jennifer30
Well-Known Member
How can I keep my hair stretched while airdrying my hair? Last night when I left my hair to air dry..this morning it caused a lot of shrinkage and dryness. How can I stop the shrinkage?
Air Drying
- Thread starter jennifer30
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beingofserenity
Well-Known Member
Rollers, curl formers, braids, twists, African threading.
discodumpling
Well-Known Member
Ponytail. Twist the ends. Tie it down with a scarf. BAM dried & stretched!
Nightingale
On the Grow and Keeping it Simple
You can band your hair as well.
Saludable84
Better Late Than Ugly
I do 16 dookie twist and it works.
sunnieb
Well-Known Member
Ponytail Rollersets! I used to do these all the time once I hit 12 weeks post.
Here's my fotki album: Ponytail Rollerset
Since I don't know if I'll keep fotki for much longer, here are the pics:
Airdried for 30 minutes, then hood dryer for 45 minutes because I had to go to bed:
Slept in 2 bantu knots
Next day - going to work hair:
Here's my fotki album: Ponytail Rollerset
Since I don't know if I'll keep fotki for much longer, here are the pics:
Airdried for 30 minutes, then hood dryer for 45 minutes because I had to go to bed:
Slept in 2 bantu knots
Next day - going to work hair:
YvetteWithJoy
On break
Hi, @jennifer30. Great question. I was challenged by this same issue!
All the answers above are great.
But I had a thought/question:
Is there a way that you want your hair to look like upon drying? For example, are you going for the look of a wash-and-go but just want one that is not as shrunken and that is not tangled? If so, then you won't want to stretch your hair so much that you loose the curl pattern. Some of the methods above may stretch away your curl patter. If you're not concerned about that, then roller set, etc. away!
Anyhoo, I thought some pictures might enhance this thread. Below are the prevent-my-air-drying-wash-and-go-from-shrinking-and-tangling strategies with which I'm currently having success.
Way #1: Banding into 4 chunky banded sections
Wash hair, add styler and so forth, and then allow the wash-and-go to dry for however much time I have before bed. Then, just before bed, put the hair in 4 pony tails using a nondamaging hair band. Then BAND the length of the hair loosely (to avoid disturbing the curl pattern), using elastic ribbon (from Hobby Lobby or whatever fabric store).
This process is very fast. I leave enough of my ends out so that the curl pattern on the ends is not disturbed, but not enough of the ends out that they are able to tangle. I don a satin or silk bonnet or beanie and head to bed. In the morning, I unband, remove the bands that are creating the ponytail, and gently separate the banded section until it looks like a stretched wash-and-go.
(photo enlarges upon click)
Way #2 (even faster): Create 4 ponytails. Then put one band around just the ENDS of each ponytail, to prevent tangling overnight. The pictures below only show two of the ponytails. Bands need to be added to the bottom of each of those ponytails. Otherwise, the free hair will just tangle.
In the morning, I remove all bands and gently pull the hair apart and use an Afro pick to shape everything (i.e., remove appearance of parts, etc.).
(photos enlarge upon click)
Way #3: African threading
YouTube has several great tutorials. There is a learning curve. The process takes awhile even once the process has been mastered. You can leave gaps as you band, so that hair is exposed, or you can band such that there are no gaps. The latter method increases the time banding takes, and results in hair that looks like it's been blown out. My African threads below did not produce a blown-out look: That's because I have gaps along each banded piece of hair. But my hair was SUPER DUPER stretched and was virtually tangle-free.
(photo enlarges upon click)
Way #4: Do a flexirod set on wet hair with rolling that is purposely "loose," (if you just want to allow your hair to dry but don't need smooth curls)
The rolling below resulted in curls that were kind of smooth, but not fully. In the future, when I simply want a look kind of like a stretched wash-and-go, I will roll the hair even more loosely, and perhaps secure the ends with a stretchy hair band. This is for when I simply want to prevent tangling while wearing my hair's texture, or something close to it.
All the answers above are great.
But I had a thought/question:
Is there a way that you want your hair to look like upon drying? For example, are you going for the look of a wash-and-go but just want one that is not as shrunken and that is not tangled? If so, then you won't want to stretch your hair so much that you loose the curl pattern. Some of the methods above may stretch away your curl patter. If you're not concerned about that, then roller set, etc. away!
Anyhoo, I thought some pictures might enhance this thread.
Below are the prevent-my-air-drying-wash-and-go-from-shrinking-and-tangling strategies with which I'm currently having success.Way #1: Banding into 4 chunky banded sections
Wash hair, add styler and so forth, and then allow the wash-and-go to dry for however much time I have before bed. Then, just before bed, put the hair in 4 pony tails using a nondamaging hair band. Then BAND the length of the hair loosely (to avoid disturbing the curl pattern), using elastic ribbon (from Hobby Lobby or whatever fabric store).
This process is very fast. I leave enough of my ends out so that the curl pattern on the ends is not disturbed, but not enough of the ends out that they are able to tangle. I don a satin or silk bonnet or beanie and head to bed. In the morning, I unband, remove the bands that are creating the ponytail, and gently separate the banded section until it looks like a stretched wash-and-go.
(photo enlarges upon click)
Way #2 (even faster): Create 4 ponytails. Then put one band around just the ENDS of each ponytail, to prevent tangling overnight. The pictures below only show two of the ponytails. Bands need to be added to the bottom of each of those ponytails. Otherwise, the free hair will just tangle.
In the morning, I remove all bands and gently pull the hair apart and use an Afro pick to shape everything (i.e., remove appearance of parts, etc.).
(photos enlarge upon click)
Way #3: African threading
YouTube has several great tutorials. There is a learning curve. The process takes awhile even once the process has been mastered. You can leave gaps as you band, so that hair is exposed, or you can band such that there are no gaps. The latter method increases the time banding takes, and results in hair that looks like it's been blown out. My African threads below did not produce a blown-out look: That's because I have gaps along each banded piece of hair. But my hair was SUPER DUPER stretched and was virtually tangle-free.
(photo enlarges upon click)
Way #4: Do a flexirod set on wet hair with rolling that is purposely "loose," (if you just want to allow your hair to dry but don't need smooth curls)
The rolling below resulted in curls that were kind of smooth, but not fully. In the future, when I simply want a look kind of like a stretched wash-and-go, I will roll the hair even more loosely, and perhaps secure the ends with a stretchy hair band. This is for when I simply want to prevent tangling while wearing my hair's texture, or something close to it.
YvetteWithJoy
On break
Ponytail Rollersets! I used to do these all the time once I hit 12 weeks post.
Here's my fotki album: Ponytail Rollerset
Since I don't know if I'll keep fotki for much longer, here are the pics:
Airdried for 30 minutes, then hood dryer for 45 minutes because I had to go to bed:
Slept in 2 bantu knots
Next day - going to work hair:
Awesome!!!
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