Need Help New to Natural Hair

[natural2008]

Hello All,
I am new to LHCF. I had worn braides for years and in March of this year decided to wear my natural hair. So I went to the hair shop in March and got a really good trim and my type 4B hair is a little bit past my ears. I am having a hard time with trying to style my hair type. I tried to two strand twist my hair wet and when it dries I wear a twist out which tends to look shrunken and stiff. Would it be better if I blow dry my hair, do a light press and then two strand twist so that I can have a more relaxed twist out instead of a shruken twist? I would like to wear more styles but find it hard when I twist my hair wet.

Thank you all for your time in advance

 

[JustKiya]

Welcome!

A lot of ladies twist their hair dry, for the very reasons you are finding there. The blowdrying, pressing, etc isn't needed - just braid your hair up into a couple of fat braids while it's wet, and let it dry. Then take those down, and make your two strand twists from those - they won't shrink up as much, and the twistout should be more 'free'.

Good luck, and enjoy your hair!

 

[Nonie]

I too twisted my hair dry and then would wash in twists and just drip-dry. When I tired of wearing twist, I'd undo and get a defined twist-out. I don't think it was very shrunken. BTW, I didn't have any product with that. When I tried to do a twist-out w/ products... I got this.

 

[Anancy]

Im quite rubbish at giving advice, especially if i haven't experienced the same issue.

Im wondering if it has something to do with what products u are using, maybe some shea butter will help to moisterise your hair and make you hair hang more lose, rather than stiff.

I do my twists on dry hair and i use aloe vera gel.

I find that S-curl is great on my hair when i wear a braid-out, maybe it will help with your twst-outs.

 

[msa]

Hi!!

I have no advice to add since I can barely do any styles to my natural hair, I wear braids and weaves pretty much 24/7. Just wanted to welcome you.

Happy hair growing!!

 

[KEWLKAT103]

Welcome!

A lot of ladies twist their hair dry, for the very reasons you are finding there. The blowdrying, pressing, etc isn't needed - just braid your hair up into a couple of fat braids while it's wet, and let it dry. Then take those down, and make your two strand twists from those - they won't shrink up as much, and the twistout should be more 'free'.

Good luck, and enjoy your hair!

I agree with this. I thought that I did'nt like twist in my hair, but I did my second set of twists this past weekend on dry hair and they turned out great. You may like them better when they're not all shrunken down.

 

[Ms Lala]

HI,

I totally understand. I don't even bother trying to style my hair when it's wet. It ends up a shrunken frizzy mess. I dry my hair before twisting. I prefer how my twists look when I blowdry my hair first. I have also done twist on my airdried hair though and they turned out fine as well just a little more shrinkage than when airdried. If you blowdry just be sure to do it on low w/a heat protectant, I learned about heat damage the hard way.
For styling tips check out the fotki's on here. I get alot of ideas from looking at other ladies fotki's. I don't have many pics of my hair when it was ear length as you described yours but I used to rollerset my hair easily at that length for a fluffy fro. I liked wearing coil outs at that length as well. I actually did my coils outs using a little gel while my hair was damp. I would leave the coils in my hair for atleat a day and then carefully take them apart.