Anyway, I got them done and immediately started to ponder if the trauma and manipulation your hair suffers from having braids/twists put in is really worth it? Is it possible that it may offset the benefits of having your hair "put away" for a period of time? Does it do more harm than good? It's something to think about.
Anyway, I have had these twists in for 3 weeks now. They were not installed by a "professional" so they're just barely hanging in but it's still a much needed break from dealing with my hair issues. My boyfriend likes them and I've gotten quite a few compliments. Best of all, I was able to enjoy my vacation without worrying too much about it.
Now as a far as caring for it, it's been very low maintenance. Well, for the first 2 weeks, I was so distracted with my vacation that I forgot to or just plain didn't feel like moisturizing and sealing (my bad!). However, I did get my hair wet with salt water and was forced to wash it. I basically used the hotel shampoo, massaged it through my scalp and let the water and the runoff from the shampoo run through my hair while I raked my fingers through it to get it clean. I then squeezed it dry, put in one large braid and immediately wrapped a tight towel around it to prevent frizzing. I let most of the water soak into the towel for several hours ( I fell asleep), then I tied it down with my satin scarf for the night. In the morning, it was dry, mostly frizz free and I had nice curls from my braid-out.
Since I returned from my vacation I have been spritzing with water or using my Curl Enhancing Smoothie and sealing with castor oil. Last night, I filled my water bottle with water and what was supposed to be a few drops of tea tree oil but my hand slipped and I used way too much but I diluted it as best I could. Tea tree oil is an antibacterial so it's a great way to keep hair and scalp clean and bacteria free. I parted the hair and made sure to get all parts of my scalp directly and then I spritzed the length of my hair. I still plan to wash it next weekend and hopefully keep them in an additional 2 weeks for a total of 6 weeks. I do have to admit that the getting my hair wet and washing did cause quite a bit of frizzing although I took every precaution to prevent that. But it needed to be done.
And that's it!
I'm already thinking of what I'll do with my hair once I take these twists out. I'm thinking henna and/or bentonite clay treatment (review), stretching it and maybe trying out a wash-n-go, something I have not tried in a long time. I plan to purchase some Carol's Daughter products including the hair milk which I did a review on awhile back. My "wash and go" is not a traditional wash and go. It's done on dry stretched hair by adding a moisturizer such as the hair milk and activator gel to where the hair is "wet" enough that it curls a bit but without as much shrinkage. I haven't done a wash and go since I had a TWA... it's been awhile. I plan to try this because I'm exasperated with a the time consuming process of twisting my hair and twist outs don't seem to last long on my hair and I need something lower maintenance. And I would like to wear my hair out more instead of in twists all the time. This will just be a trial. I'll let you guys know how this all goes.
Laters Naturalistas!
Love this picture!
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