Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Fall is here!

 


 

Yes, it's officially fall here in the ATL! I'm sure those of you that reside in the northern states are like, duh it's been fall for a minute now, but down here in Hot Lanta it takes a while for us to cool off! Personally, I'm not a fan of cold weather but it's undeniable that the cooler temps provide the opportunity for every real fashionista  to bring out the big guns (beautiful wool coats, fierce leather boots ect.)  and showcase what you can really do on this catwalk of life!
 
Here are some looks that I am absolutely feeling for fall/winter. Hope you enjoy!





 
 
 
 
 
 

















 
 
 
 
 



Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The Joys of Thrifting!



I love thrifting! I mean why spend hundreds of dollars at the mall when I can go around the corner to my favorite consignment shop and spend so much less! For instance today I found this Bebe Kim Kardashian Collection Romper for only $8 at Value Village Thrift Store, and If you are familiar with the Bebe brand, you know how pricey their pieces can be.To me, being a fashionista is not about spending alot of money to look good, but it's about mastering the art of working with what you got!



 
 
 








 
 


 
 All of these photo's where taken by my wonderfully talented photographer and daughter, Ms. Lenora! Dat's mama's baby!

Monday, October 7, 2013

Stretching Your TWA / The Tension Method!


So those of you who have been following my post know that I recently cut my hair  due to heat damage, but it's been great because my curls are On and Poppin, and now my hair looks healthier than ever! The down side to cutting my hair though is that it is much shorter which sometimes makes me feel limited in my styling options. Fortunately, the awesome thing about life is that often times, the things that we see as obstacles turn out to just be stepping stones to elevate us to the next level! Yes, my hair is length challenged (ha, ha) but that just gives me the opportunity to be creative!

One day while I was searching the World Wide Web for some style inspiration, I came across a video by a woman named Alicia James, demonstrating The Tension Method on her bra strap-length ridiculously gorgeous hair. The Tension Method is when you blow dry the hair while simultaneously applying tension to small sections of hair by stretching out each section tight until the hair is dry (I hope that made sense.) This method is great because you can still achieve the elongated look of a blowout  without subjecting the hair to the damage and breakage that is normally caused by brushing or combing the hair during the blow dry session. At first, I thought to myself, this would be a great technique to experiment with when my hair gets longer, but then a bell went off in my head, and I realized that I could use the Tension Method now to elongate my TWA (Tiny Winy Afro)!

Here is the video I was talking about, by Alicia James,where she  demonstrates The Tension Method.

 
 
 
 

Below I've posted some pics of my recent Tension Method blow drying session!

 
1. I Co-washed with  Ausie Moist condish then twisted my hair using Beautiful Textures Moisture Butter.
 
 

 
2. Then I blow dried each twist while simultaneously tightly stretching out each section of hair. I spent about 1 min blow drying each twist, making sure that I directed the heat towards the roots/base of my hair.



3. Next I unraveled each twist. At this stage, my roots were still a bit damp and the ends of my hair were still significantly damp, but this is ok because it's all part of the process.




4. I then began performing the tension method on my unraveled twist to stretch the hair out even more. This time I kept the heat on each section till the roots of my hair were completely dry. Again I directed the heat towards the base of my hair so that the ends remained slightly damp. I prefer for the ends of my hair to remain damp so that the curls at the end of my hair aren't disturbed and don't become frizzy.




I took this pic to show the effects of the tension method. The left side (wavier side) is the before, and the right side (stretched side) is the after.




This is my hair all stretched out. Yes, it looks  a bit untamed but I'm not finished yet..lol!



 
5. The last step I performed was gently fluffing my hair with my fingers and..... these are the results!






Nice fluffy cloud-like curls!




Above, is a pic of my hair after a normal wash and go, shrunken with no stretching.  Below is the pic of my hair after it has been stretched via the Tension method.



I know it's hard to tell a big difference in the pics since my hair is only so long, but if you pay close attention to the areas around my ears and forehead you can see that my hair is hanging a bit lower...lol!






With my TWA all stretched out a half inch bigger (Lol!), I was feeling myself, so I decided to do a lil photo shoot to show off my amateur modeling skills. Ha, Ha...Hope ya'll enjoy!

 
 
 






Peace out, till next time!