Confused..can braidouts/twistouts/ bantu knot outs cause breakage??

soon2bsl

Well-Known Member
Hi ladies,

I understand that braidouts/twistouts/bantu knot out hair styles are low manipulation styles and many women have been able to retain their length with these styles. However, I am a little confused on how these styles don't cause breakage since your ends can still rub against your clothing .

I know that it's good to do protective styles where your hair isn't down on a regular basis rubbing against your shirt because it can cause breakage. My protective styles are usually buns, half wigs, and just clipping my hair up.

Can someone explain this to me, because I would like to do these hairstyles more, but am a little hesitant since my ends would still be constanting rubbing against my shirt and don't know if it would eventually cause it to break. Thanks!
 
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I always figured because those styles make your hair move as a 'unit'. An individual strand rubbing against my collar may fray or split, but a big twist full of thousands of hairs would be generally unaffected. Of course I could be wrong...
 
Well for me, they don't rub against anything. But I can get breakage just because of the manipulation required to do them.

I think if breakage is a concern for you, don't do them so often. And don't always wear them down.
 
These are great protective styles but you do have to be careful with them. I deep condition my hair which decreases the tangles and breakage. Try these styles on your hair and if you experience bad breakage, eliminate them from your protective styles list.

Remember every style will not work on every head :yep:
 
twist/braid/bantu knot-outs are all low-manip styles, but no, I wouldn't call them PROTECTIVE styles. In my opinion, they are the next best thing to protective styling. I'm not one to wear true protective styles over 50% of the time like some, so all the style-outs are the best alternative, and I've made major progress with them.
 
twist/braid/bantu knot-outs are all low-manip styles, but no, I wouldn't call them PROTECTIVE styles. In my opinion, they are the next best thing to protective styling. I'm not one to wear true protective styles over 50% of the time like some, so all the style-outs are the best alternative, and I've made major progress with them.

I agree, they are low manipulation, but not protective styles. You ends are still exposed so its natural to expect some breakage, but with proper care such as daily moisturizing, deep conditioning and generally being careful with your hair throughout the day, you can ward off the breakage associated with these styles.
 
I agree, they are low manipulation, but not protective styles. You ends are still exposed so its natural to expect some breakage, but with proper care such as daily moisturizing, deep conditioning and generally being careful with your hair throughout the day, you can ward off the breakage associated with these styles.

Agreed. Braid outs and twist outs actually cut down on my hair tangling and those lovely "fairy knots" some naturals experience. I definitely make sure I keep my hair well moisturized especially my ends when I wear these styles.
 
I wore my hair in a twist out for a month and I experienced breakage because my hair was rubbing on my clothes. My hair would also become tangled in the nape area.

My exposed ends tended to dry out more, so I had to use more moisturizer. In the end I decided to go back to my protective styling.
 
I also think of them as low-mani styles not protective styles.

Breakage from these styles will most likely be from manipulation while putting in the braids/twists/bantu knot - I don't get this because my hair is thoroughly detangled beforehand.

As for rubbing against my clothes - My hair is above APL and when I do my twistouts/braidouts, my ends hardly, if at all, touch my clothes. It's most likely because I have 8.5 months worth of new growth which is growing 'out' instead of 'down' (hope I'm making sense) - see right siggy pic - These styles now appear big and curly.
 
Those styles actually promote major tangling for me, especially at the ends. Maybe it's because of the length of my hair right now and the density. When my hair is about MBL (which is more or less WL on me), I'll try them again.

The best protective style that I can do now without having to use fake hair are shrunken puffs. If twists and braids using my own hair looked good on me, I would do them but they don't right now.
 
Thanks ladies for all your replies. It makes a lot of sense and I'll definitely keep this info in mind whenever I do these styles again.
 
Those styles actually promote major tangling for me, especially at the ends. Maybe it's because of the length of my hair right now and the density. When my hair is about MBL (which is more or less WL on me), I'll try them again.

Same for me. They are also too much manipulation for my hair.
 
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