3 Travel Tips for Summer Hair

By Tenisha Mercer
www.HairNista.Blogspot.com

Trip to Cali booked, and planning to go to Florida twice this summer. What are your summer plans and how will you wear your natural hair while traveling or on vacation?

Here are some quick travel tips for summer hair:

1. Plan ahead. If you know you will be hitting the beach and doing plenty of outside activities, plan ahead on how you will wear your natural hair. Be realistic, based upon your activities. Braids? Updos? Keep your styling options in mind, and bring plenty of  hair accessories, scarves and even wigs if all else fails. 

2. Go with the flow. Depending upon your activities -- and the weather -- straight hair may not always be realistic. Model your hairstyles based upon your activities. Hanging at the beach all day? Windsurfing? Swimming. Your hair won't be perfectly in place, and you shouldn't expect it to. Plus, you might be in a place with different weather, humidity and water than back home, so plan accordingly. Now's not necessarily the time to try new stuff, but you never know. New places to buy (a few) new products and why NOT try something a bit different now, when you're not at work, etc.

3. Limit your products. Now is not the time to bring your 50-11 products. No time for PJism. Pare down your products to only the essentials; now is not the time for experimentation and heavy product regimens. Only bring the must haves - conditioner and styler. And don't forget to bring small, trial sized bottles that will pass flight regulations.

Summer Hair

By Tenisha Mercer
www.HairNista.Blogspot.com

Today officially marks the official kick-off for summer.

What are your summer natural hair plans?

Will you be rocking braids, wash and gos, curly sets, blown straight, wigging it up or what? I'm going to do a mix of all of them, with the exception of braids.

Summer natural hair planning

Just like you make summer vacay plans in advance (or at least that's the plan) you also have to do a little planning for your hair, depending upon your activities. Will you be swimming, spending lots of time outdoors at festivals, super active, traveling? All may require different ways of wearing your natural hair.

Take your hair and your summer plans into account and go from there!

Snowpocalypse ATL Part II

By Tenisha Mercer
www.HairNista.Blogspot.com

Chalk it up to Mother nature, but the crazy weather can do a number on a girl's curls.

In ATL, we've had not one but two "major" (by ATL standards) snowstorms so far this winter. This does not happen, and I blame this ish on global warming! It's crazy right now. Roads are slicked with snow and 1/2-1-inch of ice.

A few weeks ago, folks were stuck on the highway for 12+ hours because they were stuck on icy roads. And more snow is on the way. We've been stuck in the house since Tuesday. I need a major trim really bad, but no one is going anywhere in this weather; travel is limited to emergency travel only, and there is a state/federal emergency declared.

With some extra time on my hands, maybe I'll play in my hair and try a new style? 

Warm weather can't come fast enough, so I'm posting these pics as a reminder of what I have to look forward to.

Summer Natural Hair

By Tenisha Mercer
www.HairNista.Blogspot.com

Summer is right around the corner. What are your natural hair plans?

Updos? Twists? Braids? Straight hair?

Please dish!

3 Styling Tips for Summer Natural Hair

Memorial Day was the official kick-off to summer and, for naturals, it marks the question: What will you do with your hair for the summer?

That's usually not a difficult question any other time of the year, but summer, depending upon where you live, can equal mad humidity. Which can meet flat, poofy, don't act right hair! Summer temps don't have to mean jacked up hair.

                                         Summertime by D.J. Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, courtesy of YouTube.


Here are three tips to keep your summer dos on point:

Give up the straight hair. Yup, I said it. Straight hair in the summer is asking for trouble. The heat plus humidity can do a number on freshly flat ironed hair, so why ask your hair to do what's probably going to make you feel frustrated -- and reach for the flat iron for touch ups? Go easy on the heat. Embrace light blowouts and styles with texture -- twist outs, braid outs, bantu knots etc.

Buy hair accessories. Nothing says summer more than a cute sundress, wedge heels, updo and flower in the hair. So invest in some cute accessories for those days when your hair just isn't gonna act right -- hair flowers, cute headbands, decorative ponytail holders, ornate bobby pins . Turn a bad hair day into a great one!

Go light on products. Yeah, the temps may be warm, but few things look worse than product dripping all down your neck and shoulders. If you're sealing in oil, remember, a little dab will do it! You don't want condish, oil, leave-ins and whatnot ruining your summer sundress.

How are you wearing your hair this summer?

Curly Fro

After tangles and matts -- and lost hair again  in the crown *sniff sniff* -- here are my twist out results with Trader Joe Nourish Spa Conditioner.

Trying to decide if this will be my go-to summer style?

It's OK as long as it doesn't rain. When it does, I'll have to pull it up. The tangles really have me scurred; I just cut a few more out last night. I don't know HOW folks with locs detangle their hair. I just don't have the patience. My hair was so matted at the middle and in some cases at the ends and gnarled with hair that I couldn't get a metal pick, pin or anything else through it, so I just snipped.

From now on, I'm committed to weekly detangling sessions -- wide-toothed comb -- once a week and finger detangling throughout the week or as I'm twisting it. And, I still need a trim badly!

I'm trying to give up the gel -- the bane of my hair's existence and partially to blame for my matted hair -- as my go-to style when I don't know what else to do with my hair.





Is this style a keeper?