Short Twist/Braid Styles: Part I
Cute, professional twist and braid styles for shorter hair. The first in a three-part series.
The style: Micro/mini twists; "wet-n-go" micro/mini twists
Duration of wear: 2 weeks max if your hair locs easily
Hair type: ideal for the tightly curled to the kinky (like me)
How to (recommended): Do on damp hair to achieve volume. Do on mostly dry, stretched hair for length. Apply a butter and/or gel on the ends for a natural curl or coil. "Grab and go" as you twist. There is no need to make neat parts for this particular style.
Amp it up a notch: I call this the "wet-n-go" twist set. Wet your twists every 2-3 days. Apply a light conditioner first, then let the water run through the strands without manipulating the hair. Afterwards, spritz with a water-oil based moisturizer or a leave-in conditioner. Your natural coils or curls will come to life and your hair will be more voluminous. (The micro twists help kinkier strands to "clump" together and form coils on the ends.) That's it! Add a headband, pin to one side, or put on cute earrings to accessorize.
If you're prone to single-strand knots: After wetting, apply perm rods, band, or cornrow the twists until dry. Unravel for a stretched but curly look.
Mini Twists:
More Mini Twists:
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| During my 2nd year natural: Co-washed micro twists after airdrying (left) and micro twists pinned into a style (right). |
Duration of wear: 2 weeks max if your hair locs easily
Hair type: ideal for the tightly curled to the kinky (like me)
How to (recommended): Do on damp hair to achieve volume. Do on mostly dry, stretched hair for length. Apply a butter and/or gel on the ends for a natural curl or coil. "Grab and go" as you twist. There is no need to make neat parts for this particular style.
Amp it up a notch: I call this the "wet-n-go" twist set. Wet your twists every 2-3 days. Apply a light conditioner first, then let the water run through the strands without manipulating the hair. Afterwards, spritz with a water-oil based moisturizer or a leave-in conditioner. Your natural coils or curls will come to life and your hair will be more voluminous. (The micro twists help kinkier strands to "clump" together and form coils on the ends.) That's it! Add a headband, pin to one side, or put on cute earrings to accessorize.
If you're prone to single-strand knots: After wetting, apply perm rods, band, or cornrow the twists until dry. Unravel for a stretched but curly look.
Mini Twists:
More Mini Twists:
Comments
They're already a little fuzzy...and I tend to (after washing my twists) to twist the twists themselves, to stretch them while drying. Would I wash the twists now?
Hey. If this is your first time doing mini twists then just try two weeks for now. The more you learn your hair, the better you'll know how quickly it naturally locs.
As for washing, do that as much as your hair will allow and/or whether you're going for a certain look. Be mindful that the more you wash your twists, the less the style will last. Also, for some naturals (including me), more washing = more prone to locing. For the mini twists above, it's more about "wetting" as opposed to "washing" for the amped look. If you choose to wet it like described, don't manipulate the hair much or that may speed up locing.
I hope this helps. :o)
This time, I added moisture the day after to my ends...and they shrunk up quite a bit. My hair isn't prone to matting or locking so much as to tangling and knotting and split ends.And this was even when I was moisturizing and twisting once a week.
My hair thickened a lot and I gained about 3/4 inch with leaving the twists in for three weeks..but it's still getting splits and knots.
@Chrissy M: First off, congratulations on the growth! That's great progress. Now we just need to stop the knotting and splitting.
A lot of things could be the culprit for the split ends -- e.g., over-moisturizing, under-moisturizing, over-bunning, over stretching, damage prior to the big chop, etc. Check out this article (it helped me a lot) and let me know if it helps you: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/286376/split_ends_everything_you_and_your.html
As for the knotting, you can dry airdrying with perm rods or rollers on the ends to stretch the ends. (This method helps me reduce single strand knots. It may also reduce your splitting.)
Keep me posted!