How to Make Flower with Hair *Roll & Pin Method*

Brown Girls Hair

This is a quick tutorial of how to make a flower out of your hair or in other words, how to make your hair look like a flower! This is perfect for all ages and hair types.

Click HERE for the tutorial of the entire hair style!

My "MUST HAVES" Natural Hair Survival Kit!

Happy Thursday Brown Girls!

Conditioning with TRESemme'

I had one of our lovely Moms, who follows our channel, to send me a note today on Google+. Here's a small excerpt of her issue:

I am currently raising an 8 year old granddaughter and am not very hair savvy and with so many products to choose from and such a tight budget as I currently have, it has been very challenging trying to find the right techniques and products. Thanks to you and a few others who make little girl hair care vids, I have finally gotten her hair and scalp a little healthier, (scalp used to be extremely dry). Now I am working on her hair texture. Having difficulty keeping the moisture in. But I was amazed when I washed it this past weekend at how "thick it has gotten! Please continue doing your videos because I am so very tempted to get this child a perm!....lol! But every time I look at your vids, I am encouraged, it is just difficult when you can't really afford the products, at least I am not out just spending willy-nilly and finding out that things that I spent a mint on don't work for her. Today I was looking at the As I am and the Shea moisture lines. I am still confused about these curly pudding and curl meringue products. I am always thinking these manufacturers are just trying to get you by making the product sound like yummy foods. If you have any suggestions of what main items I should get, I appreciate it.

I responded to her, but I also told her that I would put more information in a blog post. So here it is!

These are my suggestions of MUST HAVE PRODUCTS for girls with THICK COURSE NATURAL HAIR. Because this is the type of hair that my daughter has, I am going to share with you the products that I can't live without. Let me repeat, These are the products THAT I can't live without.

With that being said, I know that my list will not work for everyone, but I am sharing the must haves that work best for US on our journey :)!

Please READ the paragraph below FIRST!

**I am NOT including any high end product on this list which means that this list does not contain ALL of the products that we NEED, it just contains the products that I would want if we were stranded on an island somewhere. This list only includes inexpensive products that I keep on hand at all times. When my money is funny, I can survive with these items! LOL**

Hair Products

1. TRESemme' Conditioner- makes detangling a breeze period!

2. Just for Me Moisturizer- when all else fails, this always works for us! Clears up her dry hair with the quickness!

Hair Supplies

1. Wide Tooth Comb- it's impossible to detangle her hair without one!

2. Rat Tail Comb- to make straight parts.

3. Goodie Outchless Ponytail Holders

4. Satin Bonnet or Head Wrap

That's really it! You notice I don't have a bunch of hair products on my list. Why? because it really doesn't take all of that to survive. Sometimes the basics are enough.

What are the MUST have items for your daughters hair?

Spring Break Braids

Brown Girls Hair

Crystal Swain-Bates Books Reviewed

My daughter had the pleasure of receiving 3 books from an awesome lady named Crystal Swain-Bates!
She is the author of 5 books that fill the much needed niche in the African American literary market. My daughter was so excited when she opened up the package and saw books that featured characters that look like her!

It was so much fun capturing her discovering these books on camera. I will post the video version to this review later in the week! It will be very fun to watch, I promise! You will get first hand how my daughter feels about each book!

This written review is more of my point of view. The video will be solely my daughter's point of view.

I took some pictures of the front and back covers of each book so that you can see how beautiful and creative the characters look!

The first book that we will review is called Color My Fro!

Color My Fro by Crystal Swain-Bates

This is a coloring book that caters to women and girls of all ages! All of the characters have cute natural hair styles. The fashion is very chic and fun! It's even better that you can color them to look however you desire!

My daughters choose this book first to explore. I'm sure it's due to the fashion! She loves clothes! If your little one is a fashionista, I'm sure she'll love this one too!

Color My Fro: In celebration of the beauty of black women with natural hair, 31 big-haired fairies, mermaids, warriors, models, cheerleaders, and fierce divas grace the pages of this coloring book. Fun for any occasion, “Color My Fro” is perfect for natural hair lovers of any age.

Brown Girl Enjoying Color My Fro

One of my favorite pages in Color My Fro

SUPERMOMMY by Crystal Swain-Bates

Suppermommy is about how a little girl feels about her single mom! I must say when we first opened up this book, I didn't think my daughter would relate to it because she's not in a single parent home! To my surprise, she totally could relate to it because GREAT Mom's are great single or not! We both loved the story line in this book. It captured both of our attention as we read it! This is a must have for all households that have a Supermom involved!

This is a very easy to read book and the illustrations in it are awesome!

Supermommy: Perfect for children in single-parent homes, this picture book celebrates a single mother’s seemingly supernatural ability to care for her children, at least in her daughter Miadora’s eyes as she attempts to showcase her Supermommy at her school’s show and tell.

The Colorful Adventures of Zoe & Star by Crystal Swain-Bates

This is the perfect coloring/activity book for Spring Break and Summer Vacation! It carries you through and adventure with the girls while giving fun and exciting activities to do along the way! I love the way this book encourages girls to have self confidence and to explore all of the positive possibilities that life has to offer not to mention the natural hairstyles that they are rocking in this book!

The Colorful Adventures of Zoe & Star: This book follows the afro-sporting Zoe & the braid-wearing Star as they imagine themselves as scientists, veterinarians, fairies, princesses, and more! Follow them throughout over 45 fun-filled coloring and activity pages that inspire creativity, promote self-confidence, and celebrate diversity.

Crystal didn't forget about our boys, she has also written a book that is especially for them. We didn't get a chance to review it, but for those of you who have little boys, buy it for them! I'm sure based on the books that we have, they won't be disappointed! The description of the book follows:

The Colorful Adventures of Cody & Jay: This book follows Cody & Jay as they imagine themselves as scientists, race car drivers, superheroes, artists, and more! Follow them throughout over 40 fun-filled coloring and activity pages that inspire creativity, promote self-confidence, and celebrate diversity.

All of Crystal Swain-Bates books are published by Goldest Karat Publishing.  You can purchase them on that site or on Amazon.com. They are all less than $10 each!!

We are sure you will enjoy them as much as we are!! Stay tuned to our YouTube channel for the video version of this review!

Click HERE for the video!

Tutorial of our Popular Easy Cornrow Hairstyle

Brown Girls Hair

Since this is our most popular hairstyle on the Blog and Pintrest, I decided to do a tutorial of it on our YouTube channel.

*Madame You* Best Natural Hair App Available

Happy Monday Brown Girls!!

I was searching for a good natural hair app last week and I came across one that I am so excited to share with you. It's hands down the best app that I have seen on the market for a natural hair community. There goal is to provide a platform where you can share hairstyles and discover products with a community of girlfriends.

One of their main goals is for you be able to match up your hair with hairstyles and products that are most fitting for your hair type! Now that's cool!

It is called Madame You. It is very NEW. It was founded by the 3 lovely co-founders of Techturized Inc. Jess Watson, Chanel Martin, and Candace Mitchell.

Watch the video for more information on these lovely ladies!

If you like to get in while a project is on the ground, this would be one to jump on. They are based in Atlanta and are super friendly. When I found the app, I e-mailed them to let them know how much I like it and they were are so friendly. Be sure to download the app and upload your hairstyles to get involved in this community that will soon be one of the best resources available.

This is how the app looks!

Icon

Madame You App

Screen Shot of App

MY Profile

Download this App NOW!! Don't miss being apart of this!

www.madameyou.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/Techturized

Halloween & Party Hair

This a very easy way to add color to the hair without using chemicals or items that have to be washed out of the hair. You can use ribbon, but it's more expensive. 

Items Needed: 

Yarn(soft) or Ribbon & Scissors

This is perfect for parties, halloween, and sporting events!! 

How To Do It

1. Prepare the yarn by cutting pieces twice the length of the hair. 
2. Add it to the hair by putting the midpoint of the yarn close to the root of the hair and tie a knot (see video).  
3. Style & Go
4. To remove it, if you tied a knot, cut it out being very careful not to cut the hair. If you made one single tie, gently pull them out.

How I Co-Wash

Brown Girls Hair

I have mentioned before how sometimes I may wash my daughters hair with cornrows/braids still in it. A few days ago, that's exactly what I did.

I had just completed a cute hairstyle on her hair and the very next day we went on a family "back to school" picnic. At the picnic, she went swimming. I told her, you can go, but please don't get your hair wet because I just styled it yesterday and you know how you don't like getting your hair washed right? She agreed (for the moment)! LOL

Of course I knew she was going to go back on her word so I already had my mind straight about the more than likely possibility of me having to wash her hair. Once she got in that water and met a few friends it was over. The hair was wet, which meant I had to wash it.

I decided to co-wash her hair for the first time. For those of you who may not know what co-washing is, it's when you wash the hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. I used TRESemme' moisture rich conditioner.

TRESemme' Moisture Rich

I was very bold because this was also my first time in almost 2 years washing her hair without it being in plaits. (I normally put her hair in four sections, plait each section, then wash it with the plaits in it. Doing it that way helps me decrease the amount of tangles and almost eliminates the need to detangle her hair which ultimately saves time and prevents breakage.)

I didn't use a wide tooth comb this time. I used my fingers to detangle her hair. It took me a long time to go through it with my fingers, but it was well worth the time and effort. I am totally pleased with the cleanliness of her hair and how tangle free it was.

She will not be doing anymore water activities this year and her next washing will be in 6-8 weeks. Sooner if needed because she's going to be cheering this year (somebody pray for me)! I love football. I have 3 boys, 2 of them still play the sport, but this cheerleading stuff is not my cup of tea! LOL