Ipanema and other naturals: Rollersetting

[tippy75]

Ipanema,
I noticed that you mentioned in a post that you roller set your natural hair. Can you post exactly what you do and how it turns out?

 

[Ipanema]

No problem. I call it a rollerset, but it probably should be called a curly braid-out. First, I wash my hair (usually after doing some kind of treatment--deep conditioner, hot oil, etc.). I rinse well. Then I let my hair air-dry until it is only a little damp instead of sopping wet. Then I take small sections of hair, detangle & comb it straight, saturate that section with a product, then comb it straight again, & braid that section into one individual braid. I do this all over my head. Then I take each braid, pull it taut (my hair has major shrinkage, so I stretch it out), and wrap it around a skinny rod in a spiral curl pattern, making sure the end of the braid is smoothed down. Then in the morning, I carefully undo the braids & separate the curls with my fingers. Each braid must be completely dry for it to hold its shape, which is why I let the hair air-dry a bit before starting. It ends up looking like crinkly spiral curls. If I finger comb it all the way through, it looks like a curly fro.

The rods I use are simply sponge rollers that don't have a sponge on them. I use these because I can sleep on them. There's certainly better out there that can be used with a dryer, but I don't like using heat. Also, the product I use on each section is called razac hand & body lotion, but in the past I've used Let's Jam holding gel. Whatever works.