Wave & Shine

When I first began wearing my natural hair texture, there were so many things that I saw other naturals rocking that I thought I would just never be able to do with my own hair. In certain cases, I was very wrong! I'm dedicating this section to outlining ways to accomplish certain effects with your hair that may not work for you if you are just going natural or have been stressing out your hair with lots of heat/other chemical processes but give it a try any way. Perhaps it will work after your hair has bounced back!

I think my eyes glazed over when I saw so many pictures of naturals wearing their hair in a puff style. It wasn't so much the large mound of hair that adorned their head that got me (because I have always had a lot of hair), but instead it was those sleeked backed, shiny, wavy pony tails they were achieving. Of course my first thought was, "Oh, she must be mixed" but after seeing so many women, of all different shades, achieving the same/similar results, I had to go back to the drawing board on that conclusion.

Achieving the Wave & Shine:

You will need:

Clean conditioned damp hair

1. Gel (I prefer & strongly recommend Trader Joe's Aloe Vera Gel)
2. Your Hands (<--- Yes, I added that)
3. Soft Boar Bristle Brush
4. Satin Head Scarf

I usually do this right after I have washed and detangled for the week post moisturizing phase. If you do not like using gel at all, having a reasonable amount of leave in conditioner may be able to get you similar results but perhaps not as much hold. I put my hair up into my puff. My edges at this point are usually doing this halo frizz thing.

I bust out the Trader Joe's Gel and apply about 4-6 quarter size applications. I then use my hands to smooth the hair down. (I do this to reduce stress to my edges, lots of brushing can thin out your hairline.) At this point, it is pretty smoothed down.

I will then take my Soft Boar Bristle brush (make sure it is soft!) and brush down about 2x just to make sure the hairs are in place. This usually also helps to bring out the waves. I then tied down the head with a satin scarf (preferably black so I can still go out and do what I had to do for the day). By the end of the day (or few hours), the gel should be dry and you should have a sleek, shiny, wavy pony tail!

Caveat: If you have conditioner in your hair, becareful that there isn't too much. In most cases, when Trader Joe's gel is added to my conditioner (Nature's Gate) it does this funky glob thing, which could leave white marks in your hair (which we don't want).

Refreshing the sleekness:

I usually do not refresh, I just make sure to tie down my edges every night with my satin scarf. Again to not stress the hair & create additional product build up, I would avoid refreshing too much but if you would like to I would aim for refreshing no more than 2x a week.

• Dampen the hair (spray bottle or by cupping some water in you hand and applying). Dampening the hair should reactivate the gel that you had previously applied.
• Apply 2 to 3 quarter sized amounts (a lot less than the first application).
• Smooth down with hands and then brush gently.
• Waves and sleekness should reappear. Tie your head with a satin scarf and go to sleep!