*****Warning excessive musing approaching!Approach on desktop or laptop, major mobile scrolling needed lol****
Hey Luv-duv, been a bit busy so Happy New year back at you :-D.
Glad your coughing went down, hope it's over now.
Well where to begin?
Bunning is effortless, but the aftermath is just... I guess I need to fully gel my hair and then bun instead of the sliding and adding gel to smooth, because goodness gracious my last wash was not really to my satisfaction.
Very early this morning I washed my hair and this time I really took my time and detangled per section once it was conditioning time and made sure to braid it once I was done going through it with a wide toothed comb and did the same for the other few sections.
Then I just waited a bit and allowed the conditioner to penetrate.
After that I undid each braid and went through it once again with the wide toothed comb and then followed up with a fine toothed rat tail comb and added a bit more conditioner and then would braid the section up again.
I allowed the braids to air dry a bit while doing my things around the house and getting things ready before having to head out.
After a while I unraveled the braids to allow my hair to dry better.
Once the hair was partially dry I spritzed water in some areas to dampen it a bit and added some more conditioner to lock in the moisture.
As wearing my hair out for New Years eve was not an option, it was quite a breath of fresh air to not see a bun style staring back at me in the mirror and also getting back the first impression I had from the conditioners, my hair's been having a few down moments for a bit and I feel like this extra TLC helped it get back on track.
This was after what turned out to be quite a busy day and hand in hair action (lol):



So my plan now is to spritz and braid my hair in two for the night to stretch it a bit for tomorrow.
I believe my hair has grown some, it seems to curl some more, though it seems to shrink to the same length.
Must say I am curious to see how much my hair will stretch with the two braids.
Anyway I am enjoying day one of gel free time. (Had to resort to gel looks because my hair was acting up after last wash, I underestimated the TLC it needed after gel use. Some gels are suitable for whatever, but with the one I've unfortunately stocked up on, smoothing is not the way, I need to moisturize with it in order for it not to mess up my hair.)
By the way, brace yourself because I am going to address the posts I didn't have an opportunity to address earlier.
As for the frizzy halo you mentioned, I remember rocking headbands, mainly in my early natural days, the thick black kind. I need to get me one of those once again, the one I am referring to is suitable for any occasion and being black it blended with quite a lot, especially with my hair being dark.
And yea fully moisturizing is indeed so important for buns. My problem was that I used something else to moisturize and the gel to style, which I guess isn't too bad. I guess that when it's distributed through out the strands, it just coats individual strands or clumped hair, but when used to smooth back it will coat more than a small section which causes hair to stick together and once taken down and refreshed and put up again the next day, hair entangles around hair and then the hair is washed loose and unlike the way it would behave with the conditioner it decides to act up and tangle again.Awe well..just a theory I guess.
As for people wanting to squeeze your bun just when you weren't feeling the look as much. I have noticed dry buns are nice and big and fluffy. The smooth dry combo is one of my favorite looks, but also high maintenance for the aftermath where moisture levels are concerned.
What you mention about the tender crown thing hits home right now, I thought it was a too tight bun thing or not holding my hair firm enough while detangling during the previous wash day.
As for moisturizing I have a resolution for myself that no matter what, I will take the time to do so. Perhaps I just have to change the order of things, so that I can manage my time better. And also I just have to really make the time on the wash day, as that is crucial for how my hair will respond during the rest of the week.
I guess I just have to keep in mind that my hair is like a moderately needy plant, it doesn't need moisture every day, once it's gotten that good stuff all it will need is a refreshing, but I do have to give it that good stuff properly or I'll just be keeping up appearances.
Though I yearn to wear my hair in a straighter style, I guess I will use indirect heat for that, just so my hair can catch itself for a bit.
And of course not without a proper deep condition.

I'm just so excited to be out of buns for a bit... till I see a picture of a beautiful bun and it starts to itch again that is.
Have seen pictures of gorgeous updos but I haven't gotten around to any for now.(Geez what else is new...)