Second Week of Twist-Out

Actually this post is a little late since I have now started my next - two-week long style (just plain two-strands twists in a bun). But, here are the pictures of the second week of my twist-out.

After the first week of my twist-out with cornrows in the front - I had gotten tired of looking at my frizzy cornrows and decided to take them out. But, I really should have left them in because I created more frizz by disturbing them - so I decided to turn my twist-out into a twist-out puff :o)

I added a Tomoka's Twist Accessory :o) Check them out here.

That day, at work (during my break of course ;o) I came across a couple of blog posts on twist-outs done with flat twists. On Chocolate Orchid's blog she featured Calla Lily's flat-twist out method and pics. Then on A Grl Can Mac's blog she showcased her own beautiful 'first-time' flat twist-out along with some great 'how-to' videos. So, I decided that I had to try a flat twist twist out when I got home ;o)

My tools - (excuse the sideways picture - thought I straightened it up at home, but when I got to work to add my captions I discovered I didn't) - again, I am on a 'break' while doing this ;o) - Anyway, I used Organic Root Stimulator's Lock and Twist gel (I'm in still in search of a paraben free gel - but this one works pretty well for now). The brown jar is my own mix of shea butter, almond oil and coconut oils.


My flat twists - I'm sure you can tell I parted with my fingers, and I may have went a little overboard with the twisting gel...


I followed all of the steps on both blogs - but I did my twists too late in the evening, and maybe even a few were a little too thick, because in the morning my hair was not completely dry :o( Breaking my own rule, not giving myself enough time to do my hair, I found myself in a rush and had to break out the handheld dryer - no time to sit under the hooded one - which in hindsight I will do before going to bed the next time I plan on wearing a twist-out and do my hair late in the evening ;o)


Again pressed for time I still didn't get it super dry, hence the results ;o(
BTW: Don't ask how I had time to take pics - but needless to say my husband was not amused - but my stepdaughter helped move the picture taking process along ;o)

Some parts did dry though, and I was pleased with the results, but there was still a big chunk in the back that did not dry, and as you can see it really stood out from the rest.

I tried to get a shot of the top which dried and looked great. To fix my half dry flat twist-out. I decided to resort to a twist-out/chunky puff :o)


You can see the parts from the flat -twists :o)

Although I didn't get to wear my flat twist twist-out, overall I was pleased with my puff :o)

That night I decided to re-twist and put in some big two-strands which took about an hour. I re-wet sections with water and added a little more of my shea butter mix. I didn't add any more styling gel.

Again I parted with my fingers. I put the twists in earlier, right when I got home from work, so in the morning they were completely dry :o) I unraveled my twists and in an effort to get out of the house on time - I went right to work before styling...

Since I got to work extra early - I decided to style there.

Side of big twist - twist-out :o)

Other side - yep, I'm taking pics in the restroom at work :o) I wanted to wear my twist-out out, but really didn't like how the the front looked and rushed out of the house forgetting to grab some flowers clips which would have done the trick. So....

I resorted to a big twist-out puff - I did manage to grab my homemade butterfly pantyhose headband :o)


Side of puff :o)

Tried to get a shot of the back - but someone came in and I decided to end my photo shoot - lol.

I had to laugh when the lady came in frowning - lol

Close shot of my butterfly pantyhose headband - I'm going to have to put a pic tutorial up one of these days on how to make these. They really come in handy :o)

Over the weekend I had to re-wash becomes my scalp was itching - I think it was because of all the gel I used. So for now, I am wearing the two-strand twist bun, but may unravel for a twist-out next week.

Peace and Blessings

Twist-Out Results

After wearing protective styles for an entire year, I was anxious to wear my favorite style - the twist-out. Before unraveling my two-strand twists after wearing them for two weeks, I did a co-wash and moisturized while wet. After the co-wash, I noticed that a few of my two-strands were loose at the root, so I re-twisted them and let air dry.

Side of wet twists right after co-wash

Other side - you can see the loose roots were the holes are.


The back - and more holes with loose roots (I'm going to make them smaller next time so I can get them tighter). In the morning I moisturized again with Shea butter and unraveled starting from the back. After unraveling a few from the back I noticed they were shriveled and not in the form of the two-strand twist pattern to my liking and some were super frizzy (possibly because I slept on them when they weren't completely dry). So I ended up re-twisting them.

Side of twist-out. When I first took them out I was not pleased with the results. It didn't look the way I remembered. It just looked different for some reason from the way I was used to seeing it :o( But I was glad at the way the top hung over my cornrows because the ones on the sides closest to my ear look a hot mess :o)


Other side of twist out - you can see some of the holes - due to re-twisting. I re-twisted all of the ones along with the entire back row (6 twists) and a few in the middle that didn't dry all the way. I will let them stay for a day or so then unravel again.

The very back - can you tell that the last row is in two-strands? I don't plan on taking them out because I think they blend in pretty well.

Twist-out comparisons: The first pic is a twist-out I did when my hair was much shorter. I loved how it looked - hardly any holes. The second pic is one I did when my hair was a little longer - again I loved how it looked. The last one is my twist-out now.

And from looking at the pictures I see why it looks different to me - it's because the hair is actually hanging. For some reason I failed to realize that my hair is longer now and the twist-out IS going to look different. I'm still not used to it though - I think I will try twisting with gel next time to see how it turns out, and I will make sure all of my twists are the same size because since it is longer, the hair doesn't blend in together and you can actually see each individual hanging piece and some pieces are smaller than others - I could just be nit-picking though ;o)

I plan to wear this for two weeks. I think the first week I will wear it as-is and the second week I will take out the cornrows. Of course, I will post pics of how it looks each week :o)

Peace and Blessings...

End of Protective Style Experiment

Hello everyone,

I've finally reached the end of my self-induced year-long protective style challenge :o) At the beginning of my challenge - August of '08 (see blog post here) - I had big plans of keeping my hair in protective styles for an entire year and achieving 6 inches of growth ( the average person's hair grows about 6 inches a year) added to the 4 to 5 inches I had at the time. I also had plans of taking vitamins, exercising, eating right and paying close attention to my ends during the challenge.

Well, now that the year has ended I am ready to examine the results. In the beginning, the first few months I did exercise some and tried to eat right, but those two things slowly died away - not to mention I have yet to take vitamin the first :o( - In the beginning I also took special care with my ends, but as the months rolled on I found myself getting a little lazy and not moisturizing them as often as I planned, but for the last 3 or 4 months I did pamper them. And in-between styles, I started washing my hair in 6 to 8 loose braids which has helped tremendously with breakage.

I think the fact that I got 'lazy' with overall moisturizing and paying closer attention to my ends and not taking the vitamins, resulted in me missing the total 6 inch growth mark. But in the end, wearing the protective styles did help me achieve much healthier hair, and the crown area of my head that seemed to not grow as fast as the outer areas - is actually healthier and therefore retaining more length. Overall, my hair has grown 4 to 5 inches longer - the crown measuring a little over 7 inches and everywhere else between 8 and 9.

This challenge has taught me the importance of moisturizing and setting aside time to take down and style my hair - which resulted in retaining length. It also has gotten me used to frizz. I was able to keep styles in for a month or more at a time - frizz and all.

In the beginning of my challenge, I wasn't able to put my hair in a bun without using clips to hold some of the shorter hair in place. Now, I am able to wear it in a high pun and actually have hair left to fold over.


My last protective style - big box braids.

Showing the length - I used to have to put clips to hold the back braids or twists in place.

I had big plans to do some finger coils, but decided to put my hair in two-strand twists (another protective style ;o) - I will wear these twists for two weeks and then unravel for my first twist-out in one year!

Front - my signature cornrows in the front. The front of my hair is thinner and straighter. Because it is thinner when I do two-strands there are a lot of 'holes' parts showing unless I do them really small. Because it is straighter the ends of the twists unravel, so I prefer putting the front in cornrows or flat twists.

I did these on freshly washed hair. I was surprised that there were not many 'holes' since I did them so big :o)

Side view.

Back shrinkage.

Side shrinkage.

I plan to were this style for the entire month of August. The first two weeks like this, although I may put it up in a pony tail next week, and the last two weeks I will unravel to wear in a twist out. I will be back in two weeks to post pics of the twist out.

Peace and Blessings...