My twists are out.

Woo hoo! Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed them very much, but I get bored with my hair very quickly. So, I loved my twists for the first few weeks, but by week five, something had to change. I lasted seven weeks – that’s a record for me – and my scalp wasn’t worse for wear. On Saturday morning, I proceeded to remove my twists. I started at 10 am… so why was I still picking out braids, with tired and trembling hands, at 3 pm? I didn’t stop or dawdle or chit chat either. My conclusion? My hair’s gotten thicker and there were just more braids to remove. Also, seven weeks is a long time not to detangle your hair, so I was fighting with a plenty of knots and snarls in, surprisingly, the softer, looser areas of my hair.

Go figure.

Anyhow, my parents were coming by Saturday afternoon and my mother and I were going to bake our annual Black cake. The cake takes about a good hour to prepare and four hours to bake. Right. Time was of the essence.

They rolled in just as I was pulling out the last braids. While they relaxed a bit (Pops watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Mom took a nap), I got busy and did a pre-poo with a mixture of Tresemmé Healthy Volume conditioner and PC Blue Menu Omega-3 oil, which is a mixture of grapeseed, flaxseed and extra virgin olive oil that I got from my local Loblaws store. I left it on for 20 minutes. I washed it with my favourite shampoo, Country Rose Soap Co.’s natural liquid shampoo in Spring Blossom. Next, I deep conditioned with QP Elasta DPR-11 and Miss Key 10 en 1. I used my handy-dandy heat cap for a good hour while my mother and I got busy in the kitchen… until I realized that we didn’t have enough eggs.

The black cake takes 10 eggs. Yep, 10 eggs. That is a lot of eggs for a cake. I had eight. I also didn’t have the right type of butter. Hmmph. So, instead of disturbing the Hubby and Pops from their movie, I decided to hustle over to the grocery store. Yes, with a head full of deep conditioner and a plastic cap on my head. Thank God it was dark! I slapped on my satin cap and my red toque and went over there.

I was back in 15 minutes with eggs, butter and cling wrap and I was ready to bake. So, I left my mother to get the cake’s base ready, while I rinsed out most the deep conditioner. No word of a lie, the coils were poppin’ like no one’s business. I had never seen my ends so curly! I finally got a new leave-in conditioner because, honestly, Infusium 23 was doing nothing for my hair. Nothing. Zilch. I used my new Giovanni Direct Leave-In, which is creamy goodness compared to the watery mess of foolish Infusium 23. Chupse. I moisturized my hair with Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioning Repair Cream. I was happy with it – there was none of the stickiness that I got from their Grow Strong Strengthening Treatment. Finally, I sealed with olive oil and castor oil. At that point, I realized that I forgot to oil my scalp. Oh well.

Woo! I had a freshly scrubbed and moisturized head by 7:45 pm. What I noticed was that my hair was so soft and fluffy! Seven weeks under wraps and 10 weeks of the Hairlista Healthy Ends Challenge really made a difference. So, now I just have to keep it up.

“How?” do you ask? That’s where my wigs come into play. In between creaming butter and sugar and mixing fruits into our yummy cake batter, I twisted my hair into about 10 or 12 flat twists. Once the cake was in the oven, my mom and I went upstairs to the office/library which is the current home of my hair products. It like a mini-store (another reason for my upcoming spending fast)! I pulled out my Glance Model/Model Korina wig and tried it on. This was the first time I was trying it on – I was a bit skeptical. I was kind of worried about this one because it’s a full-head wig with a part. If the part didn’t sit in the right spot, I was going to look like a mess.

A tug here, a pull there and voilà! Instant straight hair and a protective style! And it looked pretty good.

“Mum! Come look!” She came into the bathroom and looked at me.

“That’s the wig you bought in New York?” she asked, inspecting my head.

“Yep!” I liked it – I really liked it.

“Hmmm. It doesn’t look too bad.” That, in my mom’s terminology is “it’s pretty hot!” Yay! I called the Hubby, who was downstairs entertaining his friend Tom and my dad.

“Hey! Check you out!” he said as he saw me. “It looks great! I like it!” Two positive responses – woo hoo! About 30 minutes later, I decided to go downstairs and see what reaction I’d get from Tom (who will take any opportunity to diss me) and my father (who is quite straightforward – especially if he doesn’t like something). I popped my head into the family room and Tom didn’t blink. No disses. No “what’s going on with all of that.” Nothing! That, to me, was a good as a positive reaction. Daddy, on the other hand, looked at me strangely. He was a bit confused – I went upstairs with a mass of curly confusion on my head and I’m back with silky straight locks. He didn’t say anything… until later.

After Tom went home, Dad came upstairs into the kitchen. “Hey Pops! Do you like my new hair?” I asked.

“I knew something was different about you. That is the wig you bought?”

“Yes – what do you think?”

“It looks alright. I almost didn’t recognize you when you came downstairs,” he said. “I wanted to ask you a question, but I didn’t know if you wanted Tom to know.” We both started to giggle. Another positive response!

I still had to face the toughest critic – my sister, who is a lover of straight hair and will call out my wig if it wasn’t on point. I saw her the next day at church. Her reaction: “It looks good! I’ll bring you some weave care for it.”

People! We have a winner with Korina! I’m going to untwist my flat twists on the weekend for my Christmas party and wear my curly ‘fro, but this will definitely be a staple item for winter 2010.