Setting to Success 2014 Challenge

Did you say 3 years post? Omgosh your hair looks freaking amazing! I didn't even know you were transitioning. I always love your sets...you make it look so effortless.

HairPleezeGrow Thanks Lady! Yes it will be 3 years in December. It's not that hard to me....roller setting is what has allowed me to go so long. It keeps all the hair smooth & one texture. My goal is to grow my hair to hip (relaxed ends included) & maintain there, so being fully natural will come along the way. lol
 
PlainJane I am transitioning as well (Almost 3 years post) & I use magnetic rollers with the snap on caps. I get pretty sleek results but 90% of that comes from technique versus rollers. No matter what rollers you choose, you will get better results as you get better with your technique. I still think magnetics with the caps are great for beginners because they help the hair to not slide or curl back up once it's snapped on.


Three years post?! And I thought I was doing something amazing by planning to transition for two years :lol:
So I see in your pic you used the snap on caps and metal clips? Do you recommend end papers? I'm thinking I may try a pony tail set first because it's looks the easiest.
 
Three years post?! And I thought I was doing something amazing by planning to transition for two years :lol: So I see in your pic you used the snap on caps and metal clips? Do you recommend end papers? I'm thinking I may try a pony tail set first because it's looks the easiest.

I've never used end papers. Having the relaxed ends are actually a benefit since they are straighter and allow you to apply more tension. I stretch the hair out, place the roller maybe 5 inches before I get to the ends, wrap the ends around the roller then pull. The relaxed parts are my end papers! lol

Girl 2 years IS amazing....hell transitioning past 1 year is amazing! lmbo
 
Had the intension of doing a cheat perm rod set. (Corn rows & perm rods on full length) However, by the 4th braid I ran out of perm rods & ended up putting 4 flexi rods in the crown area. So I guess I'm gonna call this my "cheat rod remix" lmbo
 
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Had the intension of doing a cheat perm rod set. (Corn rows & perm rods on full length) However, by the 4th braid I ran out of perm rods & ended up putting 4 flexi rods in the crown area. So I guess I'm gonna call this my "cheat rod remix" lmbo

This style turned out ok but didn't last. Ummmm the hot tub, pool & other thangs in Vegas just killed it. lol I ended up wearing a wash and go.
 
Did a flexi set last night on damp hair. I used HQS Lime Coconut Oil to set and sat under the dryer for about 20 minutes this morning. I did about 12 gray medium flexis (why my roots are so big). I plan to go home later today and brush it out to wear a voluminous side pin-out.

Poo washed, DC, applied my leave-in liquid and cream leave in, bunned for about an hour, applied tiny amounts of coconut oil, set about 2-3 inches of hair per flexi.


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I rarely post pics these days because it is literally the same base set every week. This set lasts me 4 crossfit (high intensity) workouts and 1 weight training workout without looking too cray:). I moisturize once about day 4 and I keep my hair in 2 braids. I finger detangle daily right before I braid it up. Most of the time I sleep off my silk scarf so I have a silk pillowcase. I used French mesh rollers with the silver clips that go in the roller (. And clips that I took off my magnetics. I roll up like macherieamour. I also took pic of the HS comb I use. I use the wider end. When I am prepping my hair for a flat iron I use the wider end and then a HS wide pintail comb The products I used were APB Ayurvedic Cream, phyto restorative ends serum and nioxin thermal bliss. I hope this post helps or just gives hair candy to someone :). I also normally roller set at the end of my workout week so I have at least 2 days of super sleek hair. Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

ETA
I am natural with 4b and some 4a
 

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Magnetic set for a fun filled, humidity-free day in Miami! Co-washed with Aphogee 2 Min, 30 min heat-free DC with Silicon Mix, SSI Coco Creme LI...

Oh yeah. I air dried for about 30 minutes before I sat under the dryer.

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Did a cheat flexi set with around 11 flexi rods instead of the usual 40. I just didn't have the energy to install that many. The curls are a lot bigger and looser than normal so each day I separate the curls a little more. I used Curl Junkie smoothing lotion as a leave in & Curl Junkie Pattern Pusha gel to set. The curls are shiny and bouncy with a soft hold...just the way I like it.
 
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I had some extra hair time today so I decided to do a twist out a la Naptural85 which involves stretching the hair first. I modified it to fit my hair styling skills/ level of patience but I set my hair on 16 flexi rods, sat under the dryer for 60 minutes, air dried for 40 minutes and then took the rods out and made 4 two strand twists with satin covered rollers on the end.

My hair was still damp after 100 minutes of drying and 20 minutes of towel drying pre-setting but my hair is pretty thick and I use a lot of product to moisturize and seal. We'll see how the twist out comes out but unless it's amazing I won't be doing this twice a week. It didn't really add that much time to my hair day but the flexi rods were uncomfortable and I had a hard time fitting under the pibbs.
 

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Hey ladies,
I did a flat iron attempt today that was a fail.
Pics:
kinky ends.jpg

scraping bsl.jpg

from the front.jpg

The good news- Buying my new ghd flat iron was a good investment. It gets my hair a lot smoother and less puffier than my Solia did. It also heats up way quicker and uses optimal heat for my hair. When I would flat iron with my Solia, it looked like I just blowdried my hair lol.

The bad news- My ends still retained a lot of kink and curl. Also, although I have more movement with my ghd than I got when using my Solia flat iron, my hair is still a little stiff. I was going for the look of this youtuber, whose hair I adore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQb1jM8436Y I followed her method of using heat to DC and rollersetting with water. But I think that I know what the problem is...

What I think the problem is-
I think that my curlformers are detrimental to my hair's ends. My ends are sooo fragile. My hair is super coily and curly. There are teeny tiny S-curls and coils popping off my scalp everywhere (lol) and the curl pattern travels from my roots to my ends. Since my ends are so tightly coiled, I think that when I thread my hair through the curlformers, instead of stretching or straightening my ends out, the curlformers merely "trap in" the kinks at the end of my hair shaft. So basically, whatever knots or kinks that are at my ends are flattened. I detangle my hair before adding the curlformers, but when I put them in my hair, I insert my hair at the root, so my ends have one last chance to coil and knot up. *This is just a theory* So, I'm going to go back to my perm rod sets for a while, even though they take foreeeever to dry and a lot longer to install. I'm going to try to teach my self to do a ponytail rollerset. Maybe that will make it quicker. Does anyone here do ponytail roller sets on natural hair? What's your technique? Any tips or tricks for a first-timer?

Also, another thing I'm kind of upset about (other than my rough ends) is the fact that I'm juust scraping BSL. I thought I would be MBL by now, I was APL at the beginning of the year. That means, I have retained only 3 inches of hair this year so far :( I did trim off about 2 inches total this year; but still. I only gained 3 inches of healthy hair. Also, I think I should trim some more today since I found some knots. It's kind of disappointing. So, not the best hair week for me...
 
Hey ladies,
I did a flat iron attempt today that was a fail.
Pics:

The good news- Buying my new ghd flat iron was a good investment. It gets my hair a lot smoother and less puffier than my Solia did. It also heats up way quicker and uses optimal heat for my hair. When I would flat iron with my Solia, it looked like I just blowdried my hair lol.

The bad news- My ends still retained a lot of kink and curl. Also, although I have more movement with my ghd than I got when using my Solia flat iron, my hair is still a little stiff. I was going for the look of this youtuber, whose hair I adore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQb1jM8436Y I followed her method of using heat to DC and rollersetting with water. But I think that I know what the problem is...

What I think the problem is-
I think that my curlformers are detrimental to my hair's ends. My ends are sooo fragile. My hair is super coily and curly. There are teeny tiny S-curls and coils popping off my scalp everywhere (lol) and the curl pattern travels from my roots to my ends. Since my ends are so tightly coiled, I think that when I thread my hair through the curlformers, instead of stretching or straightening my ends out, the curlformers merely "trap in" the kinks at the end of my hair shaft. So basically, whatever knots or kinks that are at my ends are flattened. I detangle my hair before adding the curlformers, but when I put them in my hair, I insert my hair at the root, so my ends have one last chance to coil and knot up. *This is just a theory* So, I'm going to go back to my perm rod sets for a while, even though they take foreeeever to dry and a lot longer to install. I'm going to try to teach my self to do a ponytail rollerset. Maybe that will make it quicker. Does anyone here do ponytail roller sets on natural hair? What's your technique? Any tips or tricks for a first-timer?

Also, another thing I'm kind of upset about (other than my rough ends) is the fact that I'm juust scraping BSL. I thought I would be MBL by now, I was APL at the beginning of the year. That means, I have retained only 3 inches of hair this year so far :( I did trim off about 2 inches total this year; but still. I only gained 3 inches of healthy hair. Also, I think I should trim some more today since I found some knots. It's kind of disappointing. So, not the best hair week for me...

Why don't you use regla magnetic rollers? I like watching the youtuber you mentioned as well. I followed her method to the T and my hair came out pretty flowy. Over time it became puffy bc I live in a humid cliamate but it still has body and movement to spare and this was almost 3 weeks ago. The paper towel she uses is an odd but useful trick. I think I'll do it again the next time I roller set but I won't flat iron. Granted my hair is not so much coily as much as it it curly but I do notice that when I use curl formers my ends pop off. Not sure if I'm doing it wrong!
But I say all this to say I recommend that you use magnetic rollers and also use paper towels. Soon I will be experimenting with the different products to see what plays well while helping block humidity but letting me keep my movement. I'll update soon.
 
coilyhaircutie

I'm sorry that you're so frustrated Mama. When you have an idea in mind, I know how badly you want it to come to fruition.

The Youtuber that you reference is someone that I've watched recently and who has inspired me to maintain a rollerset regime instead of blow drying and flat ironing. I used to rollerset every week and starting blow drying to save time.

Anywho... The thing that we need to realize when we watch these videos is that no matter how closely we follow their technique, our hair texture has a lot to do with the results. In one of her videos she mentions that her hairs state has a lot to do with genetics. Her hair has natural sheen and bounce due to her texture. So no matter how closely you follow her tips, unless your hair is similar, results will always vary.

If you want smooth, sleek results you may need to alter your process. If your hair texture isn't naturally smooth, you'll have to start doing things that make it that way. If I use curl formers or stretch my hair without heat, sets will never be smooth; even if I flat iron after taking my set down. I use magnetic rollers (the shiny ones, not the dull ones) and then I wrap to achieve my look. I use indirect heat by way of a hooded Pibbs dryer and then direct heat when I press my roots. I knew watching her video that my results would be different, but I have a realistic outlook and understand my hair. Not to say you don't, but you have to experiment before you settle on a process that might not give you the results you desire.

My ends used to look a lot like yours when j first started my hair journey 2.5 years ago. I started an intense moisture routine (for about two weeks) where I heavily moisturized and sealed nightly and wrapped my ends in silk. The results were nothing short of amazing. My hair has some amazing sheen. If you moisturized frequently your hair with smooth out well.

Plus!! You might need to add some protein. Protein gives me all types of swang.
 
Welp...my flexi rod set is on it's last leg! lol I have enjoyed wearing my hair out & big this week. I'll be washing tomorrow and back to protective styling with my french braids for another month.
 
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Shall we set to success into 2015?

November snuck up on me, so another challenege didn't even occur to me. I am just hoping to get some dc and rollers in this weekend
 
I would participate in a 2015 thread. My ends can't really handle direct heat anymore so I really need to learn how to rollerset for those days I want to wear my hair out.
 
Last night I had best set ever. I was prepping for monthly flat iron
Apb mud mask as prepoo
Wash with elucence volume clarifying poo them moisture benefits
Dc with joico k pack intense hydrator and MR balm mixed
And set (6 sections: 2 in middle, 2 each side)
Dudley's PCA (nickle size each section)
Phyto ends serum ( 2 squirts each section)
pureology leave in (1-2 pumps each section)
Phyto Defrissant (nickle size each section)

My set came out so straight I didn't even flat iron:O not even the roots. It was so late so I didn't take pics but I will be redoing next week,Friday, just to make sure this wasn't an one time event. With lots of photos promise
 
I have been negelecting my hair and this thread.

After three of weeks of feeling overwhelemed by life , I am finally coming back down to earth. It was a crash landing when it came to my hair because my mane was a mess.

I did a pre poo of garlic olive oil with heat. Despite abuse my shedding was nearly nill.

I then clarified twice and did a clay rinse.
I slept in some conditoner I am trying to finish. rinsed and deep conditoned with yogurt.

My hair almost feels back to normal. I plan to bun this week. Thus when I set I used nothing but leave in. I am focused on infusing moisture into my hair so I can flat iron for thanksgiving.

Okay enough of my woes here are some pictures. I will be back with bun photos, but right now my flexi rods are in.



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A little inspiration for the natural roller setters. I think I'll buy rollers today!
 

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