From TWA to curls

Hi curlies!!! I'm at it again. With all my questions. But, that is the only way that I'm going to learn and I want to thank this board for all of the support/suggestions and comments. I don't think I could get through this without you guys. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Okay, I'm slowly getting there. Well, if you look at my avitar, I currently am sporting the TWA. When stretched up top my hair is about 2 1/2. I'm very slowly getting moisture back. I want to be able to wear my hair curly. I've been using the techniques and products that I've read. It looks fine when wet, but when it dries, it's just lays there-nothing about it. So, I have to comb it into the fro. But, aren't I basically combing the curl pattern out that is trying to get established? Even a curly fro will work for me, but what is the best way to get that. I want to try to do a twist out just to start it but don't know how it will look with my hair being so short. I don't want to keep the twists in. When I was transitioning and did the twist out, the curl pattern stayed on the new growth. What has worked for ya'll?

Hey Naturalin2010. First of all, congrats on your BC! Wasn't it liberating?

When my hair was your length. it was too short to do two strand twists, but I was able to do coil outs. I used Ms Jessie's Curly Meringue and coiled my hair, sat under a dryer, then separated the coils. I didn't separate mine enough, and my coil outs were too big, but that's a great way to achieve a curly fro at a short length. And, you can use any loc and twist gel, you don't have to use Ms. Jessie's.

I would only comb my hair when I'm detangling. You could use a pick to lift the roots and that will keep your curls but make it look more "froed".

I hope this helps.

Thank you. Yes, it is a great feeling. I just have the happy hand syndrome. Eventhough it's not curly, but I love the feel of it anyways - LOL! I just need to keep my hands down. I will have to try the coil outs. I've seen great results from others, so I'll have to experiment with that.

My hair is about your length and I can twist it. You could also try flat twists. They seem to stay in a little better.

@freckledmom4 I just co-washed and put my hair in regular twists. I haven't tried doing the flat ones. I'll let you know how this turned out. Right now, I'm letting it air dry, but I probably need to go under the dryer because I need to go out later and don't want to go out with these little twists in my head. I had planned on taking them out and the parts aren't that neat. LOL

Have you tried any gels in your hair to help define your curl pattern? I tried using AV gel but it made my hair cruchy. For now my hair loves Kinky Curly Curling Custard and it helps with my curl pattern. Even though my hair is short (like an inch) I using shingling (I'm probably not saying that right) to get the gel in my hair. Plus making sure my hair is moisturized has also helped with my curl pattern. I've seen others that like Eco Styling gel. Have you tried looking on Youtube for tutorials?

I just twisted the back of my hair too. I put six cornrows in the front. You may want to check out mahogany curls or bambix2 on youtube. They have good tutorials on styling a twa/msa (medium sized). Also, a lot of patience will help. I chopped a couple of weeks before you and the more time that passes, the more curls I see. Just keep it moisturized, not soaking wet for a couple of days and see if that helps.

I have a TWA also and I am too lazy to twist my whole head!lol I pick my fro out, shape it, and then mist it with my spritzer to give it more texture. Or, I'll lift the roots like Curlybarbi48 said.

Thanks ladies, I've taken all into considerations. So, I did the twists and let them stay in all day on Saturday as I had cleaning to do and just didn't want to go out in the extreme heat. Here's my attempt at my first TWA twist out. I'm very very pleased with the moisture now. I did use the veggie glycerin/water mixture. I did see coiled curls. However, I do have some hair areas that just didn't take the curls. I'm perfecting it. It retwisted last night with a different regimine. But, here are two pics on the first attempt. I'm trying [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Nice! I really like it. How did hubby react? How many twists did you do?

Thanks. Well, my husband is the jokster. So, when he saw me in twists, he said I looked like Buckwheat. So, I said O-TAY, but this is my hair! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] No, but seriously, he really didn't have too much to say. Just said that I need to keep working at it. In which I agree. I mean this was the first one. It was presentable. I went to church, no harm done. I must have been feeling pretty good, because folks were saying I was radiant and to keep smiling. I think I had about 40ish?. I re-twisted last night and had 28. Waiting to undo them.