Kinky Naturals & Cornrows

MizzBrit

Well-Known Member
for the naturals who cornrow their hair..do you straighten it or blow dry before? i just got done doing a set for my wig tomorrow and my hair was really kinky on the ends and caused some breakage of forced pulled strands while doing them. i tried to be as gentle as possible and used a water spritz to soften up my hair..but is there any way i can minimize the breakage next time? i really dnt wanna have to use heat to do cornrows with ease on my natural hair:ohwell:
 
nope. my hair hates blowdrying. I've been wearing cornrows straight since Jan and I usually just soak the ends in oil before separating to avoid ripping the hair. I also cornrow right after I DC so the hair is pretty soft already
 
I don't know how to cornrow well so I usually do flat-twists or individual braids. It's faster and the braid/twist out looks just as good. As I'm nearing the end of the braid or twist, I smooth on a little shea butter and smooth out the kinks.

Also I put on my leave in when I'm in the shower so that the leave-in will evenly coat each strand of hair. That makes my hair much smoother.
 
nope. my hair hates blowdrying. I've been wearing cornrows straight since Jan and I usually just soak the ends in oil before separating to avoid ripping the hair. I also cornrow right after I DC so the hair is pretty soft already


i think i need to do that.this is my third set doing them and i never really had that bad of a tangle problem..i decided to do them right after my hair was in a puff all day maybe thats why:perplexed
 
i think i need to do that.this is my third set doing them and i never really had that bad of a tangle problem..i decided to do them right after my hair was in a puff all day maybe thats why:perplexed

yeah, if that was me, I'd have lots of tangling troubles too, my hair is always really tangly after being in a puff. It's better to wait until the hair is very soft before doing strenuous styling imo. Easier on the fingers and takes less time, as well as being less damaging.
 
i think i need to do that.this is my third set doing them and i never really had that bad of a tangle problem..i decided to do them right after my hair was in a puff all day maybe thats why:perplexed

That's probably why it was so tangly, especially if your hair was in a shrunken puff. Everytime I let my hair shrink up it tangles, even when I'm deep conditioning!

I do two rows of flat twists in the front and 4 to 6 braids in the back. The individual braids do a good job of stretching my hair, but they usually don't have the pretty wave pattern near the roots. The flat twists in the front cover that part up.
 
I always blowdry prior to doing my cornrows my hair will sustain too much unecessary breakage otherwise (my hair handles heat really well) but on on my moms twa I braid while wet with no issues.
 
Can you put your hair in big random braids to strecth your hair 1st before braiding. Make sure the hair is moisturized to before you do the big random braids. :)
 
I always blowdry prior to doing my cornrows my hair will sustain too much unecessary breakage otherwise (my hair handles heat really well) but on on my moms twa I braid while wet with no issues.

How do you protect your hair from the heat? I'm scared to put direct heat on my hair!
 
I always blowdry prior to doing my cornrows my hair will sustain too much unecessary breakage otherwise (my hair handles heat really well) but on on my moms twa I braid while wet with no issues.


It's funny that you posted that because I was thinking about this very thing. That is what my mom used to do when I was little. She'd wash with a cheapie V05 poo & conditioner then use Blue Magic or the rose smelling grease then plait/cornrow my hair while damp.
 
IA with BlackMasterPiece!
blowdry first! you'll save so much time and probably save yourself breakage.
 
I cornrow my hair in the shower under running water (I know it's terrible for the environment but I only do it every two weeks when I am wearing wigs as my protective style.) I find that there is hardly any breakage because I do it after I detangle with lots of conditioner which I leave in while I cornrow. Please note that I can't do neat cornrows but this works for me.
 
I haven't used heat since Oct last year, and always start styling (canerows/twists) when my hair is stretched and moisturised - I've had NO issues with breakage.

Make sure your hair is stretched by a previous style if possible, moisturised and sealed and you should be fine. I would never go from a shrunken puff straight to styling, that would be asking for breakage. HTH.
 
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I braid on wet or blowdried hair. I prefer to braid on stretched hair. If you don't want to use heat you can plait your hair after washing then airdry to stretch it out before braiding.
 
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