Lace braids

I am completely obsessed with braids. French braids, dutch braids, waterfall braids, spiral staircase braids...I know how to do them all. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I may or may not have spent many a night watching braiding tutorials on YouTube instead of sleeping.

The only thing is, as much as I love my curly hair, braids do not show up very well in it. Because it is already so textured, the intricacy of the braid gets lost in it. I remember when I learned how to do a five-strand braid. I was so excited to do it in my hair, and when it was done, it looked nothing like in the picture. Almost like it was just a regular braid.

This is the reason that I love to braid other people's hair. I have lots of friends with straight, or slightly wavy hair, in which braids look absolutely gorgeous!

Here's a tutorial that I used to learn how to do lace braids:

It's actually quite simple to do. Practice a few times and you'll get the hang of it! I actually did not one, but two lace braids for my pretty friend Alannah. I was sitting next to her at her birthday dinner, and couldn't resist! 

I could braid her hair all day!

You caught me, I Instagrammed!

Once you're able to do a regular lace braid, the possibilities are endless!

How to get perfect ringlets with naturally curly hair

I love my curly hair. But it hasn't always been this way. When I was younger I had a really hard time with it because I simply did not know what to do with the birds nest on my head. I did the crunchy curls thing with too much gel (worst hairstyle ever), and sometimes I would just slick it back into a tight ponytail.

As I got older, I started trying every curl crème, styling gel, mousse and spray out there. If you could find it at a Shoppers Drug Mart, you could find it in my bathroom cabinet. A few years ago, I finally came across the perfect combination of products: argan oil and mousse designed for curly hair. Then air dry. That's it! Basically I've found that although having curly hair appears to be complicated, it is actually so easy to manage with the right products.

On days where I feel like being a little bit fancy, I will twirl small sections of hair around my finger while they are wet after I have put product in.

Some tips:

1. Make sure your hair is quite wet when you do this, but not dripping
2. Separate your hair into at least two sections: bottom and top
3. Twirl the hair away from your face
4. Save your bangs for last
5. If you really need to, you can use a diffuser. I prefer to let air dry
6. As your hair dries, you may notice some of the sections get a little bit crunchy. Simply scrunch your hair with your hands to get rid of the crunch

Ooh shiny!

Don't you just want to sproing them?

Hopefully that explanation was clear. Ringlets look great down, but also make for gorgeous updos.