Mini-Twists: Fight The Frizz!

Hello beautifuls!

What’s good with you & your tresses?

I take my mini-twists down tonight. It has been a very good run, 5 weeks and two days. My 7 year old cousin called me out on Easter Sunday for wearing the same hair for as long as he could recently remember. I asked him to please sponsor my next hair and he really said he would if he could, LOL

This is a big deal for me because last year, I would not have thought this possible. I called mini-twists my Love-Hate Thing. I make some very nice twists if I do say so myself, so I enjoy marveling at my handwork when I’m done and my arms are protesting. I really wasn’t comfortable with wearing mini-twists because:
1. I don’t think wearing them at this present length does anything for my shape of face.
2. The frizz!! I know frizz is a big part of the natural life and while I do embrace it sometimes, it’s annoying to put a huge effort in styling and have your hair frizzing so soon after.

Before this, the longest I’d been able to wear mini-twists was 2 and a half weeks, let’s approximate to say 3. And even then, I wasn’t so happy about it. I felt like I needed to compensate with makeup.

This time around though, I fell in love LIKE with my twists. I still maintain that this length isn’t doing anything for my face shape, but they have kept well and aged well.

Day 1. Almost done.

Week 3

Week 5

I was determined to wear my twists for four weeks with no excuses, in a minimal-frizz condition that I would be comfortable rocking. If you’d like this too, here’s how:

1. Start on Clean Hair.

I always style on clean hair. Always always. Because if I don’t, I feel like my hair is already stale. Plus, my scalp WILL itch and I’d be tempted to wash and I did not want to give myself any excuses. At all.

2. Dry Stretched Hair For The Win!

I prefer to style when my hair is dry. Shrinkage is inevitable but I try to stretch my luck anyway. Also, with curly styles I’ve found that I have less frizz when I style dry, so I decided to apply that to my twists as well. I washed my hair, moisturised & sealed and put it in about 10 chunky twists. When the hair was completely dry the next day, I began to twist.

3. Sections & Small Twists. 

I took down one chunky twist, twisted all the hair from that, and moved on to the next. I sectioned my hair slightly smaller than usual, and twisted that way.

4. Start With a Braid. 

Typically, I like to start twists as twists. If I go to a salon and the stylist starts twists (with extensions) as a braid, I’m judging her. And I will complain. Invisible root method please. However, with twists with my own hair, the base easily gets puffy, even if I start my twists very tightly. So this time, I decided to start by braiding. Because it’s my hair and not extensions, except you stare at my scalp (and how would you do that?) you won’t see the braided base. I didn’t do it for long, just enough to keep the twists anchored. I think they’re the reason my roots stayed intact for longer.

5. Satin Bonnet DO & DON’T

I covered my twists at night with my satin bonnet. However, in the day time, when I was home, I kept it off. Just like wearing a hair net, if you wear a satin bonnet all day, for a few days, your scalp will protest and start to stank. Yes. Let it breathe!

6. Keep Your Hands To Yourself!

Self explanatory right? Too much touch-touch = frizz

7. Abstain from Moisture

LOL did you just pause to give me the side-eye? I did not spritz my hair with water at all. To go into the shower, I always wore a shower cap. I prevented my hair from enjoying the nice juicy steam, but I believe it was for a good cause. A few times in the last 2 weeks though, I used my lovely Shea Moisture Mousse to moisturise.

Why No Water?
Moisture keeps our hair supple and elastic, but when it comes to maintaining styles, it can be a frenemy. Moisture helps hair to be nice and soft and easy to manipulate, but it also brings frizz. Plus, I wasn’t wearing my hair loose, so elasticity wasn’t my concern.

To make up for this, I will most definitely give my hair a super super super Washday tomorrow. Starting with an overnight pre-poo with Coconut Oil.

8. Secure Your Ends With a Twirl!

To keep the ends of my twists from unraveling, I always twirl them around my finger like a finger coil. It’s a nice finish, and serves its purpose. For this, may dab a little more product (a pomade or butter) to my ends.

9. Scalp Massages!

After 5 weeks guys, my hair doesn’t smell bad! It’s odourless. Last week, I tried cleaning my scalp with witch hazel astringent on cotton wool & the wool didn’t return dirty. It was like cleaning my make-up free face at the end of the day. Just a liiiiittle bit dirty. How was I able to keep my scalp relatively clean? Scalp massages. I did them frequently with castor oil. A few times each week just because, and also for when it was really hot and sweaty & my scalp itched. I simply poured a little oil into the centre of my palm, and greased my fingertips with it. Then I rubbed it on my scalp very seriously with fingertips only. No nails!

When I was done massaging, I passed my oiled hands over my hair for shine. Castor oil is a humectant so I’d like to think it helped me absorb a little moisture.

10. Mental Preparation, VERY Key. 

This should have been the first thing I said. Nothing I tried with these twists was new to me but I wasn’t inspired to apply myself until I was determined to stop complaining and see the mini-twists through this time. What’s the point of protective styling or putting all this effort into twisting if you take down your style after a week or two?

So that’s all from me guys. How do YOU fight frizz? What are you struggling with? What have you recently overcome? Any more questions about these twists, feel free to ask! 🙂

Love,

AB,

xx