Two Strand Twists AND Fine, Thinning, Short Length Hair!

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:

1. 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!
2. 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.
3. Deep Condition. I used my favorite home-made Avocado, Honey, Olive Oil, Mayonnaise Conditioner Treatment. AWESOME Results.
4. 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.
5. 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!
6. 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.
7. 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!

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.

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.

Got Fine Wavy Textured Hair? You Can Do Two Strand Twists!

Create Full & Dense Two Strand Twists on Fine/Wavy Textured Hair

Fine/Wavy Textured Hair & Two Strand Twists

All of you wavy/looser textured ladies who are interested in doing two strand twists, this post is for you.

If you have hair that presents as "fine/medium" in thickness, at first glance, it would make sense that two strand twists would come out sparse or spacey. The twists would not seem to be PLUMP enough to cover parts or make a dense enough head of hair full of twists. That situation discourages people from doing two strand twists. A Simple Solution: Blow dry the hair on medium/cold setting so that it will swell. This will provide the thickness that you may be seeking. As a result, the hair will appear dense.

Parting at a Diagonal for Full Coverage

Another solution to hair that appears sparse is to part at a diagonal. I have a step by step post that instructs on this technique. This post will primarily address the fact that there is a difference in the outcome of two strand twists on hair that is less textured, however, there are techniques that can help with the issues of density and fullness.

For this styling, I could have made her hair appear even fuller, but she had previously put a product with heavy mayonnaise on her hair, thus weighing it down. Products have to be considered before any styling attempts are made. Any heavy products before blow drying will not allow the hair to swell as needed to make the twists appear more dense. Styling products should be used after the hair has been blow dried.

Working with finer/looser textured hair typically means it would be best to use less heavy/greasy products. In this instance, I didn't use any additional products for this set of twists, because she had just washed/conditioned, and moisturized with a heavy mayo product. It weighed down her hair, and made blow drying to swell the hair difficult. If the mayo product was not on her hair, then I would use a product similar to the Jane Carter Nourish & Shine, which has butters, oils, and will provide moisture for days to come. It is thick enough to twist with, and give a nice hold. Finer, Wavy hair tends to unravel, so thick product (like butters), and maybe not "greasy" products would be best to use. Definitely no water based products.

Full, Lush Two Strand Twist on Fine/Wavy Hair

Either way, I hope this post helps anyone with fine/wavy hair, wishing to do two strand twists. It can be done with a little calculating of both techniques and products. Blow drying is essential to achieving the density, fullness, and length for two strand twists on wavy hair. Again, keep the setting of the blow dryer between cold/warm air--not hot. Hot air will make the hair too straight, and remove the texture.

Extra Defined Twistout: OVERNIGHT!

MY OVERNIGHT ULTRA DEFINED TWIST OUT....and How I Made It BIGGER!!!

These 2 strand twists took me about 1 hour to complete. I didn't part. I separated the hair into about 6 sections and completed each section swiftly. I had no plans to wear these twists out, as my face was looking really skinny lately (my ma says I need to eat more meat...she may be right). Anywhoo, I didn't mind taking them down the next morning because the resulting twistout was SWEEET and ultra defined.

I did the twists on hair that was previously condition washed, detangled (with fingers and a paddle brush). And WET/DAMP. The only thing I put on my hair strands was avocado oil.

This twistout lasted me about 5 days (could have been more if I wasn't being so moody about my hair). I wanted it bigger, so this is what I did.....................

Adding a spritz of water nightly and braiding on top of my twistout gave me this bigger look. I braided in bigger sections (approximately 6 plaits).

One of the things I do for length retention is to keep wearing a style or texture for as long as possible. If my hair is stinky or if I have an itchy scalp, then I must wash it. But otherwise, if I can go 4-7 days without combing/brushing, or manhandling my hair in any way, then I love it! I re braid/re-twist at nights wherever "clean" sections are. Keeping the hair moisturized ensures easy manipulation (especially of the ends).

What I Did To Get A Lengthy and Long Lasting Twist Out!

MY STEP-BY-STEP TWIST-OUT TECHNIQUE

Previously, my twist outs looked like snakes. The hair shaft was always thick and wiry. It felt like a rope. Come to find out, that was what I was creating with the technique that I used then. I tried twists for a twist out a while back, and never re-visited them because each time I invested my precious time, I would be disappointed. A few days ago, I tried again.......this is what I did.

1) Stretched my hair the night before using the bun method (we have a post on this method)

2) Took the bun down the next day and moisturized my stretched hair


3) Detangle with a Paddle Brush. Final Detangle of each twist with a Tangle Teaser

4) This time, 1 hour of heat was applied in an effort to do a roller set (because that was the actual styling plan). However, I don't feel that this step is necessary. Can go straight from the stretched hair to moisturizing and twisting!

5) When the roller set failed (the hair became a puff ball), I did approximately 35-40 twists. 

6) My twists were done using the "brick laying" method. (Previously, I would twist the hair with a snap to the wrists--this would cause the strands to appear like a rope instead of like hair that has been defined as a group). So if you do your twists and while twisting the twists around each other, you also twist one of the twists itself, then that may be why your twist out will appear "snakey"

7) Took about 8 twists in each section and placed about 1 tablespoon of Taliah Waajid Lock It Up Gel into the palm of my hands. Rubbed my hands together and distributed the product from root to ends of each sections. Making sure it was distributed properly, because this would help my twists to last through the next few days.

 If you look closely, you can see a few of the twists look "snakey". Like a rope. I must have twisted my wrist at some point of doing that two strand twist.

Twist Out on Natural Hair: Two Days Later

I loved these twists! Even though they were bigger than usual, they styled well. Also, they were easily moisturized. I also love that they were not going to be manipulated a lot. I look forward to keeping them in for 1 or 2 weeks. 

It would be real easy to refresh the hairline area for that fresh look. The resulting twist-out was defined, had shine, was soft, easily maintained at night, and easily styled at day. Don't laugh at big twists! They are definitely worth trying out for that fabulous twist-out result.