Announcing Our 2nd Annual Hair Show.... The Allen Family

Meet The Allen Family… 

Thanks for considering us for your Hair Show, I love your blog :) 

My name is Tavia and I'm a mom of three (2 boys and a girl). All three have beautiful hair imho, the three of them have the same hair type anywhere from a 2c-3b depending on which part of their hair you're looking at :) The boys are 9 (J1) and 3 (J3) years old, and my daughter is 6 (J2). The kids are mixed ethnicity, black, creole, irish. And they've got it from both sides, my husband and myself. 

I'll focus on my daughter J2, cuz there's not much to my boys' hair care routine. I've recently found some blogs (including yours) that focus on hair care, emphasis on "care." I have always just flat-ironed/pressed my own 3c/4a hair. Whenever it wasn't straightened I'd slap some hair gel on it and call it a day. Sadly, I treated my daughter's hair the same as mine. I combed it but didn't really care for it. I'd wash/ condition and just put it in ponytails. But now I'm realizing we can do so much more!

This hair care routine is literally about a week old because as I said, I'm just learning how to really care for curly hair. We're doing a shampoo once a week (gotta buy sulfate-free, just found that out too!) Conditioning with finger-detangling (another newbie for me), and then a wide-toothed comb. Leaving conditioner on for at least 10-15 minutes before rinsing. I then apply some leave-in conditioner and either band or braid her hair for bed. In the morning I refresh with a little water and leave-in conditioner. If I'm leaving her hair out I'll use Kinky Curly Curling Custard. We're planning on throwing in a no-poo/co-wash once during the week. This whole routine will be a work-in-progress as I figure out what works and what doesn't. But I gotta say, she is a BIG fan of the finger de-tangling before the combing out. BIG fan!

I really love what kinky curly is doing for her hair. It's so soft and smooth (no more crunchy gel)! I dislike my Herbal Essences shampoo which I found out has sulfates all over the place and which I previously loved :( Suggestions for a new shampoo are welcome! Preferably one not too exotic and that I can just find at a regular store!

We are a musical family. I was a music major in college, J1 plays electric guitar and J2 has recently started piano lessons. But one of our favorite things to do as a family is to go swimming . We are a bunch of fish, and this has always been a challenge as far as hair care is concerned. The plan will be rinse before and c0-wash after. We'll see how it goes during swim lessons this summer! 

 Hair time is not my daughter's favorite time I must admit. Watching Dancing with the Stars and American Idol does help! Usually she's happy with some little knick-knacks or her nintendo ds to play with. Distraction is the key for her. She's not happy during the process but she's always happy with the end result. She loves to look cute :)

Here is an amazing twisted braid style for lack of better words! and it is just a chart topper!!!

Here is J2 with Kinky Curly Products in her hair LOOK at those majorly defined bouncy curls!:)

(Sidenote: Just wanted to mention that NONE of the hairstyles pictured here are of my own invention. I've seen them all on other blogs like beadsbraidsbeyond and princesshairstyles.)

 We just want to extend a huge thank you Tavia for introducing your family and for sharing those superb hairstyles of J2'sJ Your daughter has such lovely hair and its SO LONG and healthy, you’ve accomplished some styles that I wouldn’t be able to because of Diva R's thickness and length  KUDO's to you J Your boys have awesome springy curlee’s also <3 It has been a pleasure featuring your family on our blog and it was a pleasure getting to know  You, J1, J2, and  J3. My daughter is the same way about hair time, a good portion of the time LOL But she has definitely gotten better from beginning of times. The results are what makes it worth her “inconveinence” As she is a Diva and all. We also swear by finger detangling it makes hair time more enjoyable that’s for sure *_* I must say I am impressed by your creativity with the hair styles , your styles turned out just GORGEOUS and most positively stunning, i will be considering re creating the twisted braided pony tail :) or maybe them all they are so gorgeous!.

This concludes our 2nd Annual Hair Show...

Diva R's Mommy-Kim

Giveaway TIME!! Disney's Tangled SIGNED POSTER and BONUS Surprise Gift...

I was contacted by Nick from DBA West and he generously offered ONE lucky reader of ours to WIN a REAL autographed Tangled Poster Autographed by Flynn Ryder himself Mr. Zachary Levi will personally hand sign a Tangled one sheet movie poster for your contest winner!*** (Plus, a bonus promotional surprise picked at random from the following list: A Pascal Beanie Baby, Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel T-Shirts, and Official Disney Paper Lanterns!) The Tangled DVD was released in the Blue Ray combo pack on March 29th!!!

Also you can partake in some fun activities through the Tangled Widget posted on our blog :)

Here is a link to the widget since i cant post it in the post along with the giveaway guidelines....
http://partnershub.com/widgets/tangled/?p=talent

Tangled Talents! The Tangled widget will allow children of all ages to discover talents they might not have known they had! Whether you are an aspiring artist, chef, or just feeling crafty, Rapunzel will lead the way as you find your own hidden abilities! 

You can also check out...

Decorating Tips by Designer Claire Keane! Claire Keane, daughter of Tangled director and animator Glen Keane, will share tips on how to decorate your room just like Rapunzel’s including a time lapse video of Claire painting a mural!

Here is a preview link of Tangled for those of you who have seen it yet :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnmCnC95qAQ

So to enter to win this awesome giveaway you must...

Be a follower of my blog! ( no entries for being a follower this time around:))

To gain entries to the contest!! YOU MUST

*Share a new found talent with us , it can be ANY type of talent (Post this under this blog posting) (1 entry MAX No ore than 1 person will be approved.

*Partake in one of the activities on the widget and send us a picture of the finished product to our FB wall or via email which ever is possible This can be accomplished by printing out an activity and having your child draw/color or doing the activity, doing a Tangle Inspired Hair Style from the widget ( this Tangled widget is at the bottom right section of our blog under the followers section) by clicking the hair button on the widget, or by doing one of the crafts with your child  THEN SUBMITTING A PICTURE :) (Following this YOU MUST post under this blog posting that you did so for your entry to count. (1 entry per pic) 3 Pics MAX per person...

Here is a pic of Diva R's Tangled Inspired Tangled Chignon Hair style :)

Here is also the Tangled Inspired Rapunzel's Braided Crown on Diva R

EXTRA ENTRIES!

* Tell us what is your childs FAV part in Tangled the Movie is (1 entry per person)

* Share with us a brief review of a Tangled Toy you have :) (1 entry per Tangled Toy)

In order for your entries to count you MUST post under this blog posting followng each entry you complete!!

The contest ends April 12th at 12:00am since i have to submit the email by the 12th i will be choosing the winner on the 11th giving them time to respond... and i will use our faithful random.org to choose the winner of these two awesome prizes!!!! I Then will need a response from the winner by April 11th BEFORE 12:00a EST including name and full mailing address. If i do not hear from the winner by then i will choose another winner.

**FYI i verify ALL sponsors personally before i give the OK for giveaways through our blog for our hair familys and childrens safety :)**

Diva R's Mommy-Kim

Way Back Wednesday Style Reflection :)

Way Back Wednesday Style Reflection 

Criss Cross Mixed W/ Straight Half-Rows and Veil-Rows Ending in Beads 

I am never good with explaining styles or wording or naming them as short yet descriptive as id like lol Let me begin by saying I really wanted to try out Criss Cross cornrows especially after watching Keep Me Curly’s Criss Cross corn-rowing video. Katie has a different type of corn-rowing technique like myself so I grasped it just that quick using the Manikin head.  I Decided that I wanted to try it out on Diva R’s hair and at the same time I was needing to figure out how to make them not look boyish (which was hard at times).  I incorporated the 2 veil-rows, CC Rows and straight backs into half-rows so that I could girl-i-fy the back J

I didn’t have Bee Mine back then so I used Lets Jam Hair Gel and some olive oil detangling spray on this style.

(These we the products used for this style just the rubber bands are missing)

This was done in Nov 2010 and her hair was much shorter then.

I had the 2 veil braids go into beads in the back and the cc-rows and SBs (Straight backs) went into a pony tail that I braided the loose ends of the rows into braids J I pulled the back half of her free hair into the pony while braiding the big braid so there were the braids and free hair braided together giving the 3D pop.

This wasn’t my first attempt but I will keep going until I perfect it. It took 4 hours to do this style I was cooking and entertaining and kid sitting while doing it, maybe that’s why it took so long ^_^ A style like this would take little over an hour tops with breaks. I am proud of this style, it got a lot of raves but I couldn't help but look at them not and think that besides the veil and the pony tail part of it it’s a boyish type style and the braids were tighter than I like to do them now also since I have become really protective of her hair. At this point I was confident enough to braid other peoples hair.

Hope you enjoyed our Way Back Wed Style Reflection

Do you know how to braid designs? How did you learn?

Diva R’s Mommy-Kim

loveyourgirlsbiracialcurls@yahoo.com