Bantu knots gone BAD

[Tai]

After hearing so much good about bantu knots, I decided to try them last night. Bad idea.

I had just washed & conditioned my hair, put in Suave milk & honey w/ distilled water and a bit of NTM serum. I put in 12 knots (I have shoulder length hair). I let them air dry for about 5-6 hours, sat under the dryer for about an hour on medium. I left them in secured w/ mini scruchies overnight. When I took them out this morning, they were still damp.

They looked cute and spirally. I gently fingercombed them out. I looked like I had stuck my finger into the electric socket! I had to pull my hair back into a bun because there was no way to save this style.

What I'm looking for is advice. I'm hard headed and I want to try it again.

Should this not be done on wet hair? Should I wait until my hair is damp or dry? I know not to do so many but how many should I do to end up with very gentle waves w/ shoulder length hair? 4-6? How long should I expect it to dry? They were in my hair from 3 pm until 5:30 am and they were still not dry.

TIA for any assistance.

 

[simplycee]

If you want looser curls or waves try making less knots. My hair is longer than shoulder length and I made 12 knots too and what I ended up with was a a huge fro

.

The second time I did it I only made 6 knots on damp hair and made sure they were TOTALLY dry when I took them down. I got waves and loose curls which was the look I was going for.

Just a bit of advice: I find that my hair does not frizz if I make sure that it is at east 90% dry when I take them down and finger comb.

 

[pookeylou]

I always twist my hair first...in a two strand twist...THEN I put them into bantu knots.

With long hair...expect your hair to take quite a while to dry. If I condition wash my hair at 9:00pm, my hair will not be dry until 24 hours later. For natural hair...this is great. My hair is soft all day. I add shea butter to the twist so it seals in the moisture and it does not get frizzy.

Try it in that order:

Condition wash
Section a small section (one inch square)
Add shea butter to the section
Two strand twist it
Twist into a bantu knot.
Hold with a bobby pin if your hair wont hold onto itself.
(if you are "Surging"...spray here)
Wrap your hair with a scarf and sit under a dryer...or...
Go to bed.

Finger comb it down in the morning and you should have defined coils or ringlets.

Feel free to check my transition album for step by step pics.

HTH

 

[sugawooga]

I only put 5-6 in at the most.
o o top
o middle
o o back

get it? two on top, one in th middle and two in the back. Or three in the front (o o o) two in the middle (o o) and one in the back (o)

 

[patience]

ITA with Pookeylou. However, I usually wear my bantu knots for a couple of days before I take them down. They come out much better when I two-strand twist them first.

 

[chocolate01]

I had the same thing happen to me the first time. My hair is past shoulder length and I put about12 knots and my hair came out very tightly curled and I didn't like it. I tried again this past weekend and I got the look I wanted. I washed and conditioned my hair early in the afternoon and used the ponytail method to air dry. Later in the evening I undid my ponytail ( the inside of my hair was still damp) applied some biosilk silk therapy and twisted into four knots. I put on my silk scarf and continued to let them dry overnight. When I took them down in the morning I had soft, wavy hair.

For me I think the key is to start with damp hair and a small amount of knots. Also I don't twist the knots very tight because two things tend to happen 1. the hair on the inside will take longer to dry and 2. as your dries it continues to curl up which for me led to a tightly curled afro.

I would try it again and see what happens it's a beautiful style that's very low maintainence. HTH

 

[Tai]

Thanks to all of you for the good advice.

I'm going to try it again on Wednesday night and see how it goes. I won't do it w/ wet hair and I'll try doing the 2 in frt, 1 in the middle and the 2 in the back and see how that works.

 

[Allandra]

I do mine on damp (but not too damp) hair. I always sit under the dryer to make sure they're dry in the morning. When I take them out, I finger comb and viola.

 

[brwnskingirl]

This has happened to me before too, what I have noticed is that the less knots the better, and also I only do them on a saturday or sunday when I have no way to go, It is way better for them to dry on their own...the dryer

.
This is just my preference, let it dry on it's own and put less knots and use a pick.FYI I like the Suave coconut way better.I wear my hair like this all week, when It gets a little dried out, I spritz it with water or S-Curl add a little Keracare oil moisturizer and twist again. Try doing this with damp hair, let your hair air drya little before u twist it.

 

[jainygirl]

i'm sorry, but when i read the title, i cant get this picture outta my head of bantu knots bossing people around and being little hell raisers

-- jainygirl

 

[brwnskingirl]

[ QUOTE ]
jainygirl said:

i'm sorry, but when i read the title, i cant get this picture outta my head of bantu knots bossing people around and being little hell raisers

-- jainygirl

[/ QUOTE ]