This week I’m back in a long term protective style. July is probably the driest month of the year and there is so much dust around that it just makes sense to hide the hair away.

I decided to stop being lazy and finally do some mini twists. I used to wear these quite often in year two of being natural but got lazy and moved on to protective styles with extensions in year 3. I decided to revisit them because they are a good example of a style that lasts quite a while. I tend to keep mine in for six week at the most. They are easy to maintain and allow access to both the scalp and ends of the hair. I will tell you how I maintain my hair and keep it moisturised as the weeks go on. As with the last set of twists I did I will attempt a different way of styling them every week.

I started twisting with trepidation on Friday evening and kept doing sections all weekend. The bulk of the hair was twisted on Sunday. I would say all in all, without breaks, it probably took me about 6 hours. The twists are tiny but deliberately not too tight.

I chose to twist on stretched hair which is why I had Bantu knots in last week. I didn’t want too much shrinkage because I want to be able to style the hair. I moisturised with a leave in conditioner and sealed with Avocado oil before twisting each section.

A great trick for knowing how moisturised your ends are while they are in twists is to see how fuzzy they are. Bushy ends tend to mean either a lack of moisture or split ends.

Spritz the ends with water, apply your leave in conditioner and seal with an oil or butter. I’m using Shea butter this season because of how dry it is.

When your ends visibly curl up then you know they are happy and moisturised.

My plan is to keep these in until at least the middle of August. I’m having so much fun with them already. I love the fact that I can play in my hair without actually manipulating it too much.