Two Strand Twists

Tonight I decided to switch things up a bit. I've been a wash n go girl since I've gone natural. What this generally entails is me co-washing my hair twice, sometimes three times per week and wearing my hair out or pulling it back into a low puff. According to some hair specialists, it's not the best practice to wet your hair daily, as this can cause hydral fatigue, as the hair is being submitted to a continual cycle of swelling with water, stretching then shrinking as it dries.

I really want to wash my hair only one time per week, I don't think I can go much longer than that. However, without a protective style, my ends immediately get dry and frizzy, hence the constant rewetting. I've been searching the web for protective styles that might work for my hair. Right now it's in an awkward phase and I can't bun it and I don't like weaves or wigs. So, what did I do? I went to the web to for inspiration. I stumbled across a video on Youtube by HeyFranHey where she does a tutorial on two strand twists. The end results are beautiful and her hair almost looks like it's in a twist in curl, even though she's rocking twists. Then, I found a post on Curly Nikki on the Twist and Turn Two Strand Twist by Shelli of Hairscapades (major hair crush). Well, both of these ladies have long hair, so I wasn't sure if it would work for me.

The only way to find out was to give it a shot. What did I have to lose beside a few hours of my evening. On the bright side if the twists look cute I will save a lot of time. I can twist my hair on Sunday, wear it in twists until Thursday and then rock a twist out Friday and Saturday. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this could save me loads of time on my morning routine. This week, I did my monthly cassia treatment and my hair felt full, soft but I also had major shrinkage. The idea of wearing twists and stretching my hair a bit didn't sound so bad after all.

So to prepare my hair I shampooed and then deep conditioned with my FAVORITE semi-DIY deep conditioner:

1 TBSP melted shea
1 TBSP argan oil
2 TBSP cheapie non-cone conditioner

I then used my spa steam treatment and sat under my soft-hooded dryer for 1h 30mins. After I rinsed the DC out with a conditioner. This left my hair soft and tangle free.

I did about 30 - 50 small to medium-sized twists (lost count). When I reach the end of the twist, I just twirled it to hold it in place. The final result was really pretty, however, with my hair in the awkward stage my twists began to shrink and helmet head was in full-effect. I tried tension blow-drying the twists for about 2 minutes and lost patience. Then I decided to try to semi-band my twists to stretch them. I plan on leaving them like this over night and look forward to seeing how they look when I remove the bands.

Uuh, my sides are almost chin length but shrinkage is major, thus the helmet head shaped hair.

Banded twists

Next day:

Do you two strand twist, any tips for maintaining them?

xoxo

Shea Butter Love

My hair is changing as it grows out... Not sure if that is the norm. Last month I was writing about how my hair doesn't like heavy oils. It still doesn't, but if mix my oils with shea butter it seems to love them! I'm not sure why and it doesn't make any sense to me. Castor oil on my washed hair- disaster. Shea butter + castor oil - love <3.
I'm not asking any questions, for the past 2 weeks I've experienced hydrated and über soft hair, so I'm going to run with that!

Another thing I've started doing is a water washes. I wash my hair with good ol' H20 for 6 days per week, nothing else. I condition and deep condition once per week. I think I will reduce shampooing from once per week to once per month, unless I feel like I have build up. (I will update my regimen page soon).

I've stopped using gels, curling creams and even leave-ins! Not sure how long this will last and if I've found my perfect routine, but for the moment, my curls have been defined, nourished and moisturized.

I discovered this all purely by accident. Remember how one of my New Year's goals was to finish my thesis? Well I did recently!! During the last couple of weeks leading up to my completion, I barely had time to shower. So, I would jump in the shower and while I washed up, I just let the water hit my hair. No combing, no finger detangling, no Denman- nada!

After, I would jump out the shower throw some stuff in my hair and call it a day. Well, that stuff was shea butter, I thought since I hadn't used it in a while, I would revisit. I scooped out a little, mixed it with a little castor, rubbed it in, slapped on a headband and hit the books.

I felt bad, because I thought I was neglecting my hair. Three weeks later, I look in the mirror to see the curls look better than ever, feel softer than ever and have grown an inch! I can even pull my hair back into a small puff-- not very voluminous, but still, this is big for me!

My nighttime routine has also changed a bit, I put my hair in a puff at night to prevent my curls from getting smooshed.

I love the puff, because I noticed, I play with my hair lessl-- I had a total case of HIH syndrome before.

I'm completely obsessed with shea! It doesn't leave my hair with that product-buildup feeling like I had before. I even stopped shampooing weekly, because I don't feel I need to without the buildup.

I decided to find a reciped for whipped shea butter, it's easier to apply to the hair, because it's has a smoother consistency. Here's a recipe I used for my whipped shea butter. This makes for a small amount, I wasn't sure how my hair would respond, so didn't want to waste all my shea. Will definitely be making more when this runs out.

4 TBSP of raw unrefined shea butter
1 TBSP of castor oil
1 TSP of vitamin E oil
1 TSP of jojoba oil
4 drops of mint essential oil (gives this a nice clean smell and is so soothing)

1. Mix the shea with a hand blender until fluffly (about 15 seconds)
2. Add all of your oils and blend until smooth (about 30-40 seconds)
3. Add your essential oil and mix with a spoon.
4. Place mixture in tupperware.
5. Place tupperware in the freezer for 5 minutes, take out and let your hair enjoy it!

I only use a little of this, as a little goes a long way. It's very moisturizing and works great for slicking back edges-- better than gel in fact, because it moisturizes.  Hmm... what to do with this giant jar of eco styler gel? Well, I'll hold onto it, never know what my hair will be like once it's longer.

P.S. - Detangling my hair every other week (sometimes two) works great for my frizz problem. I haven't had any major single strand knots and my curls are more defined when I leave them alone.