Low Manipulation Challenge/hangout 2018 (braidouts, Twistouts, Bantu Knot-outs, Rollersets, Etc.)

Rocky91

Rocky91

NYE side boob.
Hey ladies!
I haven't started a hair thread in so long. I really miss chatting about styling hair and keeping your hair in great condition/retaining length while still wearing your hair out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there isn't quite a place for that right now on the board. So feel free to join me.

"Rules" (really loose guidelines):
-Wearing your own hair out the majority of the time (the occasional use of fake hair is totally understandable)
-DC at least once a week
-Do not style more than 2x a week (the objective is to style your hair and then leave it alone)
-Post plenty of pictures if you can!

If you'd like to join, reply with these responses:
Current Hair Status (natural? relaxed? length?):
Styling Goals:
Length Goals:
Current Routine:
Products:
Why does low manipulation work for you?
Pictures of your current styles (if you have them)
 
By the way, I am not starting this challenge to claim that I am some great hair guru who has the super long hair to prove that ditching protective styling doesn't hinder my growth. :lol: so follow along at your own risk lol.

i'm just a regular old girl who is growing her hair back to APL from a fade for the second time in 4 years. i really enjoy wearing my hair out, and i want to hang out with like-minded folks so we can brainstorm the best ways to do so.
 
Current Hair Status (natural? relaxed? length?): Natural 4a/b, around shoulder length, very fine and a bit of heat damage
Styling Goals: Getting styles to last for one solid week without my hair and particularly ends drying out
Length Goals: APL by the end of the year would be nice!
Current Routine: Wash and DC 1-2x a week and style. Apply moisturizer or serum or just growth oil every night, depending on how i'm feeling. Wear scarf/bonnet to bed.
Products: Shampoo-Design essentials almond and avocado detangling shampoo, DCs-shea moisture manuka honey :look: or silk elements, Protein-aphogee 2 minute occasionally, Moisturizers/stylers: camille rose almond jai butter, design essentials wrap foam, any edge control i can get my hands on
Why does low manipulation work for you? I don't think I take proper care of my hair while in long-term protective styles like braids, and currently it is too short still to safely bun. so this and weaves are my best options, but i am reallllly over wearing weaves at all.
Pictures of your current styles (if you have them)
Here is a recent flexirod set that I did.
flexirods.JPG
rod set.png
 
Current Hair Status (natural? relaxed? length?):
  • Natural.
  • APL in the longest layers.
  • O in the LOIS hair type system.
  • Mainly 4a with some 4b and some 3c areas.
  • Medium to high porosity.
Styling Goals:
  1. Wash and go: My goal is to master it, meaning that I can produce a pretty, elongated wash and go that is tangle-resistant, that is one that I can refresh to look good and stay moisturized, and is one that lasts at least 5 days and still looks good out.
  2. Twist out on wet, coily hair: My goal is to learn how to flat twist my coily hair when wet. (Currently I can loosely flat twist areas in the front of my head since I can see that part of my hair in the mirror while I'm twisting.) Also, I need to get better at making my twist outs last longer before I ponytail them and start wearing them that way. Lastly, I need to discover an HG twisting product, whether a gel or a twisting cream/butter.
  3. Twist out on stretched, dry hair: My goals are to: (1) Figure out how to stretch my hair without mechanical damage. (Maybe the tension method is better than using a blow dryer paddle brush???) (2) Have the patience to twist after having spent time stretching my hair. (3) Get a good flat twist pattern to yield a beautiful twist out. (4) Figure out the best products to use.
Length Goals:
Waist length when straight

Current Routine: Once every 7-10 days . . .
  1. Soften, elongate, pre-detangle at sink: Shea Moisture hipo masque
  2. Exfoliate scalp at sink: Cantu ACV Root Rinse
  3. Funnel detangle at sink: Water added to the masque on my hair; use whatever prudent combination of the Magic Star Jumbo Rake, KareCo Tangle Buster Brush, and the Kent 16t seamless comb
  4. Cleanse: various
  5. DC: Shea Moisture Manuka Honey masque or DevaCurl Decadence One Condition or various DCs in the stash
  6. Moisturize: HairVeda Red Tea Heavy Cream
  7. Seal: Bronner Brothers Firm Hold Curling Gel and/or Jakeala Shea Amla Parfait
  8. Style: (1) twist out, (2) wash and go, or (3) ponytailed/puffed wash and go
Products:
See above

Why does low manipulation work for you?
  1. It reduces mechanical damage.
  2. With a family and work, I don't have lots of time to constantly do my hair unless I forego sleep.
  3. If I try to squeeze in an extra cleanse & style, I often end up rushing, which can increase mechanical damage, tangles, and/or styling failure.
Pictures of your current styles (if you have them)

(Photos enlarges upon click.)

Wash and go:
WP_20180213_003.jpg

WP_20180213_007.jpg

Twist out (not a flat twist out):
IMG_20180217_051123.jpg

Professional blow dry and flat iron:
IMG_20180217_051201.jpg
 
Last edited:
Rocky91 said:
Thanks for joining, ladies! @AdoraAdora24 and @YvetteWithJoy.

@YvetteWithJoy your hair is pretty! And we have very similar hair routines. I need to do a conscious pre-poo, I don't know why I stopped doing it.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Yes! I've been keeping up with your hair journey, and I noticed the similarities recently. :smile:

I appreciate this thread: I don't want to have to protective style to grow my hair, and sometimes when I'm reading at this forum I feel like I'm all alone in my thinking.

I'm so glad to have a styling-for-growth home now. :lol: Yay!
 
Hey y'all! I only wet my hair every two weeks, but I wear my hair out two weeks out of every month too, so I wear it out about half the time? Honestly, probably a bit more. If my style lasts longer than the week intended, I wear it out. I'll be watching from the sidelines. :heart3:
 
GreenEyedJen said:
Hey y'all! I only wet my hair every two weeks, but I wear my hair out two weeks out of every month too, so I wear it out about half the time? Honestly, probably a bit more. If my style lasts longer than the week intended, I wear it out. I'll be watching from the sidelines. :heart3:
Click to expand...
Jump right in, no need to watch from the sidelines :yep:
What is your current length? What styles do you wear?
 
Current Hair Status (natural? relaxed? length?): Natural
Styling Goals: I wear braid outs, twist outs, and buns mostly. I don't really have any goals
Length Goals: I'm at my goal length
Current Routine: Shampoo & DC every 2-3 weeks
Products: Silk Dreams VS or home made DC, Elucence MB shampoo, Shea butter, Darcy's botanicals moisturizer
Why does low manipulation work for you? Mostly because I don't have a lot of time for my hair

I wear my own hair all the time and I almost never protective style. I actually found that protective styling did more harm than good. I did one of those PS challenges and had to cut like 2 inches at the end of it. I think it's because I wasn't moisturizing as often and I was getting SSKs from not keeping my ends stretched.

I DC with each wash, which is every 2-3 weeks. I do not style my hair between washes. Normally I will do braids or twists after I wash, then wear the braid/twist out, then put it up in a bun until the next wash day.

I spend 3-8 hours on my hair on wash day, and then probably a total of 15 minutes until the next wash day. Most days I don't touch my hair at all.
 
@FoxxyLocs thanks for joining! i think I remember you saying that you are TBL? Or some other unicorn length like that lol.

Have you always worn your hair out on the way to achieving your current length?
 
Thanks for the additional pics, @YvetteWithJoy! Your hair looks amazing. And yes, I love flexirod sets. It's not as worth to me right now on my length, but I think it would be a great style for you. They always easily last a week and still look good
 
Rocky91 said:
@FoxxyLocs thanks for joining! i think I remember you saying that you are TBL? Or some other unicorn length like that lol.

Have you always worn your hair out on the way to achieving your current length?
Click to expand...

I'm TBL (lol @ unicorn length). I wore twists as my main style until I was BSL/MBL. After that my ends started to tangle and I went through a period of growing and cutting until I figured out how to keep SSKs at bay.

Keeping my ends stretched is the key to length retention for me. It doesn't matter what style I wear as long as I don't allow my ends to curl up on themselves. I've been wearing twist outs, braid outs, and straight hair on a regular basis from MBL to TBL. Sometimes I do a flexi rod set but I have to really be in the mood for that.

I do wear my hair in a bun to work and I keep it covered when I'm at home (because I need to have it out of my way). When I go out, I wear my hair out and I pineapple at night. I always cover with a scarf or bonnet when I go to sleep.
 
I would love to join this, but I have no idea how to preserve a twist out overnight.

The curled twist out I put into a bun last week was so gorgeous that I felt bad putting it up. If I could ponytail that for a week I could switch it up sometimes.

How do you all do it?
 
Sosa said:
Oh geez... we were supoosed to retwist our hair up every night for twist-outs?
I’ve been wondering why my stuff only last one day.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I don't think retwisting is required. That's just her method.

I can testify it works.

Some people feel it would be too much manipulation to retwist at night. Pashtash did it for years, no issues. She got her twist outs to last for days and days that way. She didn't retwist as many twists as installed on wash day. Meaning, say on wash day she installs 24 twists. (I just made that number up because I don't know how many she installed). Then at night she would install fewer (not sure how many, but she demos it in the video).

It's where I got the idea to chunky twist at night.

Retwisting the hair into 6 or 8 twists at night takes very little time, IMO, especially for the benefit of not having to wash and style for a week or so.
 
Sosa said:
Oh geez... we were supoosed to retwist our hair up every night for twist-outs?
I’ve been wondering why my stuff only last one day.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I don't retwist @Sosa and @Colocha, I do a pineapple or multiple mini pineapples. In the morning, I fluff and keep it moving. I accept mentally that I'm going to lose definition as the days go on.

The key for me is to use a product with hold for the initial set, it really helps.
 
Colocha said:
I would love to join this, but I have no idea how to preserve a twist out overnight.

The curled twist out I put into a bun last week was so gorgeous that I felt bad putting it up. If I could ponytail that for a week I could switch it up sometimes.

How do you all do it?
Click to expand...

I use wrap foam for hold and I pineapple at night. I never re-twist. My twist outs last at least 3-4 days. Longer if you don't mind how the look changes after a while.
 
Ok ok I'm out of the challenge. I just can't be without my hair being saturated with Jheri Juices and sealed with Blue Magic. And I know that you can't have roller seted hair with fully moisturized hair. Key word "Fully" moisturized. So I am putting off the hair"Out" styles. I love my roll, tuck, and pin styles too much anyhow. I will cheer from the sidelines.
 
I learned the lesson today that I must have my braidout in low puffs in order to maintain the stretch during a workout. I thought I was too cute doing sprint intervals with my curly fro out and I was, but now my hair has shrunk up and lost most of the definition due to sweating.
 
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