Those that wear Afros: I have a question

[cocoberry10]

Hello Ladies:

As some of you know, I am transitioning to natural, and one day hope to be able to rock a fluffy fro or hairstyle (I'm not really sure what my "hair type" is yet, but I'm sure it will be fluffy/frizzy/kinky enough to wear an afro. Anyway, I wanted to know what issues you all have had in wearing this style (i.e. dryness, breakage, etc.). Thanks and please let me know!

 

[harrison]

One suggestion- keep it well moisturized. Just like any other hair style.. moisture, moisture, moisture. I had a blow out 2 weeks ago and i let it get dry.. bad move

Carry moisturizing sprays or whatever you use with you to reapply during the day as needed. I didn't do that. I wish I had.

 

[cocoberry10]

One suggestion- keep it well moisturized. Just like any other hair style.. moisture, moisture, moisture. I had a blow out 2 weeks ago and i let it get dry.. bad move

Carry moisturizing sprays or whatever you use with you to reapply during the day as needed. I didn't do that. I wish I had.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[JustKiya]

Shrinkage, tangles, dryness.

Shrinkage - My 'afro' turns into a TWA afro after couple of hours - I don't blow out/use any heat in my hair, so that might make a difference. A 'braided out' afro is my avi pic - that would be a TWA in a matter of hours...

Horribly dry - and for me, moisture = shrinkage, so if I keep it moist - TWA again.

Tangles - no matter what I do, how moist I keep it, how much I keep my fingers out of it, it's a tear & cussing filled hour or so for me to detangle.

So, yeah, I don't wear a fro much - it's too much danngone work.

 

[cocoberry10]

Shrinkage, tangles, dryness.

Shrinkage - My 'afro' turns into a TWA afro after couple of hours - I don't blow out/use any heat in my hair, so that might make a difference. A 'braided out' afro is my avi pic - that would be a TWA in a matter of hours...

Horribly dry - and for me, moisture = shrinkage, so if I keep it moist - TWA again.

Tangles - no matter what I do, how moist I keep it, how much I keep my fingers out of it, it's a tear & cussing filled hour or so for me to detangle.

So, yeah, I don't wear a fro much - it's too much danngone work.

How do you normally wear your hair? Thanks for the response. It's good to know this. Wow!

 

[NaturalJoy]

I would have to agree. Moisture is the biggest issue. I have this unruly dry patch that I am forver trying to heep under control. Just make sure you deep condition weekly, hot oil monthly (at least), and use a leave in daily. Also, to combat the tangles I would recommend shampooing w/ a detangling shampoo (no more than 1x/week) if you chose to poo (Creme of Nature is great). Also, doing condition washes and oil rinses help as well. You may also want to try washing using the crown and glory technique. Lastly, many naturals have issues with the "peppercorn" knots at the ends of their hair. I found that this is due to dryness, thus proper moisturizing helps ease this problem TREMENDOUSLY. I use Miss Jessies Buttercreme to avoid that, but any good creme moisturizer or good oil (just on the ends daily) should help with that.

Good Luck!!!

 

[Crown]

Shrinkage, tangles, dryness.

Shrinkage - My 'afro' turns into a TWA afro after couple of hours - I don't blow out/use any heat in my hair, so that might make a difference. A 'braided out' afro is my avi pic - that would be a TWA in a matter of hours...

Horribly dry - and for me, moisture = shrinkage, so if I keep it moist - TWA again.

Tangles - no matter what I do, how moist I keep it, how much I keep my fingers out of it, it's a tear & cussing filled hour or so for me to detangle.

So, yeah, I don't wear a fro much - it's too much danngone work.

I agree!
You have to consider daily wash and go (conditioner, water rinse, oil rinse) for moisture until you have enough lenght to take the next step: no more wash and go or tangles and knots city.

 

[JustKiya]

I normally wear twists of some sort - flat twists like these:

or these:

Or two strand twists....

I'm STRICTLY protective styling growing til I can put my hair in a single braid and bun with that, so I don't mind rotating through a limited selection of protective styles - my hair is mine, not to show off to erryone else, ya know?

Ocassionally I'll wear a twist out - usually when I have a long week, or I'm going out of town/partying - I'll put in two strand twists, and then twist them out on Friday, and rock the twist out on the weekend. It's still more detangling than I REALLY want to do - but it's not as bad as wearing it loose all week.

Mind you, I have a mixture of very fine and medium strands of hair, and VERY tight, very thirsty curls. Both they, and I, are happier when they are 'put up', and I've accepted that about my hair. If I wanted to wear wash & go's (esp at this length) I would HAVE to get a texturizer, because otherwise - nuh-uh. I wouldn't retain ANY length because I'd be tearing off ends trying to detangle/unknot it.

I'm actually scared to get a texturizer though, because my hair is - it's really soft. And it goes really straight EASILY - thus the braided out fro - but the only thing that really gives it body is the texture. So, I'm terrified that I'll get impatient, slap a texturizer in, and either overprocess my hair and have to start from scratch, or as my hair gets longer and I use more henna, it will continue to 'loosen' and I'll end up with super straight, straggly looking ends.

But that's just me.