This is pretty special because not only are there two styles in this post (Day 6 & Day 7), there is also a bonus style. Happy reading.

Day 7 – Flat Twist Bangs

After a pretty successful Day 5, morning dawned on day 6 which was a Friday. I was excited to attempt a style that I had been looking forward to doing for a while. Unfortunately, it just wouldn’t work. In fact, nothing would. Every woman in the world has bad hair days occasionally and today was one of mine. I managed to do the flat twist bangs in the front, but the afro puff I was going for at the back just wouldn’t seem to work. The hair was a bit too stretched it seemed and just flopped down. The flat twists bangs just also didn’t seem to have the definition that I wanted. I tied the back into a puff and sectioned the hair into smaller twists that I pinned down. This was in a bid to get definition to try again and wear my hair out in a proper afro puff the following day.

Day 6 – Flat twist bangs Part 1 (side view)

The definition at the side was fine, I just had not figured out what to do with the back and I was rushing so had few options. What did I do that afternoon? I went out looking for hair accessories as I realised I was also very limited in terms of how to deal with the situation. I came home with a full bag. Happy shopping indeed!

I like this picture because my indefatigable spirit is such that I returned to this look and nailed it later on in the challenge. Perseverance pays off. So although this particular one was a fail, this picture reminds me of the sweetness of success a few days later.

For hair that was just done that morning, this looked like I’d had it for a week. Not sure what happened, but it happens. Normally I would have worn a head wrap, but since I was in the middle of a challenge, I had to soldier on. This after all, is the reality of life. You win some, you lose some.

Day 7 – Flat Twist Bangs Part 2

So after failing to hit the mark on Day 6, I decided to try again on day 7. The hair was more stretched, so I made sure to not spritz too much to preserve definition. I added a tiny bit of shea butter for hold. I also sectioned the hair in front in advance of flat twisting. When flat twisting, I also pulled the twist closer to the hairline. You can see the difference between Day 6 and 7, not only in definition, but shine as well. In short, I nailed it.

Day 7 – Success

Learning how to flat twist was probably the proudest day of my natural hair journey thus far. That was way back in May or June 2013.

My hair is quite fine, so an afro puff is actually the ideal style as it doesn’t require the hair being in a ponytail, which reduces the volume. The clip I used was about half the length of a banana clip, but more oval in shape. I think that it pulled my hair too tightly and ate up the volume that I needed to make a ‘powerful’ puff.

Yes, I love my country and this is my most patriotic outfit, aside from wearing traditional chitenge. I think the Zambia national Football team was playing on this day or else I was just feeling like flying the flag. I can’t remember.

In this picture is where you can see that I would have been better off pinning the puff in place in order to retain volume.

Day 6 – Flat twist bang part 1

Day 7 – Flat twist bangs part 2

The Bonus Style

Many of my styles are results of failed experiments, but some are inspired by what I see online or in person. As mentioned already, Day 6 was an epic fail, but I got back up and tried again the following day and nailed it. My inspiration was this Chunky Flat Twist Bangs and Afro Puff from my favourite natural hair icon, young Boo from Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care. The minute I saw this picture, I knew I had to try it some time. For those wondering (and because some person on Facebook will ask without reading), what are bangs? Bangs (in North American English) are what British people call a fringe. Honestly, flat twist fringe doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, so I’ll stick with bangs.

Me and my hairspiration!

I don’t have quite as much hair as Boo does, and I am not nearly as neat as her Mum Rory. I also I couldn’t find a round puff cuff clip type of thing, but I was happy with how it turned out. Especially because it allowed me to perfect the flat twist bang as you will see later in in this challenge. Read more from Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care here.

15 Days, 15 Styles – Day 6 & 7

Read the introductory post to this series here. Read styles for Day 1 & 2 here. Read styles for Day 3 & 4 here. Read the style for Day 5 here.