Saturday 12 March 2011

Twists + Bantu Knot Out = Result!!!!!

when I first took down the knots
I had a curly fro!
i pinned it back and voila :)
Hey Guys,

I am so incredibly happy right now, yesterday I had a great hair moment! For those of you who don't know (and why would you since I haven't mentioned it lol) outside of education I'm a singer/songwriter. In a couple weeks I have a performance and I wanted to try something new with my hair. A while ago I watched this video and was intrigued by the use of shea butter and aloe vera gel. My twist outs never hold their curl and so I never wear them. I didn't want to add a curly butter/pudding to my list of things to find and so I was eager to try the shea and aloe.

On Wednesday night I was reading Curly Nikki she mentioned twisting the front bit of a twist section before twisting the whole twist (confused?) instead of securing the roots with a clip (which never worked for me) so again I was eager to try this. So on Thursday night I was thinking of what to do to my hair for my band rehearsal the following Friday and was like, I might as well try a mix of Kimmay's and Nikki's methods (I didn't want to solely use Kimmay's method because I was in absolutely no mood to tackle flat twisting my whole head ¬¬). It was eleven thirty, my bed was beckoning but I ignored it's call and sat in front of my mirror; here's what I did.

The Method:



  • I put some coconut oil on my hands and took down my wash day flat twists. My hair was completely naked- no product in it whatsoever (I washed and steamed on Sunday, put some coconut oil on and flat twisted- that was the LAST time I touched my hair!)
  • Separated a section hair to twist and finger detangled (my hair wasn't that tangled so this was quick)
  • Applied Giovanni's Direct Leave In (this had to be worked in. I mean WORKED IN. My hair was dryyy but I didn't want to use my normal leave in (Kimmay's Leave in aka the Direct Leave In on steroids) because I didn't see the point of using ALJ and ALG together. This was the first time I'd used it on dry hair, I didn't want to wet my hair because I was trying to minimise shrinkage. 
  • Worked in leave in: Rubbed in hands, stroked into hair, left for a few seconds, stroked some more= moisturised hair. If I didn't work it in my hair would just laugh at the attempt at moisturising and remain dry and crispy.
  • Melted some shea butter in my palms and stroked onto hair
  • Rubbed a tiny blob of ALG in palms and applied to hair
Now for the bit that's hard to describe
  • I took a section and halved it (as you would to begin twisting)
  • I then sectioned off a small bit of the top of a half section
  • I did this for both half sections. So the original section has now become 4: two small and two big
  • I took the small sections and twisted 5 times
  • I then took the remaining half sections, one in each hand, and joined it to the ends of the small twist and twisted it all.
Does that make any sense?? The original sectioned hair become a big twist with a twisted front. At this point I am soo sick of the word section.
  • Lastly I tied the twist into a bantu knot/china bump (I called them China bumps when I was a kid-didn't hear of bantu knots until NHCBs) and that was it.
Wrapped a satin scarf around my head, got into bed (It was like one in the morning at this point) and CONKED out! The next day when I showered I kept the scarf ON. I didn't want any steam getting in my hair and preventing definition. After dressing I stood in the mirror and took a deep breath. I've had many hair disappointments..the moment of truth had arrived. I rubbed some EVOO on my hands and took down the knots. OMG. OMG. Oh My Gosh!!!!!!! My hair was soft and curly (Is that a brand name?). Like FOR REAL!! I was weary of the shea butter because I tried using I when I first started wearing my hair out but we didn't mesh, but guys O how we mesh :)

This will definitely be revisited. That day I got so many compliments about my hair! And it stayed defined and moisturised ALL DAY despite riding my bike to and from rehearsal!! 

The pics don't really show how curly it actually was :( but, 
I feel very much like the cat that got the cream :)


Cat. Cream.
Here's a clip of me a few months ago

I hope this finds you well :)
Rels x

2 comments:

  1. Great blog and hair pictures lady. Keep motivating more ladies in London to journey into another aspect of their natural beauty.

    Any issues with tangled hair-give us a shout!
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey there!
    I didn't see this comment until now, thanks for the encouragement and taking the time to comment :)

    ReplyDelete