Roller set help and other things

Hi all. 1) Thursday night I tried a twist n curl and that didn't work. So Friday I decided to do a perm rod roller set and it took like 2+ hours. I think I had too many rollers in my head [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]. One problem I encountered was the puffiness of my transitioning roots when I rolled. The curls weren't as tight in some places. The crown of my hair is the most difficult part to manipulate because it's thicker, broken off, soaks up moisture and never seems moisturized, and is a completely different texture from the rest of my head. I'm sure about that. How do I get the new growth to be straight and not puffy when I perm rod or flexi rod my hair? Also does anyone else have crown hair like mine? It rebels and my hair wasn't always like this at the crown, it just happened in the past two years. UGH! My rollerset didn't turn out the way I wanted it to so I'm about to try to mohawk or ponytail it.

2) When I did my first flexi rod set the rollers were loose when I bent them over. I dunno what I'm doing wrong. I love curls and I plan to transition with roller sets on my own so I can stop going to the shop to get them done. I guess I am just frustrated because I'm not used to styling my hair. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

What did you use to set your hair? Did you use a setting lotion or wrapping/setting lotion? That might help to smooth the hair down from the root to the end and give you a sleeker look. It's been a while since I regularly set my hair, but I did a roller set a few weeks ago (after a twist out fail) and it turned out pretty good...I did use a lot of product, though, to slick it down while rolling, i.e. shea butter and MJ Curly Pudding.

Hi Free2Be, yes I used Lottabody setting lotion diluted with water, Hawaiian silky for my leave in and coconut oil to seal.

those products dont work for me, and im not sure if they are meant to work well together on various hair types. for some lottabody produced better results when relaxed than natural, but i know alot of naturals that use the jane carter wrap and roll and get good results. When i do my twists and curl i use shea butter with jojoba oil and i put my giovanni direct leave in on first...i usually get great results with those products.

Yeah I use Lottabody because it holds on my mostly relaxed hair (I'm transitioning) and I am trying to see what products work for me. Still experimenting but the Hawaiian stuff made my hair really easy to comb through.

i did a flexi set using kckt, kccc and oils... they are in my fotki june album...i plan to try this again

I love my hawaiian silky but you needed more than the lotta body to combat the Hawaiian silky. HS makes my hair so soft that it does not hold a style well. It gives me moisture and shine but my TST only lasted a day and a half so I had to beef up the HS. I used 1/4 cup eco styler, 2 pumps of HS and a dash of castor oil and I have brilliant hold, moisture and shine. HS can over power many products, which is really not a bad thing.

im transitioning too, 8 months in, and i love flexi rod sets... even thought they do take a long time to do on my bsl relaxed/natural hair. u would suggest making sure tht ur hair is really wet when you rod it. when i did mine i have to use a spray bottle to make sure it stayed wet. then i sit under the hooded dryer for 30 min to lock in the shine and help my hair dry completely over night. wrap it with a satin bonnet and take out in the morning.

i use ors olive oil wrapping lotion. works like a charm. when i take them down i seperarte with coconut oil

My trick when using perm rods is to wrap the band around once, in the direction of the curl, and when securing it make sure that the band is laying on the top of the curl close to the scalp. It keeps the roller in tight, which in turn prevents the roots from not setting correctly.

I'm super late and did not see these responses until now but THANKS LADIES. I figured perm rod sets out in June and have had some great rod sets. Haven't done flexi rods yet.