The Mini Twist / Mini Braid Thread

Finally finished converting my braids to mini braids. Started Friday, finished last night Tuesday. I haven't wet them yet so I don't have any good photos.

Anyway, they definitely give me a fuller ponytail! And my ponytail is definitely getting longer! Yay!!

I might come back w photos after I wet them - the site is acting really weird for me. Like, giving me ads when I click on a thread or something. So I'm a little leery of the new change. sigh
 
MzSwift said:
Finally finished converting my braids to mini braids. Started Friday, finished last night Tuesday. I haven't wet them yet so I don't have any good photos.

Anyway, they definitely give me a fuller ponytail! And my ponytail is definitely getting longer! Yay!!

I might come back w photos after I wet them - the site is acting really weird for me. Like, giving me ads when I click on a thread or something. So I'm a little leery of the new change. sigh
Click to expand...

The site was down for maintenance yesterday so not sure if that has anything to do with it. I haven't noticed anything...yet


On another note, it's only been 3 days, but I've been sticking to moisturizing daily this week. I like how my hair feels. I really feel bad that I got lazy and stopped doing this. I guess it came from seeing too many people online saying that they moisturize once a week and I wanted to be part of that crew. Personally, I strongly believe that there is nothing wrong with moisturizing daily or multiple times per day. My hair is going to thank me.
 
snoop said:
The site was down for maintenance yesterday so not sure if that has anything to do with it. I haven't noticed anything...yet


On another note, it's only been 3 days, but I've been sticking to moisturizing daily this week. I like how my hair feels. I really feel bad that I got lazy and stopped doing this. I guess it came from seeing too many people online saying that they moisturize once a week and I wanted to be part of that crew. Personally, I strongly believe that there is nothing wrong with moisturizing daily or multiple times per day. My hair is going to thank me.
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Girl, my hair gets mad at me when I skip days! It's one of the reasons I don't flat iron my hair often (only for EOTY pix). Going more than one day in between M&Sing feels unnatural for me. So after I've taken my yearly progress pix, I M&S right away and then bun or braided pigtails it until I install some sort of braids.
 
MzSwift said:
Girl, my hair gets mad at me when I skip days! It's one of the reasons I don't flat iron my hair often (only for EOTY pix). Going more than one day in between M&Sing feels unnatural for me. So after I've taken my yearly progress pix, I M&S right away and then bun or braided pigtails it until I install some sort of braids.
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Real life hair care vs Instagram/youtube hair care :yep:
 
Progress Pix for encouragement!! :D :D


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Finished 1 month of having twists in my hair. I was not consistent on my hair regimen when it came down to moisturizing my hair. I usually do it every 3 days. So last week, I washed and deep conditioned my hair in twists. Then over the course of the week until I've been re-braiding sections of my hair (rather taking it all down). It's a bit tedious, but it's worth it since it minimized the amount of hair I would normally lose during detangling. When I do it by small sections or do it one braid a time. I usually finger detangle, rather using a comb or detangling brush.
 
Testing...
My new set of mini braids that I finally finished last week.

If this works, YAY!!!
Now, let's either pay enough to get this site ad-free or at least format the ads so that the site doesn't look so cheap/shady.
This community is so important to me. <3


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I think I was having this discussion with @snoop about how mini braids make the hair look fuller - even my fine hair. I don't have a photo of myself but someone posted a YT video in another thread and the stillshot for the video is the perfect example I was looking for. It's a really great side by side comparison!
I'm not sure if this lovely lady has fine hair but her hair looks more filled in with smaller twists as opposed to her larger twists.

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Tie them down, and if you want them to be elongated, then wrap them around like you do straight hair and pin them. Keep them tied in the shower if you don't want frizz. No recommendations on gel lol but i like tgin green tea, Giovanni Weightless Leave in, or Hawaiian Silky 14 n 1 to moisturize and whatever sealant you like. I prefer grease lol
HealthyHair2020 said:
Gonna put in some mini twists this week since I'm gonna be traveling for 1 month. Any tips to share so they can last? Cream + gel?
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Wearing your hair in a bun can make frizzy hair look neater. It's also dogs good for stretching your hair. So are braiding and threading your twists.

I find that the my hair frizzes the more that I wash it. I don't wash it when I go away, but the longest I've been gone is 3 weeks.
 
MzSwift said:
Testing...
My new set of mini braids that I finally finished last week.

If this works, YAY!!!
Now, let's either pay enough to get this site ad-free or at least format the ads so that the site doesn't look so cheap/shady.
This community is so important to me. <3


View attachment 497296
Click to expand...

Your braids are so pretty! Is be walking around bobble headed because in addition to the fullness, I find braids are denser and weight-ier than twists. You feel that hair throughout the day.

Unfortunately, I think that the site needs more than just money to keep it alive. I think we need to have more questions and discussions about hair and products outside of the challenges in order to attract new people. If all they see are 4 active topics they're not going to come in a look around.
 
snoop said:
Your braids are so pretty! Is be walking around bobble headed because in addition to the fullness, I find braids are denser and weight-ier than twists. You feel that hair throughout the day.

Unfortunately, I think that the site needs more than just money to keep it alive. I think we need to have more questions and discussions about hair and products outside of the challenges in order to attract new people. If all they see are 4 active topics they're not going to come in a look around.
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:blush2: Oh I'm sorry, I meant either twists or braids (typing while sleepy yesterday :giggle:). It seems like the smaller they are, the more full the hair looks.

***Now why does it let me reply and use emojis but I can't "like" a post?? This is so weird. I literally dip in for only a few minutes now bc the site is so unbearable.

I agree with you. I think that's the reason why the current discussions are primarily challenges and such. As a community, we've gotten through the pains of learning healthy hair practices for our hair. When the board first began, none of that was common knowledge and now it is. There are certain staple techniques that have been established as healthy hair practices as we've seen ladies grow to WL and HL using those techniques. Many of the challenges are just helping ppl to make those techniques a habit (like focusing on the ends, DCing, etc).

I also believe what's missing now are those long length challenges. I feel like, for me, seeing ladies with long hair caught my interest and made me want to learn what those ladies were doing to get there and maintain there. We used to have WL, WHIP, HL and even Classic length challenges where ladies pushed each other to stay focused on reaching that goal. I used to lurk those threads to learn from them. lol

Also, lots of ladies don't have their hair as their avi photo anymore. That used to make me a believer seeing all of the ladies' hair in their avi. I used to marvel at this board that seemed full of Black women with BSL, MBL, WL avi photos! Now, someone can ask a question and ladies will reply with what they do or their opinion but there's not that evidence to show that what they're saying is working. It's less convincing. That's not a slight to anyone who isn't currently those lengths, heck I'm not.
 
HealthyHair2020 said:
Gonna put in some mini twists this week since I'm gonna be traveling for 1 month. Any tips to share so they can last? Cream + gel?
Click to expand...

Piling on! Lol

The less you wash, the less they frizz. BUT if you're on this journey for healthy length then watering, cleansing and conditioning more frequently has consistently proven more beneficial to the hair.

Tying your hair up at night absolutely helps to maintain the style longer.

Styling your hair in updos, buns and braided styles can help you stretch the style longer. It's especially helpful once they start to get frizzy.

Both as a natural and texlaxed, I don't use gel or anything to install bc I don't want that buildup. I do use a cheapie condish to install on natural hair and I've also used a thick DC. I also leave in Infusium 23 to give them a good shot of protein to help keep them strong (a tip I picked up from the Crown and Glory method). I am heavy handed when applying these products on natural hair as it really soaks it all up and gives great shine and bounce.
 
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@MzSwift

I totally understood that you meant either braids or twists. I think the way that I phrased my response might have indicated otherwise. Minis definitely give a fuller look.

As for your observations about the board. You're spot on. We're definitely mostly in maintenance mode here and without the supporting pics, particularly in our avatars, it's hard for people to see the potential of being here. It hadn't even occurred to me that we haven't had length challenges in a while. I think that there is only one currently going but none of the longer length ones. Maybe I'll start one later today.
 
Last night I started toying with the idea of leaving my twists in to the end of the year. The longest I've gone is three months. I don't refresh my twists. My theory is that after three months my twists came out easily. I only took them down because I was board. So, if I can get past the boredom then I can push to months 4, 5, or even 6.

Sometimes when I see people's loc journeys at 6-12 months it seems as though the twists haven't started locking yet. If that's the case for me, then I figure that I could possibly maximize my length retention. Let's see how I'm feeling by the end of summer.
 
snoop said:
@MzSwift

I totally understood that you meant either braids or twists. I think the way that I phrased my response might have indicated otherwise. Minis definitely give a fuller look.

As for your observations about the board. You're spot on. We're definitely mostly in maintenance mode here and without the supporting pics, particularly in our avatars, it's hard for people to see the potential of being here. It hadn't even occurred to me that we haven't had length challenges in a while. I think that there is only one currently going but none of the longer length ones. Maybe I'll start one later today.
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I remember when I first joined the board, many people would have a series a pictures in their signature showing their hair growth pictures. Those pictures were super inspiring. Also most people were relaxed back then so it was easy to see length progress.
 
snoop said:
Last night I started toying with the idea of leaving my twists in to the end of the year. The longest I've gone is three months. I don't refresh my twists. My theory is that after three months my twists came out easily. I only took them down because I was board. So, if I can get past the boredom then I can push to months 4, 5, or even 6.

Sometimes when I see people's loc journeys at 6-12 months it seems as though the twists haven't started locking yet. If that's the case for me, then I figure that I could possibly maximize my length retention. Let's see how I'm feeling by the end of summer.
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Oooh, I'm excited to see how this goes for you!
 
You all make good points about the board. I didn't notice there weren't new length challenges either. I used to enjoy reading those as well. I still go back and read them from time to time.

I think one thing that discouraged participation around 2012 to 2016 time frame (give or take a few years) was when newer members created threads on topics previously discussed, a few of the older members would not answer the question, but just say "use the search." I think this stifled a lot of new thought and discussion as well as had an affect on the "posting culture" of the forum. Shoot, sometimes I even want to start new threads, but stop myself because I remember those old posts.

I know the members who are active today do not do this, thankfully. We have a nice group of people remaining. :)
 
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BeautifulRoots said:
You all make good points about the board. I didn't notice there weren't new length challenges either. I used to enjoy reading those as well. I still go back and read them from time to time. Lowkey, most of my time on the board is reading old threads.

I think one thing that discouraged participation around 2012 to 2016 time frame (give or take a few years) was when newer members created threads on topics previously discussed, a few of the older members would not answer the question, but just say "use the search." I think this stifled a lot of new thought and discussion as well as had an affect on the "posting culture" of the forum. Shoot, sometimes I even want to start new threads, but stop myself because I remember those old posts.

I know the members who are active today do not do this, thankfully. We have a nice group of people remaining. :)
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You're right. There was a lot of "use the search" and in the last few years it has been "don't bump old posts". There's no way to win.
 
I finally took my mini braids down after a gajillion years. As much as I love them, idk if I'll return back to them. Also I lost hair the size of a tennis ball, so I probably need to give them a rest anyway.
 
ItsMeLilLucky said:
I finally took my mini braids down after a gajillion years. As much as I love them, idk if I'll return back to them. Also I lost hair the size of a tennis ball, so I probably need to give them a rest anyway.
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It's ok, it might be time for you to give minis a break. Those are necessary! You've seen how beneficial minis can be for your hair. You can always come back to them later. I also wonder if part of this is you needing to recover from that straightening you had done a while back that had you discouraged about the state of your hair. Too much stress! I'm sure you have enough going on in life that you don't need to be worried about your hair too. I vote for throwing in some box braid or Senegalese twist extensions for a while. Giving your hair a good wash and DC in between each set will also help. Your hair and your mind could probably use the break! ((HUG))
 
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