Upside Down Braided Topknot.

It's practically a jungle here. The beating sun and sweltering humidity are quite a force to be reckoned with. Georgia is just so hot. I've vowed not to cut my hair off even though my baby yanks on it whenever he can grasp a handful. Which leaves me to my imagination for finding different ways to get it off my face. I can't have a sweaty neck or keep getting my hair pulled out - I am already losing so much hair with all these postpartum hormones swirling around in my bod. Please, I need to keep all that I have!

This is my latest favorite updo, and I thought I would share it here since I've been wearing it so often. It's a twist on a regular topknot, and it's best styled with extra dirty hair. I usually do this on day 3 or 4 after a shampoo :)

Upside Down Braided Topknot:
1. Starting at the nape of your neck, gather three sections of hair and start a dutch braid.
2. Begin the braid at the bottom of the head and continue gathering hair (as you would a normal french braid), and braid upward.
3. Once you've reached the crown of your head, do a few extra turns of the braid without adding any extra hair.
4. Twist your hair, as you would for a normal top knot, and secure with a hair tie.
5. Gently pull at the sections of the braid to loosen and give it a fuller, more lived-in look.
6. You shouldn't need to secure anything with bobby pins - the messier the better!

Are you all interested in more hair posts like this? If so, I can work on photographing a few more looks, especially updos for summer. Let me know in the comments! xx

My 3 Wavy-Hair-Don't-Care Products.

My hair is one of my favorite things about myself. As I am in a season of unearthing what's going on in my heart, I'm trying my best to be intentional about meditating on things I like about myself. When it comes to this postpartum body of mine, I can easily get distracted by focusing on the things that aren't what they used to be, but I don't want to focus my energy on being negative towards myself. My hair is one of my favorite things about my body because I feel like it fully represents me - kind of crazy/relaxed/free/unique. What do you like about yourself, friends? If you're finding it hard to pick something out, I encourage you to spend a little time today finding something you really appreciate about yourself. It's a reeeeeal good exercise. Like giving you a good hug.

I would hug you right now if I could.

So, as for this mane - I love this time of year when the weather warms up because I don't have to blow-dry my sometimes-mangy gigantic hair. I have really thick long hair, so when it's cold outside, it's necessary to blow dry it or else I walk around with a sopping head for 3/4 of the day and it makes me super cold. But when the weather warms up, I like to forgo all that time (blow drying takes forever!), and just let my hair air dry with the help of a few products that keep it tamed down AKA beaten into submission. For those of you who like to give your hair a break from heat styling (and save time!), I thought I would share a few products that have consistently worked for me over the past few years.

I don't like using a ton of products. Like everything else in my life, I have very little time to spend on fussing with my hair/makeup/clothes, so I try to keep things around that perform excellently and do the work for me.

1. Honest Company Detangling Conditioner
This stuff works like a charm and, actually, Everett and I share this product equally. I use it right after I get out of the shower, and he uses it after his nightly bath. I never really imagined I would share hair products WITH MY SON, but it works so well for both of us and smells really good without having that annoying, fragrance-y scent like so many beauty products. I've raved about my love for Honest before, but this is one of those products that just works, so I keep working it. I spritz it on my towel-dried hair after I shower and it does a great job closing the cuticle and giving my hair a little extra moisture.

2. Biolage Whipped Volume Mousse
This is the first mousse I've even used that doesn't harden the hair in an annoying way. I like my hair to still feel like hair, and this one does a great job of taming it and capturing the waves in the nicest kind of way, without actually hardening them into a sculpture. You know what I mean? I put a ping-pong ball sized dollop in my palm, flip my head over and distribute this throughout mid-shaft to the ends of my hair, avoiding the roots entirely.

3. 12 Benefits Healthy Hair Treatment
This spray gives my locks a little bit of texture and helps separate my waves so they remain touchable. You know how some texturizing sprays can be sticky/tacky/waxy feeling? This one doesn't do any of that - it feels like you've been on the beach for the first hour of the day and your hair is just getting some good breezy salt mixed all around. It's just really, really nice. I keep this one in my Amazon shopping cart and re-order it periodically. I spritz this on when my hair is still wet, and once I do, I'm done!

And there you have it! I use these in the order listed on the days that I wash my hair, then let it air-dry. If I want a little extra oomph or I don't want to give it the time to air-dry, sometimes (only sometimes) I will use my hair dryer with the diffuser attachment and blow dry it on medium heat. This zaps some of that extra moisture and works if I have to be somewhere looking "put together" soon. But most of the time I just have to be at my son's play table, making play dough or dolling out the pb+j or something of that kind. I try to let my hair go for a few days like this before washing it again - by days 2,3 and 4 I am usually braiding it or throwing it up in a top knot. And here is a really fun post from my friend Lauren on how to work that dirty hair for all it's worth.

Happy warm weather hair to you, friends! Now tell me - what attribute do you really really like about yourself. I want to hear! I really do.

P.S. - Wearing this tank, which is my favorite new thing. How often can I wear it without it being too often?