Motions & Potions: Toothpaste, Monistat, & Weave Maintenance

Clogged Pores? Toothpaste
I have large, usually clogged pores on my nose and cheek area and I am always looking for a cleanser to remove the clogs. I am not going to name all the cleanser I've tried. I've even had facials done and my pores were still clogged even after the masseuse(sp) put all kinds of ointments on it and did all kind of tricks to remove the 'debris'.   However, as of now, I have found the best one and not in the beauty aisle. The best cleanser I have found is....toothpaste. Any kind. At first I was using a white toothpaste to cleanse my nose and cheeks but I ran out of that and have a clear, red toothpaste and it does the trick too. I put it on at night and in the morning when I take my shower, I wipe it off and my face is clean and clear.

Hair Not Growing Fast Enough? Monistat
Monistat has been found to promote hair growth....and it works. I put some on everyday or every other day if I can and my tresses keep reaching for the stars. It sounds weird and even gross but if it works, I'm sold.

Damaging your hair with Glue? Spending too Much Time and Money at the Beauty Shop? Read below:
I wanted to rock a nice do for my birthday so the choice was between going to my local beautician  ($140-do and hair plus the time it takes for her to handle her other clients and then get to me) or doing it myself with the help of Almighty YouTube. I chose to do it myself. I installed a cap weave. Before installing this weave, I had another cap weave and it was difficult removing the weave glue from my hair so I wanted/needed to protect my hair much better when installing this next weave.

Things I did to protet my hair and what I've learned:
-After braiding my hair straight back, I put gel on paper towel and toilet paper. I placed the pieces all over my head before putting on the stocking cap. This is cheap because you don't have to buy that special paper from the hair store as you have these things around the house. You can also use wrapping paper. However, paper towels and toilet paper are much thicker than wrapping paper. Thus providing a better barrier.
-Put on two caps over the gelled paper towels.
-With a white/light eye liner, draw your part where you will cup the cap to make the invisible part or where your leave out hair will be.
-On top of the caps, put a bond protectant to further protect the hair. There are several bond protectant sealants on the market. Choose one within your budget and apply liberally on top of the stocking cap. You must dry the sealant (air dry or blowdry) before placing any glue on it. Once dried, the cap should feel like a thin helmet. So my hair has 4 barriers between my hair and the glue-paper towels, 2 caps, and the protectant.
-I used mixed synthetic and human hair to keep the cost of hair down.
-Instead of buying hair in all one length and having to cut layers into it, I bought 3 different lengths of hair-16", 12", and 8" of a dark brown for my bang highlights. I had 10" in my stash from a previous style. Thus the hair falls automatically into the layers that I want. I did have to cut the 16" a little but I know I'm not a professional so I needed to limit my trimming and just rely on the lengths that I bought which is what I did. I probably should've gotten 14" and not had to cut but I wanted to be safe and buy the longer length and cut it than get the shorter and be upset because it wasn't as long as I wanted. I used the shorter lengths for the bangs.
-Where you will have your hair out or more exposed because of the invisible part or leave out hair, don't forget to put the bond protectant on your actual hair and let it dry before gluing the wefts on.
-Go slow to do the invisible part.
-To get a nice highlight look, alternate between placing the black weft and, in my case, brown weft. Or I'd place two black wefts on and then a brown weft. I'm dark skinned so I didn't need anything too dramatic...lol.
-Buy a closure from your beauty supply store. No more having to make a closure on your own. They have flat closures at the beauty supply store. I bought two 8" ones and they were only $2.49. You put glue on it and place it on your head, just like a regular weft. The one I used blended really well.
-Curling the syntheic/human hair mix: I fired up a curling iron and curled the hair. While a small section was still hot from the curling iron (i'm talking about so hot it was hard to hold...that is when synthetic hair is most moldable.), I put some grease on it and I rolled that section onto a flexi-rod. I did this throughout my whole head using the large rods for the back (16") and using smaller ones for my bangs. Once my whole head was flexied (lol), I sprayed oil sheen all over my head...and slept on it.  I woke up with nice curls all over.
-Maintaining the curls: EVERY NIGHT, I take some greese, roll the hair with flexi-rods, spray with oil sheen, and go to sleep. I undo the flexi-rods in the morning and every morning I am greeted with a nice curls.
-The glue is getting old now but the hair(do) is lifting off my head like a wig. That's how I know I properly protected my hair underneath. I will likely glue a small protion back to the side of my head and that should put it back in place.
-Save leftover hair for next time.  I have at least another style with what I have left.