Am I the only one who still hasn't figured out second day hair?

[sunshinelady]

I'm frustrated. I wear my hair back in a puff and I still have to condition it every morning in order to get it back in a ponytail. My hair is very 4b with severe shrinkage.

Those who have figured it out, what do you do nightly? Do I have to suck it up and blow dry it once a week and go from there?

 

[Ms Lala]

I'm not sure of my hair texture but it is somewhere in the type 4 range. For me I put my hair in big twists at night when wearing loose styles or I end up w/tangles and knots. I moisturize, seal w/shea butter or olive oil, and twist. I have gone 3-4 days wearing the same ponytail by tying it up at night and refreshing in the morning w/a little moisturizer and aloe gel. Shea butter is also pretty good for slick down my edges. I drive to work so I usually tie it back down until I get to work. Since I twist up the length of it I just untwist that part in the morning and fluff.

 

[almond eyes]

I religiously do big twists at night. I never do any wash and gos and would never sleep on one. I also have big shrinkage. There is no way getting around it. My cousin who is natural doesn't do the twists or braids at night and she always gets tons of breakage during her wash day. She wears mostly wash and gos.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[Nonie]

I'm frustrated. I wear my hair back in a puff and I still have to condition it every morning in order to get it back in a ponytail. My hair is very 4b with severe shrinkage.

Those who have figured it out, what do you do nightly? Do I have to suck it up and blow dry it once a week and go from there?

Do you plait it at night? I use S Curl on my hair and we all know S Curl doesn't prevent shrinkage, and then I also baggy which would lead to more shrinkage. But plaiting my hair at night makes combing it every morning a breeze. My hair looks good day 1, 2, 3... even though I do say so myself.

 

[PPGbubbles]

for puffs to get multiple days out of it I twist the hair in 4 or 5 large twists at night when I sleep and untwist and finger fluff each morning. The key for me is to keep my hair strecthed and I dont have to rewet or recondition to keep the style. I cant get more than one day out of a shrunken puff.

For styles like twist out or braid outs the only way I can get multiple days is if I let the twists sit for multiple days. For instance the pic in my avi is a flat twist out. I put the twist in on monday gather the ends in a low bun. If I leave it in all week and do a twist out like in the pic I can get two maybe 3 days out of that style for the weekend.

If I twist my hair overnight, I only get one day out of the style and it is less defined.

So, at least for my 4a/b hair the key to 2nd day hair is letting the style sit for a day or two prior.

 

[DarkAngell]

Nothing to add except that you're not the only one. It's never worked for me; natural OR texlaxed.

 

[goodmorningruby]

It depends on what the style is, but if I'm being lazy I just moisturize or get some kind of product in it, like JC Nourish and shine and wrap with a silk scarf. On top of that I sleep with a satin bonnet. I moisturize and band sometimes for extended styling. If I did a bantu knot out, I'll re-bantu knot. If I did a braid out, I might loosely re-braid, etc. Sometimes I don't even know how I can make styles last so long; my hair has a mind of its own.

 

[BklynHeart]

I put my hair in big braids on top, and make sure I tie my hair in a scarf going in the same direction as wearing my puff.

 

[Creatividual]

I moisturize and then braid my hair every night. In the morning I just take them down, gently separate and fluff till desired look is achieved. This keeps the shrinkage, tangles and knots away and my hair looking good till the next wash day.

 

[Creatividual]

Sooo OT: BklynHeart that siggy of yours had me goin! Ol boy broke it down! lmao

 

[Rei]

this is me!!! I actually JUST RECENTLY discovered that my hair is now long enough to do a bun stretched and I am ECSTATIC. I have severe shrinkage as well.

This is what I do. Every night I take down my bun, spray with water/aloe vera juice and s-curl, braid it up, into huge braids, sleep on it. When I wake up, i undo the braids, moisturize and seal the ends and my hair is sufficiently stretched enough to go back into the bun. It will get easier throughout the week because every time you braid your hair its stretching it more. Usually the first day after washing is the hardest to get it stretched.

Some people twist at night but if you have a lot of shrinkage, twists do NOT help.

 

[almond eyes]

I might add that yes big braids give more stretching and big twists give a puffier look. I like the big twists because it's less tension on my hair and I don't like the crimped look as much.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[brownbean96]

Hmmm, well..my puffs are usually the result of an old twist-out. I get at minimum of one week wear out of the same twist set.

Twist - I wash and condition my hair and then do about 6-7 flat twists using either Kera Care Foaming Lotion or Jane Carters Foaming Lotion and a little Eco Gel
At Night - (I learned this trick on here) I section my hair in fours and gather my hair with four big clips - I try to raise each section high enough that I'm not sleeping on it and I tuck the curly ends of each section under with straight boby pins. I put on a silk bonnet to sleep.
I usualy get anywhere from 2 to 4 days

I wait until my curls are no longer defined and I either do a puff or I re-wet and twist (with my mix of jojoba oil, rosemary water, aloe vera juice, pep oil, lavendar and tee trea oil and re-twist to get another few days). If I chose to do a puff, I tie up the exposed edges/hair and do the same clip thing with the loose puff. I take a couple of sections in clips and tuck the ends with bobby pins. Sometimes some hair is not tucked and some ends end up getting straight. In the case I take those ends in the morning and roll them with flexi rods - i leave them in on my way to work - and take them out in the parking lot.

I get a week sometimes two weeks (depending on my schedule or how my hair feels) on the same washed hair. I JUST learned these techniques since coming here. My first time natural, pre- LHCF - I only got 1 - 2 hairs on the same washed hair. Thank goodness for the new tricks that I've learned.