Blending, Blended- More About Faking It With Nazuri Curls

Hi guys!

Eku Tuesday!

As you know, I recently took down my sew-in weave with Nazuri Curls extensions. This last time, I didn’t actually wear the weave to “switch up my look”. That’s one of the things I like about extensions, though. Currently eyeing a purple and grey wig on Shop Zlanche, but where will I wear it to? Christmas is coming, maybe I should look foreign for Christmas? JK JK. Seriously though. As soon as I can get my makeup skills to match such exotic hair, I’ll be good to go. Lagos get ready! Def can’t wear it to work, so- weekends. Anyway, back to the post.

I was saying that I didn’t put on my Nazuri Curls to look different this time. I was effectively protective styling, but in a manner pretty close to my own hair- so close that I really didn’t know what to answer when people asked “Is this your hair?” “This really can’t be your natural hair right?” It was like people were convinced it was so natural, but they didn’t want to believe because of how thick or full it looked. I always wanted to add “but my hair is pretty close to this!” after I smiled and said no. Because people gotta know that African hair can flourish and prosper.

With blogger boos Titi & Sandra 🙂

To successfully fake it with extensions, your options are as follows:

Plan A: sacrifice a West African twin chameleon (amongst other things) to TY Bello, the Chief Priestess of the blending gods. If you don’t know where to find a chameleon or TY Bello, then listen to Plan B! 😛

The first step is finding extensions as close to your hair as possible. Did you just say “Duh”? It’s a no-brainer right? This is half the work. You can’t rock wavy Indian Peruvian hair with your kinks out, you gotta get a closure to make this happen. Which is why, of the 4 Nazuri Curls textures, I chose the Afro. Formerly known as the Afro Kinky Curly.

Even then, the curls didn’t exactly look like mine. My hair is much more coily, and I only see natural definition on a super hydrating washday. The first thing I did to make these curls mine was to dye them. I talk about the process in this post here.

Decide how you want to wear. I like my weaves sewn in a way that allows me to be versatile. This means I leave hair out all round- sides, back, front. I normally do the front in such a way that I can have a centre or side parting, though I always end up ignoring the centre part.

Leaving hair out all-round allows you put it up in a quick updo. No stress 🙂

OKAY, SHALL WE?

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Brush and Fluff!

A wide-tooth comb can try, but you want a brush for volume. I used my Curl Detangler Brush, until I forgot it in Port Harcourt two weeks ago. I tried to buy a replacement days later (yes it is this dear to me) but sadly it was/is out of stock. I will do a proper review of the brush soon, just know it’s the best I’ve tried yet!

2. Easy When You Moisturise

When you need to moisturise, use a light product if you’re on the go. Why? If you brush this hair with a thick conditioner like Hello Hydration, it will DEFINE like all its life it had been waiting for that moment. But with light condish, or just a water spritz, it will be just right.

Detangler brush x Hello Hydration

I used the African Naturalistas Detangling Conditioner. It’s quite light. I didn’t saturate my hair with it, just spread it round. It gives slip, and does not encourage the curls to clump too much. If you don’t have a light product, no worries, you could detangle at night. By the time you wake up and your hair is dry, brush it out again.

Twisted hair overnight after brushing/ detangling to define. Decent twist out the next day!

3. Even with the light conditioner and water, it may be somewhat defined. Don’t worry. Wait till you get to your destination, when your hair is dry. Brush again and you’ll have nice Afro fluff.

4. I actually have a theory that if you’re going to be manipulating this hair a lot, it’s better you wear it in a brushed out state. It’s harder to tangle this way. From my experience last year, when you wear it with the curls defined, if you do not detangle thoroughly often, the hair will matt and pretty much start locking itself. I haven’t washed it yet. After I do, I’ll let you know if this theory is correct.

5. Before you go to sleep at night, arrange your parting.

Side-part

6. Section your leave-out (that is, your own natural hair left out) and twist as you go. You can braid too but I found that twists were just as effective. You want to stretch your hair a bit, and you also want some definition. Let the twists fall in the same direction you want them to lie.

7. The next morning, handle the weave first. After, loosen your twists, separate them as far as possible and then, arrange them to match the weave. Feel free to tuck your hair into the weave where necessary- twisting it into the weave, or using the random bobby pin.

8. KEEP YOUR HAIR CLEAN AND MOISTURISED. I wore the extensions for 6 weeks. I noticed that when my own hair was weighed down with too much product, when I was needing a wash, it took on a dullness, looking slightly off. Healthy happy hair blends better 🙂

9. Detangling brush, light leave-in, and okay, maybe edge control. All you need to get by on the daily with these kinky curly extensions.

Edge control x Light condish. Photo taken after the brush left me 😦

10. This is protective styling, remember? Don’t stress the hair left out. With a kinky weave, this is SO not necessary. Finger combing is all you need. And when you brush the weave, leave your own hair out of it.

11. If your hair like mine, is not so long, you may want to avoid direct moisture when you are out. A few drops of rain can cause your leave-out to revert to full 4C-ness. Super shrunken, with no definition, lol.

12. With this hair, you have many styling options- you can have the same expectations of it as you would of your own kinky curls. I really liked the low fuss, simple styles I was doing so I did not explore the possibilities. Soon though, I will. One thing I did notice (from the twist outs I tried) is that you don’t need a curl defining product. Just conditioner, or damp detangled hair is enough to get results with these extensions as you can see in the twist out photo I posted above tip #3.

And that’s all there is to it, really. I feel like this has been plenty describing- maybe a vlog would be better next time? Let me know if you have data to watch, haha. An updated post on weave maintenance is soon to come.

Remember: Till October 12, you get 10% off your Nazuri Curls when you use our special code- KINKANDI. They ship worldwide!

As always, if there’s anything you want to know, let me know in the comments.

Love,

AB,

xx

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