Twisting FOR Growth Challenge Part 2

Oooop! LOVE your bantu knot out!!! I so want to try them out now, but I'll have to wait next week when I take these twists out. What did you use? How many knots? Did you twist them first or just knot up? TIA for your answers, lol.

Hey..Thanks for the compliment!!

Cowashed hair w/DevaCurl and rinse out some. I then added a bit more DevaCurl and Hello Hydration condish as a leave in. Then, I applied my shea-aloe mix to my damp hair and did about 15 knots (twisted my hair first). Woke up and twist were still damp. Started the process too late (started around 10pm). Tried to blowdry some, but it was taking too long. Hair felt super soft and fluffy after, so I decided to pull my hair up into a ponytail and add a flower for a little enhancing...

Can't wait to see yours :)
 
The sign of a true henna addict!!

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Purchased at an indian store here and in the USA.

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My newest 100yen store discovery...High quality henna for $1.

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My stash....LOL My huband last night was telling me I was OUT OF CONTROL!! hehehehe
 
Oooop2 what exactly does henna do. I have heard that it thickens hair. My hair is fine and thin naturally. How would it thicken it? I know my question seems dumb. I just want to know what the benefits are.
 
Oooop2 what exactly does henna do. I have heard that it thickens hair. My hair is fine and thin naturally. How would it thicken it? I know my question seems dumb. I just want to know what the benefits are.

I started using henna last year, but was only doing it like once every few months. Then, I found this blog:http://www.curlynikki.com/search/label/Henna and decided to starting applying henna every 12 days for 3m and henna floss every 7days to see if I've noticed a difference. I can't tell you how strong and healthy my hair feels. Some complain about henna drying out their hair, but I've been able to find the right concoction for my hair, so dryness isn't a problem. Per my results, I can't say enough positive things about henna. My daughter has thick hair w/fine strands and I do a gloss on her every 2 weeks. I'm even starting to see a difference in her hair.....
 
Thanks Ooop2 - the scarf os actually an old body wrap that I shredded into pieces. I tend to reduce, reuse and recycle, so alot of my old clothes end up being used as hair wraps and wipes etc. Yup, the smell of henna isn't the best but I can tolerate it okay.

Ooop, I know you're getting a TON of questions but would you kindly please go through your henna timetable. Take a period of 20 days for example - you henna every 12 days and gloss every 7.... does that mean you alternate between treatment and gloss, i.e. henna today, gloss 7 days later and henna 12 days after that and gloss 7 days later etc, etc? I really want to do more henna - my hair feels wonderfully strong and God knows I could do with more thickness too.

And may I mention that you could open shop with all that henna - jeez girl, you sure are not joking!!!!! Wow! And I thought I was well stocked up with my 5 boxes.......

My update. I've decided I'll do the tiniest twists I've done in a while - will take forever but I know it'll be worth it in the end, espesh if I can try and make them last 3 weeks. Only done 2 so far, so nothing to show for yet. And I'm dealing with the mother of all tangles after having my hair loose and shrunken for days - that'll teach me!!! I'm on a quest to find a way of doing henna treatments whilst in twists - won't stop trying till I get it sussed out. That would be the icing in my protective styling challenge, if I can get that done successfully. I'm hating dealing with these tangles! Only happens this way when I do wet stuff to my loose hair - hence my long spells between henna treatments, sigh.
 
Thanks Ooop2 - the scarf os actually an old body wrap that I shredded into pieces. I tend to reduce, reuse and recycle, so alot of my old clothes end up being used as hair wraps and wipes etc. Yup, the smell of henna isn't the best but I can tolerate it okay.

Ooop, I know you're getting a TON of questions but would you kindly please go through your henna timetable. Take a period of 20 days for example - you henna every 12 days and gloss every 7.... does that mean you alternate between treatment and gloss, i.e. henna today, gloss 7 days later and henna 12 days after that and gloss 7 days later etc, etc? I really want to do more henna - my hair feels wonderfully strong and God knows I could do with more thickness too.

And may I mention that you could open shop with all that henna - jeez girl, you sure are not joking!!!!! Wow! And I thought I was well stocked up with my 5 boxes.......

My update. I've decided I'll do the tiniest twists I've done in a while - will take forever but I know it'll be worth it in the end, espesh if I can try and make them last 3 weeks. Only done 2 so far, so nothing to show for yet. And I'm dealing with the mother of all tangles after having my hair loose and shrunken for days - that'll teach me!!! I'm on a quest to find a way of doing henna treatments whilst in twists - won't stop trying till I get it sussed out. That would be the icing in my protective styling challenge, if I can get that done successfully. I'm hating dealing with these tangles! Only happens this way when I do wet stuff to my loose hair - hence my long spells between henna treatments, sigh.

Hey...No prob on the questions. We're hear to learn from each other.

Regarding your henna question....Take the month of April (30days). So I will do a henna treatment on April 2. Then in 7 days April 9, I will do a henna gloss. Then 5 days later April 14, I will do another henna treatment. Then 7 days later, I will do a henna gloss....So this is my henna schedule.

Regarding using henna while in twist, you may have better results purchasing henna shampoo/condish. They actually sell it here. I used it for a short time, but prefer the henna powder. ANd if ever you figure of the trick of getting henna out of twist (besides unloosening and redoing) let me know. :grin:

And LOL on my henna stash...And why am I getting the itch to purchase the remaining boxes that I left on the shelf :rolleyes:
 
Just wanted to add some pictures of my twist-out for the remaining week. Last night I did my sister's hair in curlformers. They will fall in the next few days, but she's happy with the results.
 

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I agree Done-wit - fab job on both heads of hair!

Ooop2, thanks! I wouldn't buy another condish at the moment - I have enough to get a little confused as to what to use next, lol. Will let you know when I work out how to henna on twists, lol, but like you say, I may do the whole process twisted then redo the twists to get everything our. OR, I could try make a very concentrated mix and sqeeze the goodness into a condish, OR, I could put henna in a muslin bag and drop that into a bottle of condish and just leave it in there. Will let you know.....

Okay, I'm doing some tiny, tiny twists and I'm only a third done, sigh. My wash and go for 2 days has tangled my hair something wrong and detangling gently is taking me forever. I almost cried at one point, and swore never to be tempted by the ease of wash and gos ever again - it's not worth the pain. Having said that, I'm pleased that I'm doing it in stages and slowly, taking a break when I get overwhelmed, so I'm not losing hair to breakage due to rough handling - 6 months ago, I would have tore through the tangled mess with a comb in 5 minutes and I would be done now but I lost so much hair (thought it was 'normal') and my scalp was forever sore. Wearing head wraps in between. I think my hair is the most tightly coiled - that 4bz classification is not right for me. I must be a 5bz, sigh.

Apologies about the rant, just felt like sharing, lol. Hope the twists will be done soon.....
 
Just wanted to add some pictures of my twist-out for the remaining week. Last night I did my sister's hair in curlformers. They will fall in the next few days, but she's happy with the results.


You did a great job. Thanks for sharing with us.
 
Good Morning Ladies:

I've been lurking in this thread for awhile. Actually, I subscribed but I'm not apart of the challenge. First I want to say, Ms. Ooop2 - your hair pictures in this thread is my dream hair. Your hair is absolutely beautiful.

But I have a question, is it the henna that makes your natural hair glossy like that? I have what I believe is 4b hair and I'm completely natural. However, I'm just amazed at the glossyness (glossiness?) of you all's hair.
 
Good Morning Ladies:

I've been lurking in this thread for awhile. Actually, I subscribed but I'm not apart of the challenge. First I want to say, Ms. Ooop2 - your hair pictures in this thread is my dream hair. Your hair is absolutely beautiful.

But I have a question, is it the henna that makes your natural hair glossy like that? I have what I believe is 4b hair and I'm completely natural. However, I'm just amazed at the glossyness (glossiness?) of you all's hair.

You're so sweet..Thanks for the compliment. Regarding your question, I think for me, it's a combination of my frequent use of henna and the shea-butter concoction that I apply to my hair daily. Henna has just given my hair some amazing health and body that I didn't have before. My strands are loser. My hair doesn't tangle as easily. I'm not experiencing any breaking. And shedding has been reduced tremedously. Hence the reason why I am an addict w/ so many boxes of henna :grin:

Let me know if you have any more questions...
 
:yep:I'm interested if not too late...I know I'm very late. :spinning:
I'm wearing twists 98% of the time.
 
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You're so sweet..Thanks for the compliment. Regarding your question, I think for me, it's a combination of my frequent use of henna and the shea-butter concoction that I apply to my hair daily. Henna has just given my hair some amazing health and body that I didn't have before. My strands are loser. My hair doesn't tangle as easily. I'm not experiencing any breaking. And shedding has been reduced tremedously. Hence the reason why I am an addict w/ so many boxes of henna :grin:

Let me know if you have any more questions...

I was just curious, is the Caramel Treatment almost like a henna without the protein?
 
Hi fellow challengers, sorry it's been a while since my last update. But I finally took my previous set of twists down after 4 weeks, lost my mind, and decided to attempt flat ironing. I posted a thread about it here. I say lost my mind because it took forever. But I was curious, and now my curiosity is sated.

The flat iron lasted about 24 hours. :lachen: I was paranoid about damage, but my hair is fine and I put in very large twists. I'm still rocking them now (a week later), and the pictures below show my hair after my new deep condish mix. a washing with black soap and a coffee rinse. I just added some JBCO when I was done and my hair feels really great. Scalp too, because I added a few drops of tea tree oil to my black soap.

oooop2 you are really making it hard for a sister to not order some henna. :drunk:
 

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I dyed my hair a silken black from Texture n Tones. I have the Pantene conditioner in my hair and it is drying while I go bout my business. I didn't detangle since I didn't have my supplies with me:lachen:, but I will on Sunday and get back into twists.

Not worth taking pictures, I need to study.

My boredom with my hair and desire to have shine without the thickness of the henna treatments drove me to just dye it black. I'm not worried about any damage as I've had success with this dye in the past and my hair is strong like bull.

Enjoy the weekend
 
Just wanted to add some pictures of my twist-out for the remaining week. Last night I did my sister's hair in curlformers. They will fall in the next few days, but she's happy with the results.

Nice job :yep:
I agree Done-wit - fab job on both heads of hair!

Ooop2, thanks! I wouldn't buy another condish at the moment - I have enough to get a little confused as to what to use next, lol. Will let you know when I work out how to henna on twists, lol, but like you say, I may do the whole process twisted then redo the twists to get everything our. OR, I could try make a very concentrated mix and sqeeze the goodness into a condish, OR, I could put henna in a muslin bag and drop that into a bottle of condish and just leave it in there. Will let you know.....

Okay, I'm doing some tiny, tiny twists and I'm only a third done, sigh. My wash and go for 2 days has tangled my hair something wrong and detangling gently is taking me forever. I almost cried at one point, and swore never to be tempted by the ease of wash and gos ever again - it's not worth the pain. Having said that, I'm pleased that I'm doing it in stages and slowly, taking a break when I get overwhelmed, so I'm not losing hair to breakage due to rough handling - 6 months ago, I would have tore through the tangled mess with a comb in 5 minutes and I would be done now but I lost so much hair (thought it was 'normal') and my scalp was forever sore. Wearing head wraps in between. I think my hair is the most tightly coiled - that 4bz classification is not right for me. I must be a 5bz, sigh.

Apologies about the rant, just felt like sharing, lol. Hope the twists will be done soon.....

Did you finally finish your tiny twist Jax???

:yep:I'm interested if not too late...I know I'm very late. :spinning:
I'm wearing twists 98% of the time.

Sorry you missed the cut off deadline. But definitely feel free to offer advice/give suggestions/ask questions.

I was just curious, is the Caramel Treatment almost like a henna without the protein?
I do something similar to the caramel treatment. And I use it when my hair is feeling dry and I want to step up the moisture level and softness in my hair. My henna treatment, helps loosen up my strands, strengthens my hairs, and gives my hair more body and shine. Hence why I am using it so much....

Ya'll got me wanting to try henna. :look:

You should try it. Especially is you have issues w/ tangles and want to strengthen your strands....

Hi fellow challengers, sorry it's been a while since my last update. But I finally took my previous set of twists down after 4 weeks, lost my mind, and decided to attempt flat ironing. I posted a thread about it here. I say lost my mind because it took forever. But I was curious, and now my curiosity is sated.

The flat iron lasted about 24 hours. :lachen: I was paranoid about damage, but my hair is fine and I put in very large twists. I'm still rocking them now (a week later), and the pictures below show my hair after my new deep condish mix. a washing with black soap and a coffee rinse. I just added some JBCO when I was done and my hair feels really great. Scalp too, because I added a few drops of tea tree oil to my black soap.

oooop2 you are really making it hard for a sister to not order some henna. :drunk:

WOW!!! You hair is so thick. And LOL about you being paranoid about hair damage. I feel the same way whenever I flat-iron my hair. But I have to admit, I love you kinky-twisted up hair much better :yep:

I love Henna...You should try it :grin:

I dyed my hair a silken black from Texture n Tones. I have the Pantene conditioner in my hair and it is drying while I go bout my business. I didn't detangle since I didn't have my supplies with me:lachen:, but I will on Sunday and get back into twists.

Not worth taking pictures, I need to study.

My boredom with my hair and desire to have shine without the thickness of the henna treatments drove me to just dye it black. I'm not worried about any damage as I've had success with this dye in the past and my hair is strong like bull.

Enjoy the weekend

Did you achieve the color you wanted???

Update on me:

Currently in large twist. I swear I am loving this style. Easy to do (10-15min). Easy to co-wash (Done 4-5x/wk). Easy to henna. Easy to style in an updo/ponytail/twistouts/textured fro. I may never go back to small twist :lachen:
 
Out of boredom I went on a small hair product shopping spree. I felt the need to dye my hair because I want that bling that I see all of you beautiful ladies have. I don't think I want to pursue the henna thing, because my hair is thick enough. So much that its sometimes unmanageable. I have many serums and I even bout the Organix Shea butter shine serum. I like it alot. It left my hair very soft. In fact Harmon's has all their products for $4.99 I may buy some other things. Don't need them, but I am a PJ.

I chose to dye my hair because I have a couple of grays poking through. Needless to say, my hair looks the same to me. My sister said she noticed but only after I bought it to here attention.

Tonight, I am going to do a deep treatment with my new hydracaps, and possible flat twist my hair.

Will post pictures tomorrow.
 
Okay, here is my latest do. I didn't know what to do, so once again; a ponytail:lachen:

I washed, DC and rinsed in some cold-*** water in the sink. Hot water heater died while I had conditioner in my hair:nono: I sealed with shea butter and JBCO

I did the flat twists with some Ecostyler gel (first time using it). I doubt this will last very long. I will tie it up with my scarf for bed.
 

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Nice job :yep:


Did you finally finish your tiny twist Jax???



Sorry you missed the cut off deadline. But definitely feel free to offer advice/give suggestions/ask questions.

I do something similar to the caramel treatment. And I use it when my hair is feeling dry and I want to step up the moisture level and softness in my hair. My henna treatment, helps loosen up my strands, strengthens my hairs, and gives my hair more body and shine. Hence why I am using it so much....



You should try it. Especially is you have issues w/ tangles and want to strengthen your strands....



WOW!!! You hair is so thick. And LOL about you being paranoid about hair damage. I feel the same way whenever I flat-iron my hair. But I have to admit, I love you kinky-twisted up hair much better :yep:

I love Henna...You should try it :grin:



Did you achieve the color you wanted???

Update on me:

Currently in large twist. I swear I am loving this style. Easy to do (10-15min). Easy to co-wash (Done 4-5x/wk). Easy to henna. Easy to style in an updo/ponytail/twistouts/textured fro. I may never go back to small twist :lachen:
I don't know. I think I missed some spots. I just wanted to hide some of my grays. It will do I suppose. I tell ya, I just don't know what to do with myself
 

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Did you finally finish your tiny twist Jax???

Good question. Ermmm....... nope :blush:. See, I had a terrible time detangling after the 2 days of wash and gos. I did most of my hair but there are still 4 big box braids at the back that need detangling and converting into small twists - 3-5 twists per braid. I'm too knackered with my hair right now to get it completed. They'd take me about a hour but I can't be bothered right now. Still co-washing and DCing though, so I guess I'll get them done eventually - maybe as I refresh these twists too. I'm never wearing a WnG again.... well, not soon anyway, the trauma afterwards isn't worth it. I guess I should take a pic or 2 - sulking at my hair at the moment, lol! Just doing the bare minimum to keep it in good condition - no loving this week!
 
Okay, here is my latest do. I didn't know what to do, so once again; a ponytail:lachen:

I washed, DC and rinsed in some cold-*** water in the sink. Hot water heater died while I had conditioner in my hair:nono: I sealed with shea butter and JBCO

I did the flat twists with some Ecostyler gel (first time using it). I doubt this will last very long. I will tie it up with my scarf for bed.

Okay..You are going to have to take me through the step-by-step process of how you FLAT TWIST your hair. Love it..It's so neat and pretty!!!

I don't know. I think I missed some spots. I just wanted to hide some of my grays. It will do I suppose. I tell ya, I just don't know what to do with myself

Hey..It's all about the coverage :lachen:

Good question. Ermmm....... nope :blush:. See, I had a terrible time detangling after the 2 days of wash and gos. I did most of my hair but there are still 4 big box braids at the back that need detangling and converting into small twists - 3-5 twists per braid. I'm too knackered with my hair right now to get it completed. They'd take me about a hour but I can't be bothered right now. Still co-washing and DCing though, so I guess I'll get them done eventually - maybe as I refresh these twists too. I'm never wearing a WnG again.... well, not soon anyway, the trauma afterwards isn't worth it. I guess I should take a pic or 2 - sulking at my hair at the moment, lol! Just doing the bare minimum to keep it in good condition - no loving this week!

Sorry WnG don't work for you. My hair loves them, but it destroys my ends w/ all the knots. So I don't do them very often anymore. But you're a better woman than me. I haven't attempted tiny twist since May 08. The process just takes WAY TO LONG for me :rolleyes:

Keep updating ladies :)
 
Okay..You are going to have to take me through the step-by-step process of how you FLAT TWIST your hair. Love it..It's so neat and pretty!!!



Hey..It's all about the coverage :lachen:



Sorry WnG don't work for you. My hair loves them, but it destroys my ends w/ all the knots. So I don't do them very often anymore. But you're a better woman than me. I haven't attempted tiny twist since May 08. The process just takes WAY TO LONG for me :rolleyes:

Keep updating ladies :)


I'm actually surprised they came out so nice. What I did was make the parts small. Any other time I attempted them, I made the parts big and they came out a hot mess. I actually took my time this time and detangled and brushed each section with a small yet ample amount of the gel. Previously I didn't use the gel trying to be au naturale.

I then two strand twisted to the scalp. I didn't secure with rubberbands instead just left the ends in the ponytail in the back. I then ran somemore gel in the back pony and twisted just the ends of the pony. I imagine that I will have a mess when I take town. We will see.

WnGs don't work for me either anymore. I don't remember when I took my last set of twists down, but I didn't detangle them right away. I wore a twist out for a couple of days then started co-washing. I then went and dyed my hair and still hadn't detangled my hair.

I bought those hydracaps and was anxious to try it so when I washed my hair with some Ellin Lavar Optimoist shampoo (My sister gave it to me to try out). My hair was a tangled mess. But only in the back. My front hairs are a different texture, so that wasn't a problem. But my back:nono: At first I blamed the shampoo but then I realized what I had done to my hair over the past few days.

I then DC'd with Queen Helene's Cholesterol in the front, and my Nacidit Olive Oil conditioner and Lustrasilk Cholesterol in the back. Both of these conditioners melt my hair like no body's business. I slapped that cap on my head. That was actually fun having it shrink to my big ole head. I sat and watched television for about 30 minutes and detangled each section of hair. Then discovered my hot water heater wasn't working. I rinsed my head in the kitchen sink after about an hour of trying to get a plumber to come out.

Needless to say, the plumber has still not come out as I'm typing now, but my hair looks cute:lachen:
 
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Okay, here is my latest do. I didn't know what to do, so once again; a ponytail:lachen:

I washed, DC and rinsed in some cold-*** water in the sink. Hot water heater died while I had conditioner in my hair:nono: I sealed with shea butter and JBCO

I did the flat twists with some Ecostyler gel (first time using it). I doubt this will last very long. I will tie it up with my scarf for bed.



You did a good job on your flat twist.
 
I retwisted my hair last Monday and so far so good. I forgot how easy twists are to maintain. I am still noticing some breakage on my ends. I think I am too rough sometimes w/my hair when I am taking it loose. My hair is looking healthy again. I am going to trim it soon because I noticed quite a few split ends.
 
Henna'd last night (overnight). D/Cd this morning w/ HE Hello Hydration. After I rinsed some out..Applied a bit more leavein condish and my sheabutter concoction and did large twist. Let me hair air dry in the large twist. Tonight, I undid the large twist and made them smaller. Will wear small twist for about 1 week....

Hope everyone is doing well!!!
 
Still hanging there. Hair still in a mix of tiny twists and 4 big-ish braids at the back but we're becoming friends again. I've been co-washing and applying AO HSR as a leave in condish and have DCed twice. It certainly feels softer and moisturised. Still scared of taking the braids apart, lol - might do that this weekend, get them twisted. Then it'll be time to re-twist the whole head, but that'll be fine as my routine will be back to normal. Wash and gos are BADDDD!!!!! For me anyway...

How're you doing ladies?
 
Hey, ladies! I am finally did a 2 strand twist set this week end and got complimented on it!:crying3: I'm so glad I did not give up. The tears are meant as happy tears.:yep: Doing my twists wet made it so much easier for me and the twists curled up on the ends by themselves. I feel so empowered. Finally seeing the results of my perseverance. :yep:
 
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