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| Protective Styling is Great For Hair Length Retention |
After an exciting week of hanging out with the Sister In Law (or SIL) as she so "uniquely" put it LOL, we decided to try out some two strand twists. This mocha beauty has an even tighter coil than my last twist adventure that I did on my friend, Kay. My sister in law's hair somewhat resembles cotton. If I had to guess, it would be considered something of a 4C (you guys can tell how into the hair typing I am). NOT. I do, however, find the variety of curl shapes, sizes, weights, and all that good stuff to be pretty amazing.
Protective Styling (for example wigs), is GREAT for length retention....
It's extremely important to consistently care for coily hair even while it's being placed in a protective style. Two strand twists are excellent for easy care and maintenance of hair while not being manipulated for weeks at a time.
I want to capture some "specialty" twisting techniques via video. These techniques will address tightly coiled hair, hairline capture, and directing unruly twists. I also want to share how I "beef up" finer strand hair that has a course texture. I've come to find that course textured hair holds two strand twists THE BEST.First up, her hairline has suffered some damage (I think courtesy of the weaves she used to wear quite often). She speculates that the hairline damage is as a result of bad relaxers. Either way, both procedures (weaves and relaxers) can tax the hair and cause damage if not applied safely and only on an occasional basis. I was not knowledgeable about how to work with a damaged hairline.
She has lots of breakage, and in some areas, the hairline is about 1/4'' in length. Add her strong shrinkage to the picture, and I definitely faced a new arena. I welcomed the challenge--since that meant I would get to put 2 strand twists on her sweeeet textured hair!
Here are the steps that I took in order to do 2 Strand Twists on Thinning, Short Length Coily Hair:
- Dampened and then put some Olive Oil on the Hair. (pre poo). *I did this because I wasn't sure how her hair would react to the shampoo. This served as a sort of "buffer" between us and possible tangles!
- Clarified (I used V05's Clarifying Shampoo). At first, I didn't get a lather. This was probably because she typically coats her hair with "Doo Grow", and then puts her hair under a wig. There was definitely product buildup on her strands. I Shampoo'd 2 times.
- Deep Condition. I used my favorite home-made Avocado, Honey, Olive Oil, Mayonnaise Conditioner Treatment. AWESOME Results.
- Steam Treatment for 20 minutes (with the Deep Conditioner on her hair). This helps to infuse the moisture into the strands. I also did this step because we didn't have time for her to sit with the conditioner on her hair for 1 hour.
- Rinsed out the Deep Conditioner after steaming, then I conditioned (with Giovanni 50/50 Conditioner). Detangled with the conditioner on her hair (in sections). NO TANGLES! She says that her hair is not typically easy to detangle!
- AIR DRY (a bit). T-Shirt dried the hair a bit. Blow Dry (Tension Method) a bit. KEPT THE TEXTURE IN HER HAIR. WILL NEED THE TEXTURE TO HOLD THE TWISTS PROPERLY.
- Used Giovanni's Wicked Texture Sculpting Pomade to twist her hair. This allowed me to direct the twists where I needed them to go. Also, this helped to lay down her hair (which otherwise may have "stood up". This pomade is an all natural product that does not leave a residue, and seems to add moisture! I LOVE IT!
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| Want to "Fill Out" Sparse Hair Sections? Pinning Back the Hair Does the Trick |
For those of you who are concerned about your "open forehead" section, this is what I did:
She has at least 4.5'' length in the front of her hair, however, her hairline is damaged. I sectioned off the front and directed the section that I would lay down towards her forehead. I pinned that section down so that it would air dry in the direction that I want it to (forward). This now becomes her bang area. I twisted her bang area using the Giovanni Wicked also, while directing the twists towards her forehead. After about 15 twists, I used bobby pins and pinned down the bang until it dried fully. When she sleeps with this, she will sleep with a satin scarf, which will further lay down the hair in the direction the style was done in.
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| After Air Drying, T-Shirt Blotting, & Finally Blow Drying Slightly |
Now, because of her thinning areas (on the crown section), I chose to pin her hair back a bit. Pictures are a great way to track growth progress. I told her that if she kept the twists in for about 3 weeks, that would help her with length retention enormously! Also, if she's able to get her hair twisted once a month, this would be a nice break from the day to day wear and tear on her fine tresses. She lives in Georgia, so I wouldn't be able to twist her hair up, but I wish that I could!
Either way, she can wear her twist out or wear her wigs while her hair is cared for and placed in a low manipulation style. This will ensure length retention, and hopefully will allow her hair the fill out a bit more.
We will try to keep up and update on this coily haired angel's beautiful mane. I look forward to posting more information on her and her luscious locks!
Meantime...........................................................................................stay beautiful.
tia
P.S....I don't often see the Giovanni Wicked Hair Wax in the stores, so I buy mine online. If you don't find it in your local drug/grocery store, check out Amazon's prices.
