Curly Sew In: Bohyme Brazilian Wave

Ever since I've been natural, I have opted for curly, natural looking extensions. The first curly weave I ever tried was the Brazilian Wave texture by Bohyme.  I saw so many positive reviews of this hair around the blogosphere and on YouTube I had to try it, but I was taken aback when I saw the package in my local beauty supply store and the picture looked like this:

source

Despite my concerns about the texture, I bought it anyway and was pretty happy with the results.  The hair looked like the picture fresh out of the package and after blowing it out, but after wetting the hair it had a gorgeous curl pattern.

Fresh install, a wet braid out was done on my leave out hair and the hairstylist brushed out my hair and the weave to blend.

To blend my hair, I usually did small two-strand twists on my leave out hair. I loved that I was able to do braid outs and twist outs on the hair to manipulate the texture to blend better, but sometimes there was a clear texture difference between the sleek, probably 3B-C weave and my coarse, 4 A-B hair.  I believe this was partly due to me being a natural hair newbie struggling to find the right products to style my leave out hair--now I know that my hair can achieve the sleek look using gels like Ecostyler and Kinky Curly Curling Custard so I'm sure I can do a better job now! I do think that this hair was a little shinier than the Halley's Curls Creole Wavy hair that I usually use now. 

horrible blending day! Look at that frizz/poof at the top!

Good hair day! I was told I looked like "Joan" from Girlfriends! 

As with any kinky/curly hair, you have to handle the hair like you would your own to avoid tangles and knots.  I've heard of some people straightening this hair, but I never tried it. I would buy this hair again.  The hair is very soft,  pretty, and versatile, and a major benefit and can be purchased locally at beauty supply stores (I hate having to wait for shipping!) or online at many different vendors (comparison shop!).  

Have you tried the Bohyme Brazilian Wave? 

Kinky Curly Sew-in: All About My Hair

Last week, I got a new sew-in.  For this install, I tried out the Kinky Curly hair from All About My Hair. 

picture from the website

I was a little nervous about how it would blend, but the one good thing about the All About My Hair website is that there is a customer gallery, so there were a ton of pictures of different people rocking the hair at different lengths.  I was going for a natural look, so I ordered a 4 oz bundle of hair in 10" length and a 4 oz bundle in 12" length.   Surprisingly, I was able to achieve exactly the look that I was going for, and the hair blends perfectly!  

 Top L-R: fresh out the pack; wefts while wet. Bottom L-R: fresh install; 2nd day after blending. 

It's still early, but so far I'm in love with this hair! It is the perfect length, it feels so soft and responds well to the products I use on my own hair, and I only need to use a little water and gel on my leave-out hair to blend. I did read that that this hair is a little difficult to manage--which can be expected given that it is curly hair--but it feels as if it is actually easier to manage than my natural hair  because it doesn't get as dry as my hair, and I don't have to be as gentle with it as I am when styling my natural hair. I'll post updates in a few weeks!

Summer Protective Style: Halley's Curls Sew-In Weave

My hair needed a break from daily styling--and so did my fingers--so I got a sew-in! I love big, curly hair so that was the look I wanted for the Summer, and as luck would have it I won a $150 store credit to Halley's Curls during one of their twitter giveaways.  I purchased their Creole Wavy texture in 16" and 18" lengths.  Here's how the hair looked fresh out the pack: 

Fresh install:

I've been blending the hair by braiding my blow-dried leave-out hair into the extensions and then taking it out each morning.

Blending, after a few days: