For Naturals

[vsantina]

I'm newly natural, and although I have somewhat mastered the skill of coil outs, I need some help with maintenance. I usually twist my hair at night, and untwist them in the morning. However, the next day after I've slept on them, they look a mess. It's getting to the point where I'm not sleeping the way I'd like due to being afraid of smashing my curls. How do you avoid bed head? I was originally wearing a silk scarf, and now I'm wearing a silk bonnet.

Also, how do you wear wash and gos? This morning was my first attempt, and I realized too late that I probably should not have combed my hair. It's still fairly short, about 2 1/2 inches, so I have about a billion tiny curls. What products are good at retaining, defining and elongating the curl?

I'm currently co-washing with Neutrogena triple moisture, and I've been using S curl for my twists. In addition, I'm pretty sure I hate the way S curl makes my hair feel when wearing wash and gos. TIA

 

[Cheleigh]

Congratulations on your BC.

For me:
My second day hair will rarely rival my freshly conditioner washed hair, so I don't try to have it do so. My hair is spongy, so I cannot avoid bedhead. While it helps to sleep on a satin/silk pillowcase, my hair will easily shrink and form odd shapes. Banding/braiding/twisting the hair at night helps a lot, but I don't know if it's worth the time to do it on a TWA.

When I do a twistout, I've usually had my hair in twists between two-seven days, so my twistouts the first two days are very defined. They are less so for the next two days, so I usually wear a headband/scarf at that point.

For the S&G, I spent the summer CW daily, but now I realize my hair likes CW about twice a week, with water rinse alone the rest of the week. Anyhoo, there are a bunch of ways I do a S&G, but here's the easiest: I CW with a cheapie condish (VO5 is my fav) and condish with some combination of Aubrey, TJ Nourish, Regis OO and honey. Then I add a fingerful of IC Fantasia gel (blue for color treated) on top of the condish, finish showering, then rinse all out with lukewarm or cool water. I squeeze excess water, add a leave-in (Giovanni Direct is my fav), and then shake, shake, shake.

Except to smooth the front back into a puff or in barrettes, I don't touch my hair again until it's almost dry.

 

[keluric]

To maintain a twist-out, I make bigger twists to sleep in and in the morning, I spritz it lightly with a leave-in.

I don't have any experience with S-curl but for my wash-n-go's, I use frizz-ease wind-down, frizz ease downplay and suave healthy curls scrunching mousse.

 

[CurleeDST]

Welcome to going natural and congratulations! This is an exciting time but a big time of touch and go and experimenting!

I used to wear single coils and coil outs and just putting on a scarf and taking it off in the morning and letting the steam from the shower plump it up to remove bedhead.

For wash and go's in the winter is seriously a no go b/c here in Maryland it makes your hair hard and makes me cold if I go outside w/ wet hair. For the spring and summer wash and go's any good conditioner will do along w/ IC Fantasia Clear gel. I love that stuff. I also love Aveda's Elixir and Be Curly mixed and added to my hair. I cut my hair back in September so it is about the same length as yours and that is what I do and my hair loves it.

I am 3c/4a kinky/curly. HTH

 

[neenzmj]

These days I rarely wear my twistouts more than a day because I sweat my hair out when I exercise, but when I do, I retwist my hair before bed and wear a scarf or satin bonnet to bed.

The next morning, I untwist and apply moisturizer. I blast a shot of warm air to my roots to stretch it out a little. It works really well for me. I have some pics of my twistout in my fotki.

 

[Ms_Twana]

OMG, I've had the same questions. I PMed Dimpalz, and she gave me some advice. I haven't tried all of her advice yet. But I tried to tie my hair down with a satin scarf and just spritz my wash 'n go the next day, it turned out okay. But the third day (today), it was not flying. I'm going to wash it and do twists tonight for a twist-out tomorrow. Then I'll try Dimpalz advice. But, I had been co-washing every morning lately. Which is fine, because I love playing in my hair. It's just going out with wet or even damp hair is not cool.

 

[Country gal]

To avoid the bed head look, I just spritz my hair with water. I also do conditoner washes too when I don't feel lazy. It really brings my hair to life.

 

[CurleeDST]

You have the prettiest hair! I just love the bigness and fullness of your hair! The twistouts are nice!

These days I rarely wear my twistouts more than a day because I sweat my hair out when I exercise, but when I do, I retwist my hair before bed and wear a scarf or satin bonnet to bed.

The next morning, I untwist and apply moisturizer. I blast a shot of warm air to my roots to stretch it out a little. It works really well for me. I have some pics of my twistout in my fotki.

 

[blazingthru]

Congrats on your BC. When I BC I con-washed my hair everysingle day, well thats the only way I could do anything with it. I used curly shampoo and condition Suave and curly leave in by fruitis Gardineir (sp) and leave in curly moisturizer by soft and free. Sometimes I used aloe vera gel and that made my hair hard but it kept the curl pattern all day. Thats what I used for the first four months of my bc. there after I was able to twist it each night and untwist in the am, until I got bored and just stuck with the wash and go. When it got chilly. I just moisturized with distilled water. rosewater, glycerin and sometimes I would add oils like avocado or jojoba to it and then some leave in and the moisturizer and go at that.