Reflection 15

So for my final reflection of the semester, I'm happy to say that I finished my presentation and with that, I have completed my 20% project. I am proud to say that I am walking away from this project with more useful skills than perhaps my last 20% project, but I still happy with what I learned from both projects. I really enjoyed 20% time, since it gave me the space and freedom to explore certain passions of mine that I wanted to pursue for quite a while. Also, since I've gotten a start in both of these areas, I can go on to college and really put them into use and get even better.

Reflection 14

Last week, there wasn't much progress made in terms of my 20% project, but that was out of my own pure laziness. The most I did last week was set up the look and basic outline of my presentation, since its due date is coming up soon. Later, I planned on filling in the information when I felt like I was up to the task. Another thing that I will attribute the lack of progress to is prom, since it was on Friday and it took up more of my attention than anything. Therefore, any progress would have to be done after prom weekend, when all the partying is out of my system and I can finally focus on work again. However, I am excited to create my presentation because I'm glad to be ending the year off with a positive outcome on 20% project.

Reflection 13

With prom fast approaching and many final projects looming, my 20% project has unfortunately fallen further down on my priority list. It's not a bad thing though, because as I mentioned before, there's not much left that that I feel I can do during the school year. The only skill that I would attempt to learn at this point is cornrows since I struggled with that a lot but that would have to wait until the summer. Also, if I wanted to practice on my hair anytime soon, I couldn't because I'm in preparation to get my hair ready for prom this coming week. Thus, not much progress will happening this week. However, I wouldn't rule out any possibility of progress in the future because I plan on improving my skills over the summer and years to come.

Reflection 12

It's getting increasingly hard to find the motivation to braid anymore because I feel like I've accomplished most of the goals that I set out for myself at the beginning of this project. With the exception of cornrows, I've learned how to do 3 out of the 4 styles that I wished to learn and practiced them a bit. The only possible next step from here would be attempting these styles on other people rather than on myself. However, with the end of the school year approaching and the craziness that comes with it, finding someone who would be willing to let mess around with their hair seems like a tall order on not only them, but me also. Scheduling something like that in the midst of final projects and other things would only cause more chaos and I want to avoid that. Maybe in the future I could try braiding someone's hair, but for the time being, I won't be pursuing that. Although I am very proud of the progress I have made over these past few months.

Reflection 11

This week, I thought I would take another break from braiding because I decided braiding each week would be overkill, so I dedicated this week to doing more research. I also searched for more inspiration by looking at examples of what other people (with skills far better than mine) have done. I started off with the latter and looked up different ways that box braids can be styled. This was partially for the project and also for myself because I'm getting my hair braided for prom and needed ideas for how to style my hair. Then, when I got home, I watched some videos on YouTube on how to do box braids and more on how to style them and care for them.

Reflection 10

This week, I finally worked on my box braids, as promised. Before I started, I re-watched the same tutorial that I previously used to learn how to do box braids as a refresher because it had been a while since I've done any. After a few rough starts, I managed to grasp the skill again and then parted my hair into the sections that I would be braiding. I decided that I would do five braids, which I thought was practical. After the braid, I realized that it was much smaller than I originally intended, but turned out to be a happy mistake because I did, at one point, want to do smaller single braids. For each one, I would attach it, braid it halfway, then finish it off afterwards. That's something I picked from the many times I've gotten my hair braided professionally and it came in handy then. When I was all done, I inspected the braids to make sure there weren't any mistakes and couldn't find any. I was really happy with how they turned out. Not sure I feel like doing next week, but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon.

Reflection 9

This week, I had planned to practice my box braiding, but I unfortunately fell really ill on Friday and didn't have the strength to do anything. Since Fridays were the only I set aside for working on my 20% project because fitting in during the weekend is really tough for me, I couldn't work on it much after Friday either. As a result, I don't have any progress to report for this week. I did, however, watch a past tutorial on how to to box braids to refresh my memory for next week when I hope to work on it again. Besides this minor setback, the project overall is still going well.

Reflection 8

This week for my 20% project, I made good on my promise to practice my braiding and noticed that it was significant better than past weeks. In fact, I did more than the usual two twists and did four twists. My technique has gotten a lot cleaner since I started, although I still need to work on making sure the width of the twist stays consistent. I started with a center part, made four medium sized sections, then did a twist on each one using the "natural attachment" method. My main problem with this method in the past was that the twist wasn't as tight at the roots as I wanted. That was fixed this time as I made sure to twist the two separate strands individually to my desired tightness then twisted them together. As a result, the twists felt more secure and were much easier to work with. For the most part, I think I've gotten this style down and will probably go back to doing regular box braids.

Reflection 7 (spring break)

I unfortunately do not have much to report in terms of progress made over the break, as I did not get around to practicing as I had originally planned. A number of reasons contributed to this. One being that the days I projected would be the time I would spend working on my project became unexpectedly busy with college visits and random errands. However, a bigger reason why I didn't get to work on my 20% project is because my hair was in terrible shape over the break because I became extremely lazy in terms in maintaining it. As a result, my hair wouldn't be manageable until I gotten a perm to straighten the roots of my hair and even out its texture. That perm didn't come until Friday, right in the midst of all the craziness. This week, I will try to all the things I said I would do and talk about any progress I make.

Reflection 6

This week during 20% time, I watched a couple of tutorials that taught how to do havana twists, which are essentially senegalese twists but much larger. Though I'm not actually looking to actually do havana twists (I don't have the hair required to do them) I thought it would still be helpful to see how other people do their twists so I could possibly learn some more tips. One video surprising showed me a more effective way to starting off a twist which I hope to use soon. Basically, what she did was take one end of her real hair and one end of the weave and twisted them the same way you do to the actual twist. Then she did the same thing to the other side and then twisted the two strands all the way down. I noticed that it made her twist appear a lot tighter, which is a problem I had before. Hopefully during the break I'll get around to trying the new method on my own hair and when I do, I'll be sure to post pics.

Reflection 5

This week for 20% time, I looked up tips on how to improve my braiding skills so that in the future, my braids would come out a lot cleaner and nicer. I actually learned a bunch of new things that I plan on using the next time I decide to braid my hair. For example, I learned that it's important to make sure that your hair and the hair you're braiding with are moisturized as this will make braiding much smoother and keep your hair healthy. I also learned that while making the braid tighter will help last longer, it is not always beneficial as it can also hair breakage. These, along with all the other things that I read, I think will help me get better at braiding. Next week, I may go back to practicing box braids (since I haven't done them in a while) but this time using the new information that I now know.

Reflection 4

This week during 20% time, I watched a couple of tutorials that explained how to prepare hair for braiding and how to do Senegalese twists. When I got home, I tried prepping a brand new pack of hair but it didn't work out as smoothly as I wanted. After a few more attempts at saving the hair, I decided to revert back to the hair that I was previously using, which was already prepped. To clarify, prepping hair for braiding involves feathering (pulling the ends or teasing) the hair so that it's not as rigid and crimped as when it is first taken out of the box. The woman doing it in the video made it look fairly simple, but when I tried it, the ends came out very uneven. So in the meantime, I used the old hair and did two attempts at the Senegalese twists. The first one I did started off as a regular single braid, but then I split it into two strands and twisted it all the way down. The second twist was done by using one parting of hair that I twisted at the root of my hair and then twisted the two strands all the way down. Of the two twists that I did, I realized that the second one I did was better than the first overall, however, I felt like the attachment on the first twist was more secure. Also, when I got to the ends of the twists, I braided them so that they wouldn't unravel. Overall, I believe that the second method I used works better and I will most likely be using that in the future. 

Reflection 3

Since we didn't have 20% during class this week, it meant that I was going to have to work on it more at home. Which was fine, but I would much rather have liked to watch the tutorials at school to get it out the way so that I get home, I could just focus on practicing. However, this week I didn't get much practice done because 1) I was just super tired and fatigued from this week that I physically was not up for fumbling with my hair for an extended amount of time and 2) I procrastinated way too late and only got around to working on my project until Saturday. What I did manage to do was watch two tutorials on how to do Senegal twists. I knew before I said that I would practice the box braids this week, but I decided to switch it up because twists are less strenuous and time consuming as braids so I went with that instead. I also attempted one twist on my head, but I made the grave mistake of opening a new pack of weave and using it without treating it first. Thus, the twist turned out horrendous and decided to spare everyone from seeing its tragic appearance. So I quickly took it out and told myself that I would try again tomorrow but with the hair I used before since it was already treated. In addition, I am going to try using the other method of twists that I learned because the first one I used didn't work all that well. Next week, I'll give an update on how that goes.

Reflection 2

This week during 20% percent time, I spent my time watching a tutorial on how to do box braids using weave. I decided to skip over learning how to cornrow as it really requires it being done on a mannequin and in all honestly, I still have no idea how I'm going to get one. In the meantime, I've decided to move on to my next style which were single braids or box braids. This I knew would be easier to do because I could just part a small section of my hair and work with that. After watching the tutorial several times, I assembled the things I needed to make the braids, sat down in front of my mirror, and started my first attempt at box braids. During this part, I learned two things: I obviously cannot tell left from right (jk but I did actually run into some problems with this) and weave is dreadfully messy. Besides that, my first attempt actually wasn't too shabby. The only problems I noticed with it was that it wasn't tight enough at the point of attachment and the beginning of the braid wasn't even. Other than that, it was beautiful. Oh, another thing I learned during this part: apparently, I know how to braid underhand. I mean, the process required that I braid underhand, but the fact that it came naturally surprised me. So, after figuring out what was wrong with the first one, I went back it with a second braid right next to the original so I could compare the two. The second one was a lot better, it was tighter and more uniform throughout. I believe that if I were to continue with the braids, they would progressively get better. Overall, today was a very successful day in terms of learning and executing a new skill and I couldn't be more proud. A bonus was getting compliments from my mom when she saw them. Next week, I think I'm going to continue practicing with the box braids to strengthen my abilities before moving on to another style.

(from left to right: the amount of hair I used and a comb, two shots of the finished braids; the first attempt is on the right and the second one is on the left, and the length of one braids, which was almost to my waist)

Reflection 1

For the first 20% percent time of the second semester, I started out by researching the first style that I plan on learning: cornrows. My first instinct was to turn to YouTube for video tutorials on how to do them. The videos were pretty helpful, however, I didn't get through too much of them because a lot of them were pretty long. They showed the basics on how to cornrows and shared tips on how to make sure they last long, aren't lumpy, etc. I think after watching those videos, I got the basic gist of how to braid cornrows but I still haven't decided how I am going to practice doing them. For now, I'm just going to try practicing on my own hair unless that gets too inconvenient, then maybe I'll switch over to a mannequin head. As for what I learned today, I learned that it's good to get a strong foundation in the basic skills before moving on to the more complicated stuff.

2nd semester 20% project proposal

For my second semester 20% project, I've decided that I am going to learn how to braid hair. Particularly, I want to learn different styles of braiding hair. I plan on learning at least 4 styles: cornrows, single braids, box braids, and twists. I will accomplish this by acquiring a mannequin head that I will use to practice these styles on. I will also be using video tutorials and written tutorials on how to do these styles and what is required in order to do them. Luckily, I already know how to do a simple braid so there won't be much trouble in terms of the actual braiding part. The difficulty of this project will depend on how hard it will be for me to learn and actually attempt a certain style. However, I have faith that with a little determination and patience, I will be able to pick the skills. Due to the nature of this project, most of my work will have to be done outside of school, but during 20% time, I will using that time to study the different styles and also practicing on the mannequin head whenever I bring it to school.

Reflection 13

Last 20% time, I worked on customizing more of the theme base and succeeded in adding a title to the sidebar, changing the color of the sidebar, fixing the sidebar image so that it shows up, making the meta tags neater, and adding things to the html section. I added a before and after picture to show the differences between the two and what changes I made. There's no radical changes because I am not that skilled. However, this is a decent start in the journey of learning how to code. I can definitely say that I've learned a lot during this process and might continue on in expanding my knowledge in coding. It may not be end result that I originally pictured, but I'm still very proud of this. Overall, it was a very eye-opening experience and I'm going out of this knowing a lot more about coding than I did before.

Reflection 12

This week during 20% percent time, I got around to adding the meta tags to the theme and tweaking some things in the CSS as I added modifiable features in the meta tags. As shown in the picture, I added the options to upload your sidebar image and change the color of the background, text, link, link hover, tags, and tags hover. I believe I also added in the meta tag for the fifth link in the sidebar, so if people wanted to insert another link, they can. Something that happened while I was working on the theme was that the sidebar image was not showing up after I uploaded. I tried figuring out what was wrong and fixing it, but nothing I did at the time worked. So I'm gonna spend some time fixing that and hopefully changing some other features.

Reflection 11 (winter break)

Over the break, I followed through with my idea that I would use a new base code, one that was closer in appearance to what I wanted my theme to look like and was a bit more user-friendly. That being said, I happened to stumble across a base code while searching for a theme for my main blog. I didn't end up using one of the creator's themes, but I did really want to use her base code. I included a picture of what it looks like. So far, I'm really liking it. much better than the one I was using before. This base code, however, forces you to really code a lot as a majority of the sections are missing or incomplete
so that you must fill them in yourself. Which I thought was fine because I wanted to do most of the customization myself anyway. I believe the most I did over break was install the theme on another sideblog, modified the CSS format, and changed some of the dimensions (those are really the only things I do best at the moment) and later, I will add to the meta tags portion (which was blank) and the html section.

Reflection 10

This week, I decided to play around more with the meta tags and html portion of the base theme. I know I wanted to add more links to the sidebar (because nothing sucks more than not having enough links in your sidebar for various pages) so I added another one through the html and also the meta tags so that the users can assign whatever url they want to that link. At this point, it seems that a lot of my work is going to have to be done over winter break. Which I don't mind since I don't do much over winter break anyways. I think I may also change my base theme again because as nice as the one I'm using now is, I need to find one that allows me to make easier changes to and also looks closer to what I want. Since I will be at home and therefore will have no restrictions in the pages I can visit, I will most certainly spend some time searching for a new one and working on that one (I really need to stop being nit-picky) but hopefully somewhere will come together by the time we start school again.