Break-Time

Alright guys: nothing too new today. ...Except that I might post twice, since I missed yesterday. (Which turned into a surprisingly busy, though fun day, ending in champagne, moody playlists, and sparkly shoes with SaraC! She's kind of like my fashion-guru...okay, and my friend.)

Today's blog is a follow-up from Monday's. Speaking of: Monday night, with still a breaking furnace and temperatures--though warming--still sub-freezing, I decided to shower with a cap and hair band. That's right! I didn't wash, let alone rinse, my hair. Kept it dry and frankly, more manageable.

To be honest, I yet haven't discovered the science behind when it makes best sense to or not to rinse. (Wash- I'm pretty good on. ...Again, will discuss in near-future posts!) Really, I only based this one on time, laziness, and warmth. However, my decis. to not rinse on Monday turned out to make even more sense on Tuesday! At 7:25 yesterday morning, I stepped outside to warm my car and in doing so, stepped into the finest mist of frost and rain that, like blunt needles, pelted my face and my hair and everywhere. Therefore, based also upon yesterday's humidity, I really did make the perfect choice! Here it is:

Yesterday, my hair was on it's 2nd day of un-washed (meaning I shampooed and conditioned Sunday evening). And my hair was on it's 1st day of un-rinsed (meaning I didn't condition Monday). In instances like this, when hair is technically a few days "old," I think it always best for an up-do. Who wants stale, dry, tired strands representing what fresh, glossy, awake curls should say? Clearly, I wasn't leaving my hair down. But because of what I experimented with on Monday's post, I wanted to take today's one step further. Instead of styling an up-do--re-wetting, re-producting, re-diffusing my hair--I wanted to just do one. ...With relative closeness and ease compared to how it looked when I awoke.

Here (<--) is what I looked like, after dress and make-up (makes all the diff!), but with my hair exactly how it looked when I (begrudgingly) woke-up. Notice the frizz framing my face, but the general shape structuring the volume around my crown. Digression: for round, or even square, shaped faces such as mine (round), volume on top helps to elongate jaw-line and an asymmetrical shape, to accentuate bone-structure. (Actually, I've always wondered if there are specifically shaped styles that go, specifically with curly hair, as opposed to face-shape. Some investigating and researching I will have to do before I report back!)

As you can see: I had a lot of good factors compelling me toward minimal styling. The first was that my strands had a workable balance between both dry and flexible. In my experiences, dry is good when the strand has enough texture to style without it immediately frizzing or even breaking. Likewise, dry is not good when curls turn from ribbon-like to cotton-ball, bordering on thistle. In that texture-scenario, I most certainly would have used water and leave-in, perhaps even styling product.

After minimally-restyling my cooperating hair, this (-->) is how I looked. You'll notice that I maintained the original shape by pulling the sides back more tightly to emphasize the volume and asymmetrical shape on my crown. Here are the simple steps I followed for this low-maintenance styling.



1. Took down my hair from its original pull-back. (Again, so technical.)

2. Did NOT use water or leave-in or product. Again, my hair was the appropriate texture to work with as-is. (Think dry and more relaxed--straighter than its usual curl--like an older ribbon on a day-old gift.)

3. Pulled back the sides and back of my hair to separate it from the shorter front-layer (could be called "bangs," for lack of a better term). Let this bang-layer just chill, for the moment.

 4. Fastened hair into a regular pony-tail holder by creating a messy bun. (This turned-out a lot more polished than I ever suspected! Pays to check-out the back of your dome, every now and again.) First, I secured pony-holder around hair once, at the nape of neck (just like how you'd start any pony-tail). With the second tie-around, I twisted it once--before securing the hair--so that instead of tucking my pony under, I tucked it up. Hence the bun-like formation you see near the top. (Ah, hopefully that makes sense!) Sometimes, I do this upside-down-messy because, overall, it lends more lift to the actual pony. Instead of tugging-at the rest of my hair, it adds balance and maintains shape (and volume) more naturally.

5. To secure the "bangs" (which at this point, looked a-80's-mess!), I gathered and twisted them back once or twice, and secured with 2 bobby-pins in a criss-cross pattern. Because my hair already had texture (which happens with--I think--all hair types if they haven't been rinsed in a few), I needed do nothing else to obtain lift and volume. Voila!

Simple: Especially for a rainowy-day. (That's rainy & snowy.)

6. To tame those frizzy fly-aways that you notice in the "before" pic, I pulled back and secured with more bobbies (love those guys) as necessary.







Could this styling have looked better? Yes!!! For one, I could have used an inch or so curling iron, with some Chi!, to smooth back the volume, lending a more even and finished look. I probably could have also secured some of that messy-bun with bobbies, to create a more defined bun. If I'd been headed to an interview or a business-like event: sure. For a regular, ole' workday: this works.

Let me know your thoughts!