Hairstyle: Puff, High Ponytail

It has been a little over a year since I last relaxed my hair (6 months wearing it natural).  I figured it was time for the moment of truth.  I should try to put my hair into a puff, see how close I am to reaching my goal length.  Puff length has been my goal length because I hate wearing my hair out and a puff is good enough for me in terms as pulling my hair back.  Guess what?  I can do it!  My hair fits into a puff!

Actually my hair goes into a puff much better than I expected.  As long as my hair doesn't resist being stretched I don't even need to worry about clipping up stray pieces!  I probably could have started wearing a puff 2 month ago (but using clips).

To get my hair into a puff I tie my hair up into an almost puff, kind of pineapple the night before.  I use a wrap (made from the leg of tights that I cut) tie it loosely around my head starting at the very very edge.  I then gradually tighten the knot as I pull the wrap into a high ponytail (pineapple).  This stretches and prepares the hair it to sit in puff position.  It also helps keep the un-puffed part smooth.  Then I put an additional satin scarf around my edges to keep them smooth as well.  I leave the puff part out to keep it from getting too smashed.

Then to make the puff I can simply take off the night scarves and wrap a more decorative one around the puff, and tighten as much as I want to (without going so tight that pieces start falling out of the puff).  If you're hair isn't as smooth as you'd want (like on days 2+), I add water (or some liquid hair product) and pudding or gel, brush the hair towards the puff, and then put the wrap around it.  I mostly used thin scarves to wrap but ribbon and even shoe laces also work well.  The key is to use something long enough to wrap around and least twice so that everything is contained, and you can pull as tight as you choose to (careful not to give yourself a headache) and then tie it.  I often tied it into a bow, but sometime just a knot.  You can also choose to tuck in the leftover pieces from the tie.  And don't forget to fluff your puff.  Obviously the style is called a puff, so you want it puffy!  I usually simply fluffed it with my hands.

*I prefer to put in whatever hair products that I'm using (pudding or gel work best to keep the puff in place) in my hair the night before, that way it will dry in place by the time I get up and make the scarf switch even easier.

But that's it!  I'm now "ruff and stuff with my afro puff, hey!"

 I was using the products in this post, Review: Lustrasilk Curl Max Products when I wore the silver scarf below.

The eyeshadow look in the picture below is from the palette I swatched here,

Urban Decay Naked 2 - Like Eyeshadow Palette Only $10, Swatches and Review

and did a tutorial on how to get the look here, Nude Plum Eyeshadow Tutorial.

 

Review: Lustrasilk Curl Max Products

I've been using Lustrasilk Curl Max hair products on my natural hair for a few weeks so I will give you a review.  I have 3 products from the line; twisty curly spray, curl activator moisturizer, and curl pudding.

This is what they look like:

      

The spray isn't a liquid, it's more like a gel (can you see the clear circle of product in my hand?).

   

The moisturizer is a slightly thicker orange gel.

The gel turns into a lotion when you rub your hands together, which means a little can go a long way.  I didn't read the instructions at first and put like 6 rounds of the orange gel in my hair, as I spread it around it started turning my whole head white and took a while to rub in.  No harm to my hair, but time and product wasted.

 

The pudding is pretty much like actual pudding, it's a mix between gel and lotion.  A creamy gel.

My Review:

I used all 3 products together on my damp, just cowashed hair.  After a few minutes, before my hair was even dry, I really did notice that the products brought out curls.  I had a super curly afro!

 

There is no strong hold though, so once you sleep on the curls they'll never be the same.  My hair didn't feel dry and it was soft and fluffy.  Being that I tend to wear "fluff and go" types of hair styles, I found this product to be great for that purpose since my hair was soft instead of stiff (as with gel).  That being said, ecostyler gel still gives me better, tighter curls, but they are hard and stiff.

 

Pictures above are the day after using the product (I washed my hair the night before, used the product, air dried and slept on my curls, then styled the next day).  I don't think it's as curly as before since I slept on the curls, but I still looks more like puff of mini curls as opposed to just an afro puff.

The second day looked pretty similar as well...

Some days, if I had a few extra minutes, I used the spray, or both the spray and moisturizer in order to help with my hair fluffing.  Using the products really made my puff even bigger so, dare I say it, the two seem to help stretch the curls pretty well after sleeping on it (which compacts and shrinks afro hair dramatically).

The pudding seems to be the most necessary aspect of really defining curls.  I tried once using a generous amount of all 3 products (on freshly washed damp hair).  Generous, as in more than I probably should have used (my hair was dripping product), but got this nice well defined curly 'fro (from the pictures above).

And I tried again using small amounts of the products (my hair was just damp with product), and didn't notice very defined curls.  

Warnings: 

- Be careful with the amount of pudding you use, it looks milky white in the container and it will look milky white in your hair if you leave globs on.

Notice the white globs, my hair is damp now but when it dried you could still see the globs.  Wipe the excess off!

- Don't add ecostyler gel unless you want your 'fro to look like a dandruff filled, dirty bird's nest hot mess!  Seriously, don't do it! 

I tried to "freshen up" my puff by adding water and gel (because I had no time to wash my hair).  I think it looked good the first day, the gel brought out new curls and all.  The next day when fluffing my puff I noticed gel residue coming out so I made a mental note to wash my hair when I got home (because I hate residue).  When I got home and looked in the mirror I noticed white residue everywhere!  All up in my puff, all in the rest of the slicked back portion of my hair, everywhere!  My hair was basically gray because of the white residue mixed with my black hair.  It was sick!  And because I rarely look in the mirror I didn't even notice it all day!  Hopefully no one else did either because no one said anything to let me know that my hair needed help.  Uck!  I digress, the moral of this story is

LUSTRASILK PUDDING + ECOSTYLER GEL = GROSS RESIDUEY HAIR

Conclusion:

I like this line of products. 

Lustrastilk Curl Max spray, moisturizer, and pudding didn't dry out or harden my hair, but kept it soft.  It did define my curls but didn't really hold them after they've been smooshed.  The spray and moisturizer are useful for helping to stretch and puff my hair out.  As long as you don't try to mix the product with gel and don't leave big clumps of product in your hair, there will be no residue. 

4/5 Stars   Lustrasilk Curl Max twisty curly spray
4/5 Stars    Lustrasilk Curl Max curl activator moisturizer
3.5/5 Stars   Lustrasilk Curl Max curl pudding