As part of my personal mandate to co-wash more and wear protective styles, I experimented with a new style and am happy to announce that it is my new staple look for a while: a nice thick bun with a bang. I achieved this new look with the following regimen:

• Co-washed with Joico's Moisture Recovery Conditioner. I made sure to gently scrub my scalp to avoid product build up.
• Sprayed "It's a 10" Miracle Leave In into my hair and wrapped it up in a T-Shirt for about a half hour (the t-shirt drying method)
• After airdrying my hair in the T-shirt for a half hour, I took down the t-shirt and let my hair airdry loose until about 80% dry
• When my hair was 80% dry, I prepped my hair with some Biosilk Sllk Therapy Serum before blow-drying with a Denman Brush and my professional Twin Turbo blowdryer (see my technique here on YouTube)
• After blowdrying, I moisturized my hair thoroughly with organic coconut oil.
• Then I smoothed my hair back into a bun with Organic Root Stimulator's Olive Oil Hair Lotion and used a black elastic hair band to hold the bun in place (I created a ponytail with the elastic band and then tucked in the ends of the hair to create the bun. Simple, right? :))
• I smoothed my edges back with Creme of Nature's new Argan Oil Perfect Edges Edge Control Hair Gel
• I flat ironed my bang with a Babyliss Flat Iron (I didn't flat iron any other portion of my hair).

I love this technique and how my hair turned out overall because I normally blow dry and flat iron my hair after washing it or co-washing it. However, I can create an even thicker bun if I avoid flat ironing the rest of my hair. Plus, I am trying to give my hair some time away from the flat iron so I can encourage my hair to reach full bra-strap length (it is partial bra strap length and I have been conducting search and destroy split end trimming to keep my ends healthy and thick) and then push towards mid-back length (can't wait!!!). My goal is to reach partial or full mid-back length by the end of this year and I truly believe it is possible by cutting down on flat ironing. 

Side note: The reason why I don't mind blowdrying my hair is because I actually air-dry my hair for the most part, I prep my hair with a protective serum, and I only blow dry (using my usual blow dry technique as seen in my YouTube video here) to further smooth out my roots and lessen the tension between new growth and relaxed hair at the line of demarcation.  I avoid blowdrying my hair when it is mostly wet, since the hair will undergo unnecessary heat treatment and possible damage.

Here are some side pics of my new style: 

-Written by: Kris