before and after: twistout and dominican blowout

so i may have mentioned that my staple style has been twistouts...but i have never posted a picture, mainly because my camera batteries were dead and my webcam photos left something to be desired. however, i recently got some new batteries from a friend (YAY!) and was able to get my camera whoring on.

PROCESS:

• cowash with aussie moist
• add leave-in (probably more aussie moist) and seal with EVCO
• 5 flat twists on damp hair; unravel in the AM
• retwist at night
  

i repeat every 2-3 days...not because it's messed up, but because i want the water on my scalp.

on the 25th, my paycheck was burning a hole in my pocket so i decided to go get a dominican blowout. the last time i had one was about a year ago, and although i was afraid the same thing would happen with an incompetent stylist and a sudden thunderstorm on the way out (it did, in fact, rain that day...again), i went for it.

i went to my former salon instead of the newer location in my hometown, hoping that would make a difference since more stylists are usually at the first location. turns out i was right -- i don't usually see the same girls on repeat visits since they shuffle them like a deck of cards, but i saw a girl at the front desk that i was pretty familiar with and took it as a good sign. not afraid of opening my mouth anymore, i looked at her and said "do you have anyone here that is good with natural hair? the girl at (the other location) messed me up the last time i went there." she chuckled a bit and motioned for me to sit, then pointed out a tall slender girl with beautiful black and fire-engine red highlighted (it's hard for me to say that without it seeming like an oxymoron, but it looked great!!!) BSL hair. i was dismayed when i realized she didn't speak much english...as a matter of fact, she sounded like the russian chick from ray-j's show...but i decided to give her a shot.

bottom line? i'm so glad i did. she began by leaving me under the dryer with DC in my hair for 30+ minutes...this was TREMENDOUS when i thought about how the last girl made me get up after 8 minutes. she happily obliged when i passed her the nexxus heat protexx i brought with me, and added some CHI silk infusion of her own to my hair prior to blowdrying it. she rolled my hair UNDER to get it straighter, and even passed the most important test -- the TRIM test. clearly i was ecstatic that it was she who trimmed my hair and not the other stylist...the one with broken off, bleached NL hair who had the nerve to make her clients wait while she got some tracks installed and rollerset. i mean, i do now feel as if it is a cardinal rule to get your hair trimmed by those with hair equally as long as (or longer than) your own, so i felt confident that she would do a great job, and she did. i was initially nervous when she cut before i was able to finish saying "i would like to see where you are going to cut before you do it", but she saw the expression on my face and said "it's ok" -- while holding out the damaged ends in her palm for me to see! by this point, i was in awe and said nothing else to her except for "please wrap my hair for me, it's raining cats and dogs out there!"

the real test to me was once i got home and unwrapped my hair. i knew it was great before i even removed the wrap pins -- i haven't been able to feel my scalp AT LEAST since the summer of 2007...and the softness was incredible! even now, three days later, my hair is so flowy and soft i can't believe it. of course the real test will be when i wash my hair, making sure there is no heat damage, but if there is none i think i will have to return to making DBs a regular part of my regimen. the one thing that seems to be hindering my length goals is this issue of raggedy ends, and the culprit still seems to be wearing my hair curly, even when i do attempt to stretch out my ends. -sigh- it's days (experiences?) like this that make me want to texturize, or at least BKT, my hair. for now i am fighting that urge, but maybe i need to go ahead and decide on what type of hair i would like for an install BEFORE this blowout runs its course.

as usual, there are more photos in my fotki.