No problem! I've gotten so many tips and nuggets of wisdom from this forum, I feel compelled to share whatever bit of knowledge I have.
I am all for DIY! The longer my hair gets, the less I trust it to anyone's hands but mine.
Practice makes perfect. I like to start my styles in the back of my head, because it's the most difficult as far as reaching and maneuvering. If I start at the front, that hair will be so perfect and neat but by the time I get to the back, it's much harder to style and I'm zapped of energy.
I recommend starting in the back whenever possible because of this and also because whatever mistakes you make are less visible in the back and you're more like to do it as neat as possible because you start on it energized. By the time you get to the front, the ease of doing it and your tiredness should balance it out to the back.
I'm also going to recommend you try installing your extensions on varying dampness to see what works best. I preferred styling my relaxed hair 90% dry. And you might be using too much product if your hair/the extension hair is slippery. I find it generally harder to grip hair when there's enough gel and whatnot to make my fingers slippery.
*I would also recommend trying a pomade kind of product instead of a gel--- something with more tackiness to it than slipperiness, like Goin Natural's gel or like an edge control pomade.*
And what I believe would help you most and might be a last resort sort of thing would be to overlap your twists. It's something generally not recommended to do. But for hair that doesn't like to stay in extensions, I've found this technique to work.
What you do is periodically take out very small pieces of the two twists and switch them. If you take very small pieces and you do it neatly, you won't be able to tell what's been done until you take them out. And when you take them down, it will be a little trickier than taking down a braid.
So let's say you have the right strand of the twist (rRr) and the left strand of the twist (lLl). What you do is (lRr)(lLr), (rRl)(rLl) and just alternate periodically like that. It forms a much more sturdy twist and makes it very difficult for the twist to unravel and for your own hair to poke out if you do it every six turns or so.
I hope my explanation makes sense. I can try to upload a picture of what I'm describing later if that would be helpful to you.
My explanation might sound more complicated than it really is, but I promise it works if you can get the hang of it.
HTH!
kxlot79
Thanks for the input!
- Doing it myself because I'm cheap. I used to do individuals on myself all the time when I transitioned to natural a few years ago, but it seems I no longer have the patience for that.
- When I tried to do the "H" method I had the HARDEST time in the back. I need some serious practice with the method. I need to be doing the "H" method and then two strand twisting. That would probably help, but the extension pops out (the horizontal bar in the "H" that's held against the scalp) after I start to twist the two strands together. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong there. I wonder If I just need to practice or if I just don't have the dexterity for all that twisting, lol.
- So I tried just braiding the Marley hair in and then twisting. The twists were weak and the ends of my hair pop out.
- I sprayed each section with a little water and then added a bit of Keracare foam and KCCC. Yes, strands are slippery, but I was hoping the custard and foam would help with hold.
- I'd like to add that Femme Marley Hair is kind of a ratty mess. If I realized I would need to do so much brushing before I used it I never would have bought it. No one mentions that in all those blogs and YouTube vids, lol.
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