I’m prepping my hair for my birthday (Scorpio season, okay!) and I decided to do a braidout on already-styled dry hair—specifically on a two-day-old twist out. I kept it super simple with only two products: Senzo Beauty Moisture Mist and Kinky Curly Spiral Spritz. The whole process is basically my usual theme: layering product slowly, lots of smoothing, and gentle finger detangling (strand by strand when I have to) until my curls stop moving like one big unit and start separating. My braids were not cute—very “functional, not aesthetic”—and I even had to do more than usual because the volume was wild. The next day I took the braids down (they weren’t even in for 24 hours) and I was genuinely shocked at how defined and moisturized my hair looked. I used Camille Rose Cocoa Nibs Honey Growth Serum to separate and help with frizz, and the twist-on-the-ends trick made unraveling so much easier. I also get into my ongoing crown breakage struggle (please send tips), why I don’t do braidouts on wet hair anymore (tangles + frizz city), and a little birthday mountain trip vlog where the fog tried to steal my stargazing dreams. The big takeaway: slow smoothing + lightweight slip on dry hair can give me insane volume, shine, and a braidout that looks way better than the braids ever did.