hair texture Archives - Curly in Colorado

www.Curlyincolorado.com stretched natural hair style

Easy Up-Do on Stretched Natural Hair

There are all sorts of ways to stretch natural hair and I’ve pretty much tried them all. Thing is, I am always stuck trying to figure out how to style my hair once it’s stretched. Enter the Up-Do. After watching plenty of videos on the subject, I can finally say I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.

The Crown Braid style that I demonstrated in my french braiding video is a favorite of mine. It can last several days if I keep it wrapped up at night. Lately though I wanted something with a little more pizazz and found this look that was also really easy
to do.

This is similar to the look that Teyonah Parris rocked on the red carpet at the SAG awards last year. I like that you can change this into a mohawk style or go with a simple bun. This is truly where stretched natural hair shines because the texture gives fullness to the style.

Here’s a pictorial of how I achieved this style.

I first sectioned off my bangs with a u-shape part

curlyincolorado.com stretched natural hair style

Then I split the rest of my hair into two sections parting from ear to ear. Next, I pulled each section into ponytails using elastic bands to secure.

Now it’s time for some bobby pins. I just took the bottom ponytail and split the hair into three. I finger rolled my hair like I was pincurling it and bobby pinned the hair down towards the base of the elastic.

Finger Rolling

Roll down toward the base of the elastic

Pin Down with a Bobby Pin

I took the other two sections and did the same thing, pinning them around the sides of the elastic for a full bun effect.

This ponytail was split into three sections

I did the same rolling and pinning on the second/top ponytail and then moved on to the bangs.

The bangs can be pinned back into a pompadour or swooped forward. This is usually where I freestyle a bit until I get the hair how I want it.

Swooped bangs

I finished the style by smoothing the sides with a soft bristle brush and there you have it. So Easy!

The finished look

This Up-Do is too easy to pass up. Let me know if you give it a try!

This last couple of weeks I’ve been kicking myself for the frequent trimming that has kept my hair journey stuck in neutral. Right now my hair sits just below APL (arm pit length) in back and layered in front with bangs (when straight). My main motivation for going natural was to grow my hair longer. I figured I was on a five year plan but saw how much faster my hair grew (or broke less) during the first year natural. I was so excited and figured I would see Bra Strap Length hair (BSL) some time around the halfway mark. When that didn’t happen, I started to get down on myself and wonder what I was doing wrong. It also didn’t help that I kept seeing progress pics and videos from others who gained length and thickness in what seemed to be much less time.

HAIR GROWTH TALK AND TIPS

INSPIRATION VIDEO BY “MYNATURALSISTAS”

This week though, I watched a very helpful video that reminded me that everyone’s natural hair journey is different. It’s okay to look to others’ experiences for inspiration. However, it is unrealistic to compare my hair to someone else’s even though we may have the same hair texture and starting point. Each hair journey is a very individual experience and there are so many different variables that decide the outcome. There’s also a lot to learn along the way and we all do this in our own time.

For now, I’m going to try to not focus so much on what I DON’T have and get back to appreciating what I DO have. The longer length will come in time so I’m just going to have some fun with my hair as it is right NOW.

Category: hair texture