Many of us are familiar with African threading or “cotton”. In Zambia its a hairstyle mainly worn by school children but it has also become a means of stretching the hair that many of us in the natural hair community use to avoid the use of heat which can be damaging. I tried corkscrew African threading last year and loved it. I was inspired to try African threading again after seeing an attendee at one of our workshops.
The corkscrew African threading that I tried last year.
An attendee at one of our workshops who inspired me to try this style.
I used normal thread and have been asked a few times if they are dreadlocks.
The hairstyle was done over two days.
![20140419_120406[1]](https://zedhair.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/20140419_1204061.jpg)
What do you think? Would you try African threading?
ZedHair 
definitely! reminds me of boarding days at fatima girls. did you plait it yourself?
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Thank you! I can only imagine the aching arms if I attempted this style myself. This was done by a hairdresser.
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Wow two days? Wud def wear african threading
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Absolutely, just have to find the right thread 🙂 here on this little Island 🙂
Smiles!!!
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I have been doing the corkscrew for the past four years….I love it and it works for me plus the styles vary…and you can play with it to style it..
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I’d definately try it when my TWA grows 😉
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I’ll try it wen my hair grows. Usually kip it short for easy styling.
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This s really nice would like contact details of the one who plaited your hair
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Thanks Tamara. I think anyone who can do cotton can plait this hairstyle as long as you show them a picture and have a clear idea of what you’d like in mind.
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We rocked ‘cotton’ styles growing up, including mukule and vikuti. Then ‘perm’ and ‘wetlook’ made us ashamed of Afrocentric hair styles. This was fabulous
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I’d love to try African Threading as a protective hairstyle. However, my challenge is trusting someone else to do it and NOT pull out my hair/break it. Now at neck-length thanks mainly to doing my own hair coz it is quite fine…
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Love it!
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Hi There, I just wanted some clarity on something. When you refer to thread, do you mean wool (used for knitting) or cotton (used for sewing a button)
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Hi Mayase. I used sewing thread although there is a much better option that saps less moisture from the hair, its thread specifically for weaving. Cotton wool would be far too drying.
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wow! that’s my favorite hair style that has helped in growing my natural hair .Tho my style is quite different with yours. i sure you can like it too.On many occasions people stop me to see how it is done and some prefer the very style over wigs.
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Hello Mwanabibi,
Your hair is fabulous !
I’ve done the African corkscrew threading hairstyle twice this year (picture is on my blog), and each time I had it in for 3 weeks.
I’d recommend threading, it’s the best protective style that I have ever done as my strands were locked in.
On take-down days, my hair was smooth, and I could even still smell the leave-in conditioner that I’d applied before my hair was threaded. It’s important that the hair is well moisturized and oiled prior to being wrapped in thread, it’s almost like marinating chicken in spices and then covering in foil paper 😀
Super easy to manage too, all I did spritz with a water and glycerin mix.
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Pingback: Protective Style Challenge; Week 40: Cotton | ZedHair·
I definitely plan on it. I couldn’t figure out if I needed the thread for installing weaves or just thin yarn. I will have to play with both I guess.
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