Winter Weather Styling

As the weather changes, so should the way you style your hair. I'm talking to my kinky curly girls. The summer humidity gives us a lot, even though it always ruins a good twist out and any curl definition you thought you were gonna have. LOL! The cooler weather gives us more flexibility with hair styles and they usually last longer with the cooler weather. Here are things to consider when styling your hair:

1. 
   MOISTURE! MOISTURE! MOISTURE! There is less moisture in the air and if you live and/or work in a building that heats using "forced air" meaning the heat comes through vents, that air can be dry as well. You may want to consider co-washing, preferably using our Fancy Free Clay Wash, more often than using a clarifying, lathering shampoo - Fancy Free will be launching one soon, I promise. Deep condition. Especially when you're getting close to your scheduled trim time. Be sure to seal moisture into your hair while it's wet or damp with an oil, Fancy Free Castor Oil Blend or butter, Fancy Free Whipped Shea. If you need to moisturize in between wash days, try a water based moisturizer like Fancy Free Milk for Hair and Skin. Matter of fact, try the Fancy Free Hair Starter Kit to decide which product combination works best for you.
   
2. 
   Protect your ends. The benefit of dryer air is that those twist outs and rod sets are going to be BOMB!!!! But if your hair is longer, be careful about how your rubs against your clothes. Even if you moisturize and keep your ends trimmed, friction with those winter fabrics can lead to damage and breakage. I have a few videos on YouTube on how to achieve a bomb twist out, as well as my favorite protective styles for longer hair. Or course, weave, wigs and braids work too. LOL!
3. Keep drinking water and eating whole, unprocessed foods. Your hair and skin are a direct result of what you put in your body as well as what you put on it. The winter holidays lead to drinking more cocktails, yummy ciders and comforting hot chocolate. Don't forget to get your daily quota of water in too. I use the "Drink Water" app on my phone to remind me to drink water. Keep the same thing in mind for fresh fruits and vegetables before you indulge in those baked goods. A daily multivitamin can help too.

Everyone's natural hair, lifestyle and hair goals require different kinds of care. It is important to figure out what your hair needs most. Once you find your routine, stick to it. Slight variations in your routine based on the weather and what you have going on in your life can make a huge difference. For me, I found that going longer than 3 weeks to shampoo my hair led to more breakage. I also tend to play in my hair when it gets close to time for a trim. I call myself untangling the fairy knots, those little single strand knots that signal it's time to trim those ends, but really I am causing more breakage than untangling. So, when my trim appointment approaches, I wear my hair in upstyles so I won't be tempted to touch my hair. That's just how I manage my thick, kinky hair. If you'd like some assistance figuring your hair out, book a Natural Hair Consultation. I'd be happy to work with you to meet your hair goals.

Shameless Plug Alert:

Fancy Free Hair & Skin manufactures quality products for hair and skin, as well as provides natural hair consults for women who would like assistance on their natural hair journey. Our motto is "Keeping you fancy and free of chemicals." Visit our website, www.fancyfreehairandskin.com, to see a full range of our products and services. Sign up for our mailing list to receive natural hair tips and stay up to date on sales and the latest happenings with Fancy Free.

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Stop Being a "Punk A$$ Chauncey": Hair Edition

One time I went out and my twist out was super popping!

One of the most "interesting" comments I hear from women of color when they compliment my hair is that "I wish I could go natural". GURL! Whet?!?! A loooooong string of questions pop in to my head. Why can't you? What's stopping you? What's wrong with wearing your hair in the texture that it grows out of your head? But I always smile and say "Awwww! You CAN!" When I hear women say things like this it makes me sad. Sad that people think that they are not going to be accepted for being who they are. Sad people don't want to wear their hair the way Jehovah made it. Sad that they accept the European standard of beauty when they are descendants of Africa. Sad that they would prefer to subject their body to harsh chemicals, chemical burns, heat burns, tension alopecia and everything else that comes along with not letting your hair just "be". Sad that they think their hair is nappy (in a negative way) and unmanageable in it's natural state. I want to scream STOP THIS!!!!! But I've been in therapy for about 5 years now and I am learning to be empathetic. I know that a drastic change in appearance takes a lot of mental preparation.

As a nerd, I gather data. About 85% of the natural consults I have are with women who want to wear textured styles but are scared of how their hair will turn out, wanting their hair to look like something they saw on the internet instead of figuring out what's best for their hair. I end up doing "hair counseling" instead of consulting. I am so happy that they are taking the first step. Even happier to help them. And elated when they report their hair "breakthroughs" to me.

Me, at work, with crazy hair
but still working.

Your hair is your hair. My hair is my hair. I have about 4 different textures of hair in my head. My hair tends to dry out. My hair flops forward into my face no matter how I style it. I stopped trying to do bantu knots, they just don't work for me. A lot of product in my hair ruins the style. I never used edge control, just Fancy Free products, a brush and a scarf. These are things I've learned about my hair over the past 7 years of not having relaxer. I have my hair routine down to a science. I rarely deviate from it because I've learned many a tough lesson.

My point is, Jehovah has designed everyone with intention and intrinsic beauty. Flaws and all, you are beautiful with short hair, long hair, straight hair, tightly coiled hair, etc. In 2017, if you are denied a job or an opportunity because of the way your hair is styled then maybe that thing you thought you wanted isn't for you. I just wouldn't encourage someone to go after that something that requires they look like something they aren't. In mind, they're gonna take whatever hairstyle you walk in there with and deal with it. You'd be surprised how complimentary people are of your natural styles. I've found that most have, what I call, "volume envy". They wish that they too could have big hair or switch their hairstyles up the way we can.

To anyone considering the transition to natural hair, my advice is to just do it. There is no time like the present. Think long, think wrong.

Shameless Plug Alert:

Fancy Free, LLC. is the manufacturer of quality products for hair and skin and natural hair consultant for women who would like assistance on their natural hair journey. Our motto is "Keeping you chemical free." Visit our website, www.fancyfreellc.com, to see a full range of our products and services. Sign up for our mailing list to receive natural hair tips and stay up to date on sales and the latest happenings with Fancy Free.

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Big Hair Problems

Big Hair is all fun and games until.....

1. You close your hair in your car door.
When my hair was long and straight, I thought getting my hair caught under my purse or bookbag straps was a nuisance. Nope. Closing my car door and turning to look for my phone in my purse, only to get yanked back cuz my hair is still outside. SMH

Yes. This is an actual bug that I
found in my hair. :-(

2. Wash day
I've got a pretty simple and effective routine but....you still have to mentally prepare. No one ever feels like tackling that alladat hair. Even the shampoo girl at the salon rolls her eyes when I walk in the door. Sorry. Not sorry.

3. Finding bugs in your hair.
You finally get yo mind right to comb your hair only to feel something crunchy in the back of your head. You think "No. My fairy knots are towards my ends. Is that popcorn? We haven't had popcorn. No. Wait! It's a bug!" Aaaahhhhh!!!
Big hair is no different than "grass" to bugs. You have been warned.

4. You can't be cute at the pool.

Pool day swag. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.

I mean you can be cute. But be prepared for the "post swimming" detangling struggle, which is way worse than the regular "wash day" detangling struggle. I'd rather not. So, I detangle and plait before hitting the pool. I look ugly but my post swimming life is way more convenient.

5. You gotta master the duck and move Matrix type back bend.
For whatever reason, people are fascinated with big hair. They want to touch it. They wanna feel if it's soft. They wanna feel if it's a weave. But no. Get yo nassey hands away from my hair. This is not a petting zoo. I do not want to hurt you by doing the karate chop hand block, so I duck and move like the Matrix to avoid the scalp assault.

On a serious note, I love my hair. The good. The bad. The ugly. We work well together. LOL! At Fancy Free Natural Consults, I specialize in helping women get through their big hair struggles and embrace it, the way I have. Check out our Fancy Free Shea Pomade for Hair & Skin at www.fancyfreehair.com.

We care about your big hair. You should too. 

Fancy's Hair Horror Story

Yes. Me and my perfect hair have horror stories. LOL! I'm being dramatic but I was kind of traumatized. Let's start from the beginning.

Bantu Knots

I did not do the big chop. I transitioned. Like straight transition with no weave or anything. My philosophy is that you should enjoy your hair at each phase of growth and naturalness. When I first cut the last inch of my relaxed hair off, I mostly wore my hair as a wash and go. My Go-To product at the time was Kinky Curly. As my hair grew, the twist out became my style of choice. Stay with me, I'm going somewhere with this.

Bantu Knot Out

Like I said before, I don't do much to my hair but I take care of it and make sure it's healthy. Healthy hair grows.....like weeds. So, now I'm experimenting with different styles for my even longer hair. Well, I have to because a wet twist out, that used to last for about 2-3 weeks, now only lasts for about 1 week. I can push it to 2 weeks but it gets dry really fast and dry hair leads to breakage. And Fancy hair is healthy hair. Lately, I have been blow drying it and styling it in an up do. Here is where the Horror Story begins.....

Sticky Flexi Rod Set

I decided I wanted to try flexirods on my natural hair. Only problem is, I gave my flexirods to my mother and then my sisters lost them. So, here I am all ready to rock and roll with the rods. I had watched the videos, figured out what kind of product I needed. I was ready. Since I didn't have my rods, I decided I would do a bantu knot out. The YouTube girl used flax seed gel and I ain't feel like making that so I looked in my product stock to see what I already had that I could use. Low and behold, I had some Shea Moisture Gel Curling Souffle from when I was experimenting with replacements for Kinky Curly. I was sold when I saw it had flax seed oil in it. Flax seed gel, gel with flax seed oil in it....same thing to me. I whip it out and get to bantu knotting.

Stick Nasty Flexi Rod Set
After 2 days in
Tampa Humidity

The bantu knots are perfect. And I let them out and they LOOKED perfect. However, they felt damp and sticky even though I didn't use that much product. *sigh* We all know that damp and sticky natural hair will never end well. You have 2 choices, push through and deal with it or shampoo it out. I decided to push through. My knot out fell and started to swell as soon as it got a little
warm in the party we went to. I tried to  one more time before I gave in and just bought some flexirods. I didn't add anymore product, just sprayed with a little water. Flexirods looked great. My hair still felt a little sticky but not as sticky as the first day.

Then......we went to Tampa, FL. It was all down hill from there.

After my emergency shampoo
and blow dry.

It was so humid. I could feel my hair swelling as soon as we got off the plane. We had to stand outside to wait for the rental car shuttle. It got bigger. So big that my husband looked
at me and asked if I packed my hair stuff with me. Got to the hotel room. It was just as humid in the hotel room as it was outside. So I whipped out my flexirods, spray bottle, and another archived hair product, Design Essential Defining Creme Gel. I kept my rods in my hair for the car ride to the convention center. It was so humid in the hotel room and outside that my hair was STILL WET when I took my rods out. I got compliments on my hair but I was not happy when I thought about how my hair looked before we arrived in Tampa. So that night, I did the same thing. Rods, spray bottle, product. But this time, I was getting this nasty dirt gunk on my hands while I was rolling it. I was so disgusted. I started plotting how I was gonna shampoo my hair with no hair products or tools.

Finally got it right!
Flexi rods with Shea Moisture
Curl & Style Milk

The next day, I didn't have any form to my style. It was a full on bush. I loves me a bush but it was a sticky, dirty bush. No go. So, I got on google and found me a natural hair stylist. Confirmed my walk-in appointment and go that guck outta my hair. She did a great job with my shampoo and blow dry. Was even open to my instructions when it came
time to style it. Thanks Ms. Nancy!

Moral to the story: Even Fancy has bad hair days. Natural hair is trial and error. Don't be scared. You're not gonna die because you had crazy looking hair. Having a bad hair day, or two, is not the end of the world. Make light of it, wash it, and try again.

Don't be afraid to do something different with your Fancy hair. That's what the Fancy Life is all about, taking chances.

Text WOODS to 55469 to schedule your consultation with Fancy Free Hair
Consults.

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