Washing Natural Hair in Flat twists, Twists or Plaits...

[dlove]

Are you getting all of the shampoo and conditioner out in your rinse? How are you ensuring that all of the conditioner is out? I am a little leery of leaving any reside of conditoner in after my "cold shot" final rinse. I have learned as a 4b natural that the more I wear my hair loose- washing it or not- the more breakage I have when detangling. So...I am thinking of washing and conditioning in Flat twists, Twists or Plaits...with ever I am sporting for the week. Then after rinsing the conditioner, adding my Kimmaytube ph controlled leave in conditioner, then air drying before I redo my flat twists with my moisturizer. But then, I'd be detangling on dry hair. 3 years natural later and I'm still at it.

The goal is to minimize breakage to retain length.

Anybody else wash and condition in braids, then air dry and style.

TIA

 

[Nonie]

I wear small braids or twists (singles) and wash my hair in them. I do not have any doubt that I get shampoo and conditioner out. It's no different from rinsing clothes after you wash them. You don't have to unravel the threads that make up the garment to be able to get all the soap out. So by the same token, by squeezing my braids or twists as water runs through them until there's no more froth coming out of them, I can get all the conditioner/shampoo out.

I don't think I'd be as comfortable doing this with flattwists or cornrows. I have only ever done this with singles, but it probably can be done with those too. It'd just be a bit tricky since you cannot squeeze them as easily as you can singles allowing water to wash out the product inside the braid/twist.

Yes, I then airdry and go about my way. Usually I will style my hair damp and let it airdry in the style I have it.

 

[dlove]

Thank you, Nonie. I believe you are my inspiration for this method.



I get major shrinkage from styling on wet hair. When styled on dry hair I see length.
To deter breakage I probably need to style with 80% dry hair. What are you experiences with styling dry hair, breakage and the solutions, ladies?

 

[RENIBELL]

i do this with my Dd's hair, all three of them, they swim weekly too and we have to wash after swimming on a school night, this allows us to wash and condition and keep moving very quickly.they keep the twists in for a month before we take it down and retwist. they all have past APl hair and we have had no set backs.

 

[choctaw]

I think the crown and glory technique uses sponge dipped in your wash solution to clean braids with less manipulation. Maybe this will work for cornrows or flat twists. HTH

 

[dlove]

i do this with my Dd's hair, all three of them, they swim weekly too and we have to wash after swimming on a school night, this allows us to wash and condition and keep moving very quickly.they keep the twists in for a month before we take it down and retwist. they all have past APl hair and we have had no set backs.

Wow. I could do this with my DD, but she has fine strand/ thick appearance ( fat plaits) 4a hair that get fuzzy from staring at it too long. I am afraid that if I do this her hair will appear "unkept" because of the frizzy roots and edges. I guess I could apply almond glaze and tie down with a scarf every night. What do you do to keep that freshly done look? Do you plait at the root then twist? Do you have any pics of what it looks like after a few weeks?

 

[Yoshi3329]

I shampoo, conditioner, deep condition, and anything else when I'm in cornrows. While I can't squeeze out the excess, I still make sure everything thoroughly washed out. Just wait until the water is clear and not froth-like, just water.

 

[Nonie]

To deter breakage I probably need to style with 80% dry hair. What are you experiences with styling dry hair, breakage and the solutions, ladies?

It depends on the styles you're talking about. When I'm in twists or braids, I usually do not undo them and I usually style my hair while still damp after towel drying. If I waited for my twists to dry, they'd be all shrunken up and hard to stretch w/o risking breakage. When they are damp, they stretch easily which is how I am able to do this style:

http://images39.fotki.com/v1285/photos/3/31573/328991/TwistandPhonyPuffCozySept2008-vi.jpg
Notice how much the twists in the front (first pic can stretch).

When allowed to dry, the twists can shrink up a lot. You can see how short the twists in the front become when dry in the pic at the bottom:

If wearing a puff, wet hair gives me a very compact puff that is like an impenetrable armor:

If I apply S Curl to my dry hair later and then baggy and then work with dry hair the next day, I get a fluffier, less compact puff:

I think the secret to styling dry hair is to have it moisturized with something with slip. S Curl provides that for me. I don't care about shrinkage but I do love how slippery and easy to comb my hair is with S Curl. I actually prefer S Curl on dry hair than on wet hair so I start to enjoy my puff the second day after a wash.

 

[dlove]

Bumping for today...

 

[amalacoils83]

Girl, that is what I live by now, shampooing and conditioning with hair in twists, it reduces tangles and helps with a through cleansing of the scalp. After conditioning I put a leave-in conditoner, with (twist still intact) and seal with shea butter, aloe vera gel mix. Right now I am wearing a wig (not lace front) and every morning I spray my hair with water/glycerin mix and seal with coconut oil. Its what I have been doing this summer and I love it!