Highly Textured

Done for last week's Ledisi concert. It's almost summer, y'all! :o)

Remember Amel Larrieux's ill side-part ponytail back in the Groove Theory days?



It was my inspiration for yesterday (and today's) style. Enjoy.

I still can't find my camera charger, and it's driving me insane. I refuse to buy a new one, so until I find the misplaced one, we'll be having fun with YouTube. :o)

Watch the vid. :o)

I haven't been posting style pics lately because 1) my life has been a tornado and I always forget, and 2) I can't find my camera charger so I couldn't take good pics if I wanted to anyway! Argh!

But did use my cameraphone to snap today's curly 'fro (and yes, in the ladies' restroom at work, don't judge me), because I was waaaaay too excited about it.


I used a glycerin/water spray and Heather Nicole's technique (here's Part 1 and Part 2) to do it last night, and I'll probably have to do it again with a better-holding product to get one more day out of it.

But hey, here it is. Don't ever say I never gave you anything. :o)

Y'all know I gotta love you if I'm putting myself on Youtube.



(...says the chick who's already all over Youtube... lol.)

An updo, with nary a bobby pin in sight. Just a headband and a little slight of hand.

A little puff, a little bang, a lot of boing.

One of my main reasons for starting Blessed and Highly Textured was to find and share fun and funky hairstyles for natural chicks. And I've been experimenting a LOT lately, finding some great styles that have become my new favorites. But here's why I'm super wack -- I've been so excited about running around the city with my hair that I haven't taken any pictures!

I know, I know. "Shame on you, V! SHAME!"

Luckily, my friends are camera-ready, so my "styling for the blog" efforts have not been in vain.


This was an afternoon outing to the National Museum of American History. Inspired by this style, I made a single flat twist in the front and pulled the rest back into a puff, decorating it with a metallic silver double headband (which had slid back a bit when the pic was taken).

And below is a vid of me goofing off with my boy Chris at a random Saturday basketball game, featuring another new favorite style.



It's a 'fro with two flat-twists in the front. If you can't make it out on the video, I made the little police composite sketch over here on the right to illustrate more clearly.

(Admit it, you love my lined notebook paper. You know you do.)


So there, I've atoned for my negligent blogger sins. :o) What styles have you tried lately? Have you found a new favorite?

I tend to experiment when I get bored. This was the case last Monday, when I was off from work and decided to blow out my hair for kicks and giggles. I was going for the spiky, kinky-straight "rock star" look... I'm not sure how successful I was.


But then I started rolling. And pinning. And twisting. And pinning. And pulling. And pinning. And rolling and pinning some more.

This was the final result.



Taken after a wardrobe change for the concert. :o)

Roommate came home and squealed in approval. I wasn't entirely convinced, but I thought it was "retro-hip" enough to wear to the Mos Def concert that night. (Sidebar: Mos Def is so. damn. yummy.) I also wrapped it up and wore it to work the next day, though I didn't feel as hip as I did at the concert.

What say you, ladies? The verdict is still out -- I enjoy a good updo, but I wonder if a French roll look it a little too dated. I think the bump made it current, but what else could I do to make it simply fly?

(And please excuse the fuzzy photos... still figuring out this new camera....)

Two rolled twists, one bump, and a handful of bobby pins.




Yup, another one for the files. Whoo hoo!

I bought a pair of Goody updo claws a few weeks back and tried to use one in my dense, unaltered hair.

"Ha ha," said the curls. "Very funny."

Luckily the claw is very fond of the twist-out. And the twist-out loves it back. Which is what gave me my style for the day.


I don't have any detailed instructions except to roll the hair upward and stick in the clip. The claw is rather wide and has three sets of hungry teeth, so it does all the work. I only used one bobby pin -- inserted on its side at the crown -- to give me a little more lift there. (Again, this did NOT work on my hair in it's naturally thick state. For that, I'd need an army of bobby pins... The big ones.)

So yeah. This little contraption has earned its place in my hair drawer. Score one for the claw.