The twists are out!

Many people complain about having to do long term protective styles because they miss playing in their hair. I can not emphasise enough just how much I love mini twists but alas it was time for them to go. Mini Twists left in the hair for too long can lead to knots, tangles and even meshing. I’ve found that washing my twists keeps them from tangling too much but this isn’t true for everyone.

            My mini twist hairstyles.

It’s been just over three months since I decided to alter my regimen to fit in with the dry weather, in that time, apart from the Bantu Knots and Head wraps, I’ve had styles that last at least a month each. It feels as though the weather is turning and although it’s possible that I may do a style that lasts two weeks I think I’m done with the really longer term styles for the year.

Some of the longer term styles that I’ve done in the last few months.

I painstakingly unravelled my mini twists over a period of two days; finger de-tangled, pre pooed with coconut oil, washed for the first time in quite a while with a sulphate free shampoo because my hair really needed it and then decided to do a protein treatment.

My hair has low porosity, its protein sensitive and so simple proteins like yoghurt and mayonnaise work really well for me. This is not true for all people and some naturals find that only a real protein treatment will suffice. One of my favourite mixes is yoghurt, apple cider vinegar, honey and a natural carrier oil, this time I opted for avocado oil. I leave the protein treatment in for 30 to 45 mins and rinse out with a moisturising conditioner. I applied my leave in conditioner, sealed with avocado butter and plaited fikuti (braids) to stretch the hair.

Something about protein treatments makes my hair feel really thick. I think it’s to do with the fact that the strands are fortified. I ain’t gonna lie, my hair overwhelmed me this week. It just would not co-operate and this was the style it wanted to do. I also couldn’t for the life of me find more than three bobby pins so I had to work with what I had. I call this the Messy Mukule Updo because it has a messy mukule pompadour (I explain mukule here) and the rest is pinned up after a bit of twisting.

Mukule Pompadour

Incidentally I found the rest of the hiding bobby pins later on in the day; pesky things.