Twist for Growth Challenge (Fall 2011)

[ladykpnyc]

Since I didn't have any plans tonight, I decided to do my hair.

First, I detangled in sections w/ aloe vera juice and coconut oil

Then, I deep conditioned w/ the coconut milk fat (I put it in the freezer for 30 minutes, cracked it open and spooned out the solid whites at the top) I mixed it with molasses.

Then I sat under a conditioning cap for 45 minutes, rinsed, mud wash, then conditioned with QB Burdock Root Butter Cream and sealed with shea butter.

I put about 5 chunky twists in and called it a night. I'll break them down into smaller twists later in the week.

 

[Ronnieaj]

The amount of shed hair I get after 3 weeks in twists is distressing. Not bad, and an appropriate amount, to be sure, but still distressing. I soaked my hair overnight in a mixture of aloe vera juice, afroveda's rice bran oil, and some pure neem oil (3 droppers full). Naturally, the neem means I have to wash the pillow case, hair scarf, and bonnet, because DEAR LORD does that stuff stank . BUT, I was able to get my hair fully detangled in just over an hour, which is MUCH better than the almost 3 hours I spent last time. That combo is a keeper .

 

[cch24]

Took down 10 twists to try out my curlformers. That failed quickly, so I put the 10 twists back in until my usual hair day on Tuesday. I'm starting to think my twists are for life, and that doesn't bother me in the least.

 

[faithVA]

Trying to rehydrate my twists since I will wear them another week instead of shampooing tomorrow. Misted with SM Mist. Massaged my scalp with my oil blend. Coated my hair with sunflower oil. And now baggying for an hour.

Tomorrow I think I will take each one down apply some water and butter and retwists to neaten them up and remove the shed hairs.

Will be glad when my twists are longer so I can do less of them.

 

[lolascurls]

I've been MIA for a while!
I'm still wearing my twists. I switch up with flat twists in front or on the sides.
For the past week though, I've been wearing a bunch of smaller twists in front for a swoop bang-effect and medium -sized twists in the back.
This week, by God's grace, I'm keeping it really simple with chunky twists in the back!

 

[FroFab]

I have been MIA also. Between birthdays, holidays, and vacations I have just been way too busy. I have been trying to stay in twist (or at least not go too long between twist/twist-outs). So I tried the single head twists but it was a no-go because my fine strands get tangled easily even with blow-drying and combing out. So after I blowdried, I came to the realization that after almost 4 years I am lost. I have so many splits and ssks this is after major trims over the last year. The ssks are inevitable but I think when I tried increasing how much I was wearing straight styles by flat ironing I inadvertently created more splits. The problem is that I noticed the mid strand bubble type splits so I have been attacking those and I am still at BSL which means that over the year I have not had any real growth but such is life.

I'm not too stressed about it all because BSL is not bad but I could be so much further. I was wanting to end my journey for length at WL but I need improved health first. I have been toying with the idea of texlaxing but I know that unless I figure out a better way to work with what I have the texlaxing might not help. Plus my LO loves my hair and that's just the way I want it to remain so I guess I'll just have to figure out some other way to decrease the splits and ssks.

Anyway, I am going to post a few picks of my most recent set which I did two days ago on mostly damp/wet hair.

 

[Krystle~Hime]

Im feeling really lazy, i've taken down my twists, doing my bi monthly deep treatment and was rocking a supa fly puff, for one night, and now... feeling too lazy for doing my medium mini twists. I think i will do twenty twists. and rocking headwraps. that's all : for the last 2 weeks of this month. and for december I will do mini twists and let them on for the whole month.

 

[gigi2011]

After wearing my hair straight for 2 weeks for a well needed trim. I'm glad to be back in twist today. I missed my kinky-curly hair

 

[JudithO]

So I did a length check... Pretty excited by the results... Are we supposed to share??

 

[Krystle~Hime]

judy4all !!! WOW ive just checked your fotki how didn't u know you were apl !! you are 1-2 past apl !! that's great ! congrats !!
i also myself reach APL on 1st november. but i prefer to wait if i won't have a setback (like 2 months) we will never know.

 

[JudithO]

lol Krystle~Hime I guess you found it... I was going to tell people to go to my fotki if i was allowed to share.... I need to update my signature.. I knew I was around APL.. definitely thrilled that I'm at least 1 inch past.. Looks like BSL may not be a dream afterall... You can look at my August album on Fotki for comparison...

 

[pookaloo83]

Didn't feel like washing this week, so I retwisted the twists that were already in my head. will wear my out styles Thanksgiving week for 2 days then twist back up.

 

[NikkiQ]

Is faithVA any closer to deciding on if she's gonna continue this challenge into 2012???

 

[ms-gg]

Man, I came in here looking for some recent hair porn

 

[faithVA]

NikkiQ[/USER];14634353]Is @faithVA any closer to deciding on if she's gonna continue this challenge into 2012???

I am not ready to decide yet. I will decide the first week of December. I have been sick this week and hair has not been on my mind at all.

 

[JustGROWwithIt]

I'm in!
ive actually been wearing twists since mid-october and planned to continue til dec in a personal challenge of my own. Glad to see there are women to join up with in this!

TWIST STYLE: i do 2-strand twists all over, and pin them up, since they are pretty short down, using bobby pins or clips.

CARE REGIMEN: I leave the twists in for 1 week, usually taking them down either friday or saturday and retwisting sometime on the weekend. when the twists are out i still pin my hair up to protect my ends. before re-twisting i wash/DC and every night i moisturize and seal the twists followed by a scalp massage with lightly applying Beemine sulfur serum to my scalp only and alternating that with a Megatek/water mixture on my scalp only every 2-3 days. (Megatek is new to my regimen, i just added that last night. If anyone has experience with that product id LOVE to hear about it!) I plan on adding a monthly DC with Megatek to my regimen as well.

HOPE TO ACHIEVE: I want to retain at least 1 inch of length and be able to pull my twists in a high bun. Also hope to see less breakage. I hope to hit APL by the spring so i may keep this challenge going if it works well.

Sorry i cant post pics right now, i'll figure that out later. but now my hair when stretched hits just below my collarbone on my longest layer and with the twists down right around chin length.

Thanks!

 

[ecadnacmc]

Hey ecadnacmc, tell us whats going on with you? Why is a 2 day turn around hard for you? And how long are you wearing your twists?

If you take your hair down on Friday can you twist it back up on Sunday? or Monday?

faithVA
I have two young children at home DS who is 17mos and DD who is 3, plus I am a physician who is on call every 2-3 days and usually every other weekend (being on call = I may have to go into the hospital at anytime, and I do not want to go see a new sick patient with have twisted/half fro hair )It usually takes a whole day to do DD's hair and a whole day to do mine which leaves no time to do anything else. I try to keep both of our hair in one protective style for at least 2 weeks but with DD's soft fine silky cottony 3C/4A hair it's hard to make her hair last that long. In addition I have to try to do this and keep my DS entertained or if I get lucky he'll take a nap (but never long enough for me to complete either one of our hair). DH helps sometimes but he doesn't understand why I just don't let someone else do our hair. I've been natural off and on since 1993 and never made it past SL because whenever I got to SL my hair became difficult for me to handle and I would run to the salon for help and they would proceed to "texturize" or heat damage it back up to neck length.

 

[faithVA]

I'm in!
ive actually been wearing twists since mid-october and planned to continue til dec in a personal challenge of my own. Glad to see there are women to join up with in this!

TWIST STYLE: i do 2-strand twists all over, and pin them up, since they are pretty short down, using bobby pins or clips.

CARE REGIMEN: I leave the twists in for 1 week, usually taking them down either friday or saturday and retwisting sometime on the weekend. when the twists are out i still pin my hair up to protect my ends. before re-twisting i wash/DC and every night i moisturize and seal the twists followed by a scalp massage with lightly applying Beemine sulfur serum to my scalp only and alternating that with a Megatek/water mixture on my scalp only every 2-3 days. (Megatek is new to my regimen, i just added that last night. If anyone has experience with that product id LOVE to hear about it!) I plan on adding a monthly DC with Megatek to my regimen as well.

HOPE TO ACHIEVE: I want to retain at least 1 inch of length and be able to pull my twists in a high bun. Also hope to see less breakage. I hope to hit APL by the spring so i may keep this challenge going if it works well.

Sorry i cant post pics right now, i'll figure that out later. but now my hair when stretched hits just below my collarbone on my longest layer and with the twists down right around chin length.

Thanks!

Welcome JustGROWwithIt, We have 6 more weeks left so happy growing.

 

[faithVA]

@faithVA
I have two young children at home DS who is 17mos and DD who is 3, plus I am a physician who is on call every 2-3 days and usually every other weekend. It usually takes a whole day to do DD's hair and a whole day to do mine which leaves no time to do anything else. I try to keep both of our hair in one protective style for at least 2 weeks but with DD's soft fine silky cottony 3C/4A hair it's hard to make her hair last that long. In addition I have to try to do this and keep my DS entertained or if I get lucky he'll take a nap (but never long enough for me to complete either one of our hair). DH helps sometimes but he doesn't understand why I just don't let someone else do our hair. I've been natural off and on since 1993 and never made it past SL because whenever I got to SL my hair became difficult for me to handle and I would run to the salon for help nad they would proceed to "texturize" or heat damage it back up to neck length.

I here how busy you are ecadnacmc. Just do what you need to do. I promise I won't put cameras in your kitchen to find out if you retwisted your hair in 2 days. I promise

So care for your hair the best you can and hopefully we can encourage you and support you as you move through SL and APL.

 

[faithVA]

Ok ladies, I am still contemplating whether I am going to continue this challenge for 2012. Its not looking good so far because I really do want some flexibility. So I am looking at a few options

Option 1. Each person set their own twist challenge rules
Option 2. The challenge is changed to wearing twist/braids for 20 days min.
Option 3. The challenge rules remain but each person must opt in/out for the current month.

Still thinking.

 

[NikkiQ]

faithVA

What about...?

-wear twists at least 5 days a week
-if you decide to PS with wigs, wear twists underneath
-3 passes to wear your hair straight per session

 

[faithVA]

NikkiQ[/USER];14649869]@faithVA

What about...?

-wear twists at least 5 days a week
-if you decide to PS with wigs, wear twists underneath
-3 passes to wear your hair straight per session

I can add it to the list but I am being purely selfish while I am thinking of next years challenge. I don't want to wear twists 5 days a week

Nor do I wear wigs. And I don't wear my hair straight.

It looks like if I host the challenge I won't be participating in it

I am just trying to figure out if I can really do that and be a good host.

 

[faithVA]

How would everyone feel if I hosted the challenge but didn't participate?

Does that even make sense? I'm feeling some kind of way about that.

My rebellious nature is flairing up - talkin bout - how you gonna make rules you ain't even gonna follow (smh).

 

[discodumpling]

Just finished this weeks twists and already have 1/2 up!

 

[SherylsTresses]

I am so ready for the 2012 edition. Can't wait to join.

 

[ecadnacmc]

I here how busy you are ecadnacmc. Just do what you need to do. I promise I won't put cameras in your kitchen to find out if you retwisted your hair in 2 days. I promise

So care for your hair the best you can and hopefully we can encourage you and support you as you move through SL and APL.

faithVA
Thanks! I actually have already made it to APL. My short term goal is BSL, I just don't think I'm going to make it by the end of the challenge as I hoped.

 

[pookaloo83]

Why is everyone putting it up to faithVA to start the challenge? I don't really think she's feeling it for next year. Me neither.

Why doesn't someone else who's pressed on keeping twists for 2012 start it?

faith, I like the timing of this challenge. September to December 31st is perfect. It's kinda like a reveal for the new year. If you start one just like this next year with the same rules I'm in!

 

[faithVA]

Why is everyone putting it up to @faithVA to start the challenge? I don't really think she's feeling it for next year. Me neither.

Why doesn't someone else who's pressed on keeping twists for 2012 start it?

faith, I like the timing of this challenge. September to December 31st is perfect. It's kinda like a reveal for the new year. If you start one just like this next year with the same rules I'm in!

I think someone else say they would do it with me. I just don't remember who.

I think I'm tired of twist. My hair has been in twist since Fall of last year. And all of a sudden I've had enough. I think I just need a little break and then I will probably be ready for them again.

We still have 6 more weeks left.

 

[-PYT]

I can admit I've tired of twists also. I just didn't want to drop out of the challenge just yet. I straightened my hair for the first time this past wknd and I am full SL/CL. It's so thick and full. Washing tonight and I have no idea how i'm going to style. maybe chunky twists for the sake of the challenge!

 

[NaijaNaps]

I'm bad at updating in this thread because I honestly am doing the same thing over and over, nothing exciting to report. I DC overnight with either AO GBP or ORS Replenishing once a week and retwist every other week. Haven't worn my hair out since Sept 3-4; I just retwist my old twists. Still haven't used a comb/brush either which I'm really enjoying.

I have been experimenting with wrapping my twists at night to elongate them. I'll take pics over the weekend and upload (I promise!). I really like the way my twists fall when I take them down.

I really would like to continue this challenge, at least for a few months into next year. I (think) I'm seeing nice retention so want to keep a good thing going.

faithVA I would volunteer to co-coordinate the challenge with someone else (you deserve a break!) but I'm generally horrible at updating so that might be a huge fail