Women's Day Photo Shoot Prep
The month of March is National Women's History Month, and yesterday - March 8th - was International Women's Day.
If you were on social media any at all yesterday then you saw hundreds of images and messages dedicated to the uplifting, empowerment, and appreciation of women around the global. People, but women especially, celebrating other women is a beautiful sight to behold.
One of my dear friends, Martine - Chief Fashionista in Residence at the Blessed and Chic Blog - decided to invite a few ladies out for a photo shoot in celebration of International Women's Day and I was invited to be a part.
I was excited, humbled...and nervous - very very nervous lol.
You cant show up to a fahionista's photo shoot looking any kind of way.
Martine was very kind and clear in her instructions, so my main concern was not what do I wear but
What should I do with my hair?
Before shampooing - dry and dull
Although, I decided to stick with an easy go to style - a flat twist out. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to try out the new Extraordinary Oil line for dry hair by L'ORÉAL PARIS. It's a hair care system that uses Argan, Chamomile, Coconut, Amla, Soja, and Sunflower oils to keep hair hydrated and moisturized. My hair sucks up moisture and typically becomes dry and brittle fairly quickly so I was interested to see if this line was as good as it claims to be.
The shoot was scheduled for early Saturday morning and I washed my hair the day before - on Friday.
I used the Nourishing Shampoo, Nourishing Conditioner and the Lustrous Oil Serum.
The fragrance of the entire line is divine - I would love to wear the line's signature luxurious scent as a perfume or body butter. The bouquet of the entire line is light and airy yet warm and inviting. Its quite lovely.
Wash
Before using the shampoo I read the ingredients and I was disappointed to find Sulfates as an ingredient. I think the shampoo makes a good hydrating clarifying shampoo but it's not something I would use in my hair every week.
Condition
Usually when I condition my hair I add olive oil to the conditioner, but I decided to try it without any additives to see how well it worked in my hair by itself. The conditioner is sulfate free and includes castor oil as an ingredient - a pleasant and welcomed surprise. I put conditioner in my hair and left in for about an hour before washing it out. My hair liked the conditioner a lot.
L.O.C. Method
Once I washed out the conditioner I sprayed a homemade liquid leave-in (distilled water, aloe vera, a couple drops essential oils) and then I used the lustrous oil serum. The serum provides a nice thick coat for my strands but it did not leave my hair weighed down. The cream I used to seal my hair was raw organic shea butter. Then, I took my time and flat twisted my hair.
The Lustrous Oil Serum can be used on wet hair or dry hair; and on the back of the bottle it also says you can use it to coat your hair before washing with shampoo. Since this was my first time I opted not to use the serum before shampooing so I could see how my hair responded to the shampoo. Next time I will follow that suggestion to protect my hair from the sulfates in the shampoo.
I was pretty content with the job I did on my hair - enough to take a couple selfies during an impromptu date night.
Saturday morning my nerves kicked in - I felt like my outfit wouldn't do the shoot justice and kept returning to Danny for reassurance, and he sacrificed sleeping in to deliver. I didn't do much for make-up - I just used moisturizing cream, bronzer from E.L.F. and a little mascara.
I couldn't make up my mind about leaving the flat twists in or taking them out. I decided I wanted my hair out - to my horror my thick locks had let me down - my hair was not dry all the way. My anxiety kicked up a notch. Danny told me I looked fine and I had little option but to believe him and be ready.
The shoot turned out to be AMAZING!!
Photo By: Ariana Jones
Originally Featured on BlessedandChic.com
(As usual, I was being a worry wart for no reason. I'm working on that!) Seriously, by the time I got around all the other ladies all I felt was sheer joy! To witness such willingness from amazing women to support the vision of an equally amazing woman was inspiring.
I'm truly humbled by the fact that I got to be a part of something so wonderful.
Photos By: Marc B.
Originally Featured on BlessedandChic.com (Click the link to see more photos and to read about each woman featured)
The photos are regal.
All in all I'm very happy with how my hair turned out. I'm glad I took out some of the twists even though they weren't all fully dry and I like the big hair, lion mane look. My jet black locks were popping because my hair was hydrated and moisturized. I had a good experience with the Extraordinary Oil Line, though the conditioner and oil serum were easily my favorite.
National Women's History Month is a wonderful time to celebrate the women in our lives - mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, co-workers, bosses.
The photo shoot was a great reminder that each woman is beautiful in their own way and has something significant to contribute to the world. I'm thankful for a community of women that are dedicated to uplift, inspire, encourage, and empower.
True beauty is more than skin deep.
Grace.&.Peace
-CF
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Disclosure: L'ORÉAL PARIS sent me their new Extraordinary Oil System to review. All opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way as per my guidelines for this blog.