Thursday, August 4, 2011

Natural Hair: Homemade Mix & A Cornrow Twistout Style


A few days ago I decided to combine some of my favorite oils together with some shea butter. In the past I've combined coconut oil with shea butter and used that to seal my ends. This time, I added a few other oils to the mix.

Here's what I did and what you'll need if you want to try:

Ingredients:
Shea Butter (5+ tablespoons)
Vatika Coconut Oil (2 tablespoons)
Grapeseed Oil ( 1 tablespoon)
Castor Oil (2 tablespoons)
Vitamin E Oil (1 tablespoon)


Steps:
1. Heat shea butter so it is slightly, but not totally, melted.
2. Warm the Vatika oil (or any coconut oil) if it is solid. Measure 2 tablespoons and add to the shea butter.
3. Measure 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil and add to the shea butter.
4. Measure 2 tablespoons of castor oil and add to the shea.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of vitamin E oil to the shea.
6. Blend the oils and shea butter together with a hand-held mixer, whipping until everything is evenly combined.
7. Cover and place into the refrigerator for about a half hour or until the mix has cooled and stiffened.

I like this mix because it melts easily into the skin and the hair. It also made my hair super shiny, defined, not weighed down, and it sealed my ends beautifully. The shots below are from a twistout that I just did two days ago on dry, stretched hair. I left the twists in until I unravelled this morning.

For this style I parted my hair horizontally from ear to ear. I twisted the back using water and the shea-oil mix. I tested my braiding skills and cornrowed the front. It is tough to braid your own hair but I think I did ok. I did not braid tightly and I parted in a way that accommodated for my recovering edges. We'll see how long they last before they get frizzy!

The humidity is out of control right now so I will probably have to re-twist at night to maintain definition. To do that, I will simply re-mist with water and twist, adding more of the shea-oil mix only if needed.



And voila, there you have it! What new mixes have you tried lately?

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