My Mini Twists so far. Take-down in a few days.

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Hola!

So, my mini twists are still in, but they're coming down on Saturday. This means that I'll have had them in for about two and a half weeks. Not bad, not bad, longest I've kept mini twists with just my hair in. I guess if they were a bit smaller, I'll have kept them in longer.

Okay! So, I've been spraying my hair with lavender water and lavender oil (in a spray bottle) daily. I hand picked the lavender leaves from the garden. After that, I seal in the moisture with my lovely new product (did I mention that it's pH balanced?). I dusted all my twists some days ago, can't remember when exactly. The ends of my twists are like popping with defined curls and I didn't twirl them neither where they twirled when they were done. They're just popping and looking gorg'.

Okay! So, my plans are.....I'm going to wash my hair with the twists in on Friday, stretch out the twists overnight and take them down on Saturday. I actually just wash my scalp and condition my hair, not wash my hair. I never work shampoo into the hair strands. I don't even work amla into my hair strands. I focus on my scalp and the hair's cleansed when I rinse out what I washed my scalp with. So, I guess I'm going to braid the twists in sections or just hold them off with ouchless bands and work section by section washing my scalp and working conditioner in my hair then I'm going to seal in the moisture (after rinsing the conditioner, of course, with my new product) then hold my hair up to stretch as it dries. On Saturday, after a nice, warm shower, I'll take down the twists quickly and.....I'm not sure about a twist out so, I guess I'm going to fake a blow out and then curl my ends a bit with my flexi rods or fake a blow out and do a braid 'n' curl on it. Whatever works.

After that, I need to figure out what I'll do with my hair daily till October and then till December. I guess I'll switch it up with a tuck 'n' pin, puff and some other simple style (I might make two flat braids some time) and then in October, I might get mini twists done again. I'm not sure about mini-braids 'cause I'm more likely to loose hair at my ends with that and I'm trying to avoid that, plus, it'll take longer to take down. If I could get some Marley or Havana hair, don't know where to get those in England, I'll install big twists in my hair and keep them in till January when I'm getting my first weave in the past almost 6 years (Heat-Free Hair Movement).

Anyways, that's all for now.

Interview with the beautiful, Daniele Watts (from Django) coming up soon, look out for it! :)

~Sammy

Caring For My Mini Twists.

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Hey!

So, I've had my twists in for a week and a day now and I thought I should just talk about what I'm doing with it.

People tend to neglect their hair once it's in a protective style like this especially when done with extensions. I do not have extensions in. This is because they believe that they don't have to do as much as they would normally do to their hair and as the name says, it's protective.

Mini twists are protective, but in order for them to actually be a good protective style, they have to be properly cared for. They have to be moisturised and it's best for them to be stretched.

I moisturise my twists every morning and evening with my new homemade product (which I love to bits). I'm not putting its recipe up because I plan on selling the product in the near future. I usually use the products on my twists after a shower (with my twists held up) or after running damp hands through my hair. I can use the product without doing any of those though. So, I work it in in a "praying" motion - moving my hands downwards with the twists between my palms. This keeps the hair in a pretty good shape. Remember, moisture is like one of the main keys to healthy hair growth.

I stretched my twists immediately after they were installed because my hair got reverted at the salon. I held all the twists together at the top of my head with a metal-free ponytail holder and secured the sides bobby pins so all my twists are properly stretched. I had my hair up like that till Monday. Now, I take it down at day time and style it in a low ponytail, do twist outs on my twists, do a tuck, roll and pin, et cetera, BUT every night, my hair goes back up to keep in stretched.

Many of us dread wash 'n' goes or simply just wearing our hair out in afros or puffs. Why? Tangles. Due to the elements our hair shrinks and because of the fact that our curls curl up without thinking 'bout the curl beside it, our hair tangles and excessive tangling can lead to huge knots that have to be cut out or simply just breakage. We keep our hair stretched usually to reduce the amount of tangles we get. So, by keeping your twists stretched at all times, you are preventing the hair twisted up from tangling and being a horror to take down.

I haven't washed my twists yet, but I might some day soon. I have washed my hair with twists in (With extensions) before so I'll tell you how I did that 'cause that'll be the same way I'll do it. I lightly braid sections of my twists and secure the ends of the braids with pony tail holders or rubber bands (rubber bands only if I have extensions in that are longer than my hair length). I dilute some shampoo mixed with olive oil and a bit of a conditioner with water in a bottle and shake it all up then get some of it on my fingers and work it on my scalp. I leave it on for about a minute and rinse out thoroughly then get conditioner in my hands and scrunch it into the braids I created. I leave it in for a few minutes then rinse it out. Use an old cotton shirt to scrunch out excess water and leave my hair in the braids till it dries fully (or till it's at least 80% dry). Gotta keep your scalp clean and be able to breath and let out its sebum.

Okay! So, that's it for now. I'll talk more about my twists after I take them down (dunno when that's going to happen).

~Samantha