Anyway back to the more recent times. When I shampooed my hair, I noticed how curly and coiled it was. It also reverted very quickly to curly once wet -which I found quite reassuring. This whole journey was NOT a waste!! Patience certainly has paid off! Even the hair on my crown for the most part was reverting nicely. Since this was the last part of my hair to be relaxed since I made the decision to go natural, and also has been most subjected to heat styling, I knew that this would take the longest to go natural. But I am pleased to announce there only appears to be around two inches worth of relaxed ends left until it is fully natural! 

Once my hair was fully cleansed and conditioned (I used Loreal Elvive Anti-frizz Shampoo, and a home-made mix of Ojun hair mask and Loreal re-nutrition Royal Jelly conditioner, to condition my strands), I wrapped my hair in a t-shirt. This is now my preferred method of drying my hair. No more towels for me! It seems that this method is less rough, and as such helps to reduce frizz! Once my hair was sufficiently dried (still damp but not dripping wet) I then applied my light moisturising creme from the Sahara Oil range. I massaged this into my scalp, and applied a small amount through the hair to the ends. I then blow-dried my hair, to stretch out the hair (since I had suffered MAJOR shrinkage!).

I then twisted my hair in fairly large twists, allowing it to completely air dry. 

I decided to straighten my hair at this stage, I wanted to do this for two reasons. Firstly, I am still pretty much juggling two textures so styling would be difficult, and secondly I wanted to see how long my hair actually was since the shrinkage I noticed was so vast!

So I went through my hair with the Ghd's and made another revelation. Even though my hair is natural (the back is completely natural) it straightens out amazingly! It looks pretty much relaxed... but thicker and healthier. Why is it looking relaxed important? Well it means I can achieve the straight look if I so wish without actually using a relaxer and my hair would look great to, since it would have a lot of body! My second little revelation was that my hair was still pretty long! The shrinkage I experienced before I dried my hair put it about the length of my earlobe. When I blowdried and Ghd'd my hair it was under my collar bone! Talk about Rapunzel moments! My ends looked pretty healthy too which was an added plus.

So for the styling. What was I going to do with my hair, which would avoid unnecessary tension on my hair and ends?

Dare I say it, I took a bit of inspiration from Rihanna, and I threw in a bow! Bows are massively on trend this season, and are quite cute, as well as practical! 

I scoop my hair up, take a silk headscarf and tie it in a knot at the top of my head, tie a bow... (fiddle with the bow to get it where I need it) and then put a couple of hair grips on either side of my head so it doesn't slide off! I then release my hair and then clip it randomly so it looks slightly dishevelled and full of volume. The pics below are the end result.. but after a braid out. I hadn't yet straightened out my hair.

I really like the effect, and its so easy to do. For different effects, I have tried to use different patterns and fabrics... the strangest being a leg from a khaki coloured pair of tights. It worked so well I will be investing in some fabrics and creating my own. Just a word of warning, if you chose to create your own also, and you chose to use jersey wool or cottons, line it with silk so that it doesn't snag and break your hair!