Saturday, 19 April 2014

My eBay Lace Front Unit - Flat Ironed and Trimmed



"So, after FINALLY adding a few wefts to my new found best friend, I decided that this week is her week - which includes wearing her to work!"




I still had my curls left in the unit on Monday so I rocked her to work exactly like that....  Some smarty pants said that it looked nice and likened my hair to Esmeralda curls!





Now, this smarty pants may have thought she was being kind/witty but I'm sorry, if you mention the name Esmeralda to me I'm automatically going to think of Quasimodo!!!  So not the look I was going for.....



Anyway....when I got home I was going to wash the unit because she felt in need of a good deep condition, especially at the ends and I thought it would be a good idea to do it post adding the virgin Brazilian sheds-like-a-damn-dog hair to it!!!
 

This is my' Brazilian hair which I purchased a couple of years ago.  I have used the hair twice so far, once for a weave and once for a U-Part wig.  This hair sheds.


Before washing the unit I thought to myself, 'let me flat-iron her and see what she's got (and also see if I stitched in enough hair back there!)..  It was a delicate balance between placing the tracks in the right sections of the unit for coverage of the base and also not bulking out the unit too much as she already had the density I required.


Not the greatest photo but you can see that the gaps at the crown are now covered.  There are still gaps on the lower levels but these are not noticeable due to the longer lengths covering them.  It's amazing what a huge difference such a small addition of hair was able to make.



Here is a picture from my previous post on how I revamped this unit.  You can clearly see the tracks where I have purposely separated the hair.  It didn't look this bad when worn but I as always conscious of the wind whipping up a storm of embarrassment!


This is how it looks now an this is with the hair pushed apart!  It looks so much better.   I used one weft of the 14 inch hair at the top and then two wefts of the 16 inch below the first.





This is how I wore the unit last Sunday after stitching three wefts in at the crown.  I wore her like this to work the following day before setting the flat-iron loose on the curls...!

To get the unit curled like this I used my curling wand and curled the whole unit in about 6 or 7 sections so the curls were not overly tight.  It takes about 10-15 minutes to do and the curls stay in f-o-r-e-v-e-r!!!

Let me just say from the jump....'Wow, I am totally in love with the results!!!'

This unit is so much better than I ever remember.

However, she was starting to get tangly on me.  Fear not - I know the treatment for tangling units, a good old fashioned trim!  Step up trusty Carbide scissors your assistance is required (yet again - y'all know I be scissor happy right?!).



This is how the unit looked after flat-ironing with my GHD's. 

It took about half an hour to flat iron the unit, which I took off my head to do the back.  I LOVE that I can do that, no more tired arms trying to do the back of my hair...!




Next I set about trimming the hair. ...


I sectioned off the the front of the hair using crocodile clips to keep the hair separated.  This was so I could add some slightly shorter layers at the front and work through the rest of the hair performing the trim in small sections. 


I set about cutting the and trimming, stood in front of the mirror as I always do when I have my hair scissors in hand...  I always line the sink with kitchen towel to prevent the cut hair clogging up the plug hole.

I cut each section of the hair slowly, there is less margin for error when cutting a unit as it does not grow back and correct your mistakes over time!


Details of my current manicure which I've called 'It's Blooming Springtime' can be found by clicking here

I trimmed the hair with the scissors pointing vertically at the hair.  I managed to cut myself nicely the last time I did this so I was extra careful not to snip at my nail blogging hand for a second time.






I didn't go mad taking off length, my aim was just to smooth the ends by removing any split/damaged ends.  I also didn't make the ends blunt as I think it looks more natural this way.


This picture is with flash, the hair doesn't look this shiny in real life but with flash it shows more accurately how the parting looks.

I thought I would also throw in a few shots of my blending of the parting. I usually wear a black wig cap underneath my units.  To this one, I add a little concealer to the lace and touch up the hair with an old black mascara to cover any concealer which gets onto the lace.  My camera magnifies the lace somewhat and alters the colour of the concealer for some reason, but trust me when I say this blending is on point!  You can barely see it in real life and this is with none of my hair left out!


This is how the hair looks today, five days after flat-ironing.  I am really pleased with how the hair looked today.  I looks like relaxed hair to me.



I have some product in the hair which is great for keeping it from getting poofy but it needs a good wash and deep condition this weekend.  As much as I want to flat-iron it again, I will wear it curly, most likely without the addition of heat.

Every time I add heat to this or my other units I cringe inside at the thought of putting the hot tools in my own hair!!!  Even though this is not my hair, I don't want to overdo the heat-styling in order to preserve the life of the hair which I protect with heat protectant and deep conditioning treatments containing both protein and moisture.

Ciao 4 Now

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10 comments

  1. This was such a great, detailed post - I love how you reworked the unit to be something you were able to use & love!

    ReplyDelete
  2. @EbonyCPrincess

    Thanks Ebony!!!

    It's really nice of you to say that.

    I took the pictures over 4 separate days during the course of a week as there was a fair bit to cover to do the post properly. Sometimes when I'm doing hair stuff I forget or don't have time to grab my camera such as when I was sewing in the hair before our afternoon out last week.

    I love that I can use this unit! It was about £150 and spent it's first years in a wig bag most of the time so it's good to be able to wear it. The hair is great quality so it was a shame not to use it to its full potential!!!

    Thanks for commenting!
    T

    ReplyDelete
  3. Extremely detailed and informative post. I love this wig on you and how versatile your made it work for you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Tomes Edition

    Thank you so much and thanks for commenting!!

    T

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  5. You are absolutely right about the blending! I surely can't tell! This is a fabulous look on you!

    KLP | SavingOurStrands

    ReplyDelete
  6. @KLP

    Thank you!!!

    I've been using the elf concealer palette. I like that it has four shades similar to my skintone which can be mixed together. But most of all, I like that it's cheap!!!!

    Thanks for commenting.

    I need to message you to figure out how to link to your Wash Day Link Up - I got myself so confused last time I tried.....

    Txt

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  7. Love the post! I am going into the world of wigs, so I will be revisiting this post again soon! Love this wig!

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Yvonne - Diary of a relaxed chic

    Thank you!

    I love this wig too. I washed her this week and she held up great!!!
    Thanks for commenting and good luck with your experimenting in the world of wigs :)

    T

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  9. I love how it looks with the waves!! So pretty!! I

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  10. @Hairscapades

    Thanks Shelli!

    I wish I had your hair though - it's lush. x

    ReplyDelete

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