I decided to do a set of box braids in my hair for the first time in a VERY long time.  It took me a while, but here’s the completed result.  These were done on moist freshly shampooed hair, using only coconut oil.  I clipped the ends of each braid as I went.

I wasn’t very happy with the way the ends sort of balled up on each braid, so I decided to use curlformers to curl the braids.  After sitting in the warm humidity during my daughter’s swim lessons, my braids ended up flat within minutes, so I gave up on that idea.

After wearing the box braids for about 2 weeks, I took them down for me and hubby’s 12th wedding anniversary.  This is the resulting stretched braid out (stretched using this technique).  After removing the braids, I came to the conclusion that I probably will not be putting box braids in my hair again anytime soon.  After my braids got wet a few times from swimming (even though I wore a swimming cap), they were frizzy and a little hard to take down.  Although braids can be considered a protective style, it doesn’t help if the hair is too tangled to remove the braids afterward without some pulling.  Although I liked how the braids allowed my hair to show some length, I will be sticking with two-strand twists which are a lot easier to remove!

I get a lot of questions about my braid-out technique when I’m out and about around town.  I’ve been referring people to our website, but I realize that I never really updated my braid-out technique here on the site.  Well, here’s an updated braid-out how to…

Step 1:  I moisten (unless it’s freshly shampooed), detangle and braid  my hair (using coconut oil) into between 10 – 15 braids (depending on if I want a tighter or loser texture).  I went for a tighter texture in this case.

Step 2:  After sleeping in a satin cap all night, I take down each braid.  This is what my hair looks like when I first take the braids out.  Please note, if I want the texture to set in even more, I keep my hair braided for a whole day (sometimes 2 or 3); covering it with a hat if I need to leave the house.

Step 3:  To show off a little more length, I usually “stretch” my hair right after removing the braids.  To stretch my hair I take large sections (usually three) and twist each section into large Bantu Knots (check Google for plenty of tutorials on how to do Bantu Knots).  I secure each knot with a Goody Band and leave the knots in over night.

Step 4:  The next morning I remove the knots and end up with a fluffy stretched braid out. Notice the difference in length from these pics and the braid-out pic above. Believe it or not, these are from the same braids.   Notice how shiny my hair is with only coconut oil as a styling product.  To maintain this style, I roll my hair back up into the knots each night.  Each day when I take the knots out, my hair is stretched out more and more.  This is a fairly new technique for me, but I am sure that a stretched braid out can be achieved on hair from around 6 inches long…but the hair would probably have to be knotted into smaller sections (this is just a guess).   I hope this helps to answer some questions!  By the way…my technique can be used with twist-outs as well!

Coco and I are glad that you’ve decided to check out our blog.  Although we haven’t been updating the site as regularly as we used to…there’s still a lot of information available for you to check out.  Scroll down to check below for new posts.  If nothing has been posted since your last visit…be sure to check out our “Archives” section in the menu above.  There is also plenty of natural hair information in the “Natural Hair”  section of the menu bar.  If you just want to see natural hair pictures, click here (archives)  and here (more recent posts)!

Thanks,

LV of Natural-ness

Ingredients

handfuls of organic spinach

handful of organic carrots

1 organic beet (peeled)

2 organic oranges

1/2 inch piece of ginger root

1 organic cucumber

Verdict - I made this juice a few days ago and I honesty can’t remember what it tasted like.  I’m having a hard time lately getting the beets down and I remember the flavor of the beets being very strong.  I mention before I prefer beet juices on ice and I didn’t add ice this time.  Next time, I think I’ll try this recipe with half of a beet.

Ingredients

2 organic Gala apples

1 organic cucumber

1 medium lemon

3 handfuls of organic spinach

 I was going for a green lemonade, but realized that I didn’t have everything I needed, so I modified it with the ingredients above.  As I said before – nothing goes to waste!

Blueberries and almond milk are my new best friends  .  I recently purchased a bag of frozen organic blueberries from Costco to make smoothies to alternate with the juicing.  Originally, My goal was to use the pulp from my juices in the smoothies, but that didn’t go over so well.  So for now I’ve been leaving that out.  I ran across a recipe on facebook calling for 3/4 cups of almond milk and 2 cups of frozen blueberries.  I tried it out, but found that I had to triple the amount of almond milk that the recipe called for.  I ended up adding 2 1/4 cups of milk before the smoothie was thin enough to drink.

It came out good, but if you want a delicious desert alternative, use chocolate almond milk instead and about 2 tablespoons of Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder!  Better yet, try chocolate almond milk, unsweetened cocoa powder and bananas!  Yummy!!

Ingredients

4 organic navel oranges

9 organic carrots

1 small lemon

3 sprigs of mint

Verdict- I was going for a carrot juice without the carrot taste being overwhelming for the children.  The oranges added just the right amount of sweetness. I wish I could taste the mint a little more.  I am seriously considering growing my own this year so that the mint is as fresh as possible!

Yesterday’s juice Ingredients:

4 organic oranges

1 large organic beet

1/2 head of organic cabbage

1/2 – 1/3 inch piece of organic Ginger Root

The Verdict:  My daughter runs away from any juice with cabbage in it…noted, I’ll avoid cabbage juice in the future.  The rest of us enjoyed this juice and I love how the beets always give it a rich red color.  I’ve started added my left over juicing pulp to our smoothies and so far…well…let’s just say that I haven’t perfected our fruit/veggie pulp smoothies yet.  I’ve been trying to use coconut water, which I’ve decided that I do not like at all.  I’m in search of a better liquid to help our smoothies become delicious!  I may just have to go back to using regular juice.  We’ll see!

Today’s juice is a yummy fruit treat!

Ingredients

2 organic Gala Apples

4 organic Kiwi

1 Lemon

1/2 – 3/4 inch organic Ginger Root

5 oz container of organic Spinach

The Verdict:  In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with apples and kiwi!  This was an old favorite that I decided to revisit; substituting the celery that the original recipe called for with spinach and adding lemon and ginger root.

I decided to buy a head of cabbage the last time I went shopping (just to vary the juices that we drink).  So, I once again did a Google search for recipes.  It was a little hard to find one, but I eventually ran across one for carrots, cabbage and lemon juice.  I modified it a bit to the following…

Ingredients

1/2 of a small head of organic cabbage

5 small/medium size organic carrots

1 lemon (peeled)

The Verdict:  This juicing recipe is no joke!  I never expected it, but juiced cabbage is very spicy.  Combined with the other ingredients, there was also the slightest touch of sweetness, perhaps from the lemons.  My 11-year-old and husband liked it and said they would drink it again.  My 5-year-old drank a little and then proceeded to spill it all over the living room carpet…not fun.  I don’t think she liked it very much.  Would I try to juice a cabbage again?  Well…I still have the other half of the cabbage, so I’ll be on the look-out for a combination of ingredients with a slightly more appealing taste (for my 5-year-old).  If I can’t find one, then I guess I’ll try modifying this one.

On a side note, I’m still continuing my search for a new juicer.  There is so much info out about different kinds that it’s a little hard to settle on any particular one.  Based on the reviews, I’m leaning toward the following…