what I thought would do the best for my hair since I have had success with it in the past. Generally I have about a 90% success rate.. this wasn't one of those times.

I tried this style on 2 day hair. Side explanation for those who may not know- that's the 2nd day after I washed my hair last.
I used a wash cloth and dampened my hair and made sure to brush out all the tangles.

My Supplies: 

• Hair Brush & Several Hair ties 
• Suave Keratin Infusion Heat Defense Leave in Conditioner* 
• Aussie Instant Freeze Ultra Hold Gel
• Aussie Instant Freeze Hair Spray**

My Method: 

After dampening my hair I used two quarter size dollops of my leave in conditioner. Worked it through my hair, and added just a small amount of gel, barely a quater sized amount. I wanted to help keep the frizz at bay and add just a little bit of hold with out making my hair "crunchy". Here is a pic of the amount of gel I used for my very long and thick hair. 

 (sorry for the blurry pic. I took this picture four times and every one of them were blurry.)

After applying the product I brushed my hair out to make sure there were no tangles. Here is my hair after the product and brushing: 

Next came the fun part!! Braids! I ended up doing three kind of chunky lopsided braids. Remember I wasn't going for pretty. I was trying different braids to see what gave me the best type of wave. One was very tight to my scalp. One was a little looser and the last was a braid I have never tried before. A friend of mine mentioned a rope style braid. You twist your hair in one direction and wrap the strands in the opposite direction. This seems to me, in my limited understanding, like it would give the best "curl". I need to practice this braid as the one I did was a complete redonkulous fail. After the braids I kind of smooshed them up into buns because I was going to have to sleep on them and I really really didn't want to have them flopping in my face all night. 

Serious face, 'Cause hair is serious bidness(yes I know you spell business<that way)  

This is the "twisted rope braid"

Crazy buns say haaai!! 

The following morning I un-braided my hair and to my disappointment it was still damp. So note for the future: if hair is that damp add a little more gel after taking braids down. I didn't brush my hair, only that "flip your hair forward and finger brush it to make it awesome" move and I sprayed it with a bit of hair spray. Like I said I didn't want "crunchy shield hair" just frizz control and a bit of hold. 

This is the "rope braid" 

 This is all my hair down "preflip/ finger brush"

TAAADAAAA!!! 

When it was still damp I really liked the wave it had. Not quite beach waves but not a scrunched do either. My hair dried maybe 15 minutes after it was all down and I took a finished shot of it as well. And since the waves were falling out (sad day!) I added a bit more hair spray (not enough, as by the time second service rolled around they had fallen out almost completely and I had "normal Nancy Hair is down Hair." 

My Birthday was awesome. I actually really liked my hair and the way it turned out even if it wasn't quite what I was going for. I have felt so blessed over the weekend with everyone just thinking of me and spending time with friends and family. I am now 25. I have lived a quarter century. This next year is going to be awesome!

*My note on my hair products. I know I didn't use heat for my hair, but after years, LITERAL years, of looking for something that helps tame my hair down for a "once/ twice weekly" use after I shower the Suave Keratin Heat Defense is the best. I have spent a lot of money on different types of product. Some of the cheap stuff, some of the stuff that makes my wallet cry (for leave in conditioner alone I have spent well into $20+ dollars for one product). For me this is the best

As for the Aussie Hair spray.. I loathe it. My hair is just too thick for that type of spray. I usually use a heavy duty aerosol type can of spray but when I went to grab my can of hair spray I learned it was near empty, and used my moms. Her hair is short and thin enough to have that kind of spray work well for her. 

I am not overly thrilled with the gel either, but I think in part is due to the fact I didn't use quite enough of it. I will wait to pass full judgement on it at a later date. 

The Idea

On this, the eve of my 25th birthday I want to do something different. I have bounced this idea around for the better part of a year. After encouragement from friends and family here we go!
For the next year (365 days) I will be trying a different hairstyle everyday. Project Hair 365- Hair for the normal girl.

Since I was a kid, I have always had about three hair styles I wear when my hair is long: Pony Tail, Messy Bun, Brushed and down. That is it. The brushed and down didn't last long; I always ended up pulling it up. I want to do something different.

The Guide lines:
1. Everyday a new hair style is to be attempted, understanding that sometimes failures will happen.
2. I will post pictures of said hair styles fail or not, every day.*+
3. I will give appropriate credit to any tutorials I found helpful in creating the look, as well as give my own advice for what worked best for my hair.

Now to the fun stuff, a little about my hair:
Its pretty much insane! Not really, I do threaten to chop it off on a weekly basis though; that helps keep it in line. It is very thick. I have small/fine like strands of hair there are just a lot of them. If Disney were to turn me and my hair into a pixar girl, they would have to write a software just for my hair, Elsa's got nothing on me! My hair is long about mid-back. Once I cut my hair very short, like GI Jane short. I swore I would never cut it short again!

I am really excited to start my first look, I am going with something a little easier "beach waves" for my birthday. I look forward to posting tomorrow.

Signing off for now,

Nancy J
-The hair girl

*In the event of a natural disaster or severe sickness a post will not be made. I am human ya'll so lets be reasonable. 
+I do not own my own computer. My boss has been pretty lenient and is letting me do this on my lunch break and on my days off it will be done from the library. My goal is to have a post done at the same time everyday but that may not be feasible. Patience is appreciated as I work this out and get the ball rolling and a rhythm in place.