HumanNature - NEWBIE

Hi,

I am new to the site and I was introduced to this site by my sister. I hope that I will learn a lot and maybe also provide some encouragement and tips for hair care and styles, etc . Today my hair is straight. I do not have a perm but I do flat iron my hair from time to time. I like to wear corn rows and twist but my hair does not maintain the twist pattern. I seem to have difficulty maintaining my curl pattern. I do not know what my hair texture is and I am not sure about the pattern. To describe my hair after I have washed it: it is more wavy than curly and about three inches past my shoulders. If I do not blow dry it and leave it natural it does not curl up but I do get some wavy patterns, I would like to see more curl, any suggestiions???? I will post pics soon.

hi humanNature glad you join the site its your sis truet. this is a very helpful web site with nice people enjoy.

Welcome!! Glad to have you.

Today I am still wearing my hair straight (I flat ironed it Nov. 18). I am really inspired by all of the different styles that I have been viewing. I want to try the curly fro so wish me luck.

HumanNature wrote:Hi,

I am new to the site and I was introduced to this site by my sister. I hope that I will learn a lot and maybe also provide some encouragement and tips for hair care and styles, etc . Today my hair is straight. I do not have a perm but I do flat iron my hair from time to time. I like to wear corn rows and twist but my hair does not maintain the twist pattern. I seem to have difficulty maintaining my curl pattern. I do not know what my hair texture is and I am not sure about the pattern. To describe my hair after I have washed it: it is more wavy than curly and about three inches past my shoulders. If I do not blow dry it and leave it natural it does not curl up but I do get some wavy patterns, I would like to see more curl, any suggestiions???? I will post pics soon.

Welcome HumanNauture!!! Oh your going to have fun!!! My fav way to acheive more curl definition is with a twist-out. Check out my thread for details! There are so many ladies here with beautiful curls & crinks, product combinations & reviews!! Again, welcome and enjoy!

Welcome! I am glad you have been inspired by others. This site is doing what I think is one of its goals.

As far as your texture, you may not be able to determine it yet. I have a couple of questions. First, how long have you been natural? Second, do you have any picture of your hair when it is freshly washed with no product? This can help in identifying your curl pattern, although you may only have a wave pattern.

Have fun, learn and grow naturally!

Wow, all this hair info can be a bit overwhelming. I need CLIFF notes stat . I see so many beautifull styles on this site. I'm inspired!!

At first I did not think this site was for me because I flat iron my hair. I am learning that as long as the hair is not permed/processed it is still considered natural.

Quick run down of my hair history: I had my first perm in 1991 (home perm, did it myself). I would usually get a touch up at the salon about every 6 months. I never had the time or could afford to go to the salon every two weeks. In 1998 I stopped getting perms because a wonderful stylist who was more concerned about the health of my hair than my money told me that I could achieve the same look with blow drying and flat ironing my hair. In 2000 I felt that I was pretty good at flat ironing my own hair so I stopped going to the salons alltogether (big $aving$). The problem was that I was flat ironing my hair about every 2-3 weeks to keep the "look" that I had and I was not working out because I was trying to maintaing this "look". In 2006 I decided to do a year of braids, conrows and buns. I kept this up for 2 years. In 2008 I flat ironed my hair and was amazed at the length. I trimed off about 3 inches and after about three weeks I went back to the braids/cornrows. I tried twist by they do not hold well on my hair. This year I have flat ironed my hair twice, once in June and again Nov. 18 (I had about 3 inches trimmed off in June).

Now I am going to work on twist and twist and braid outs (terms I learned on this site).

I put some twirl bantu twist in my hair and lawd they hurt. First I should have read about doing them instead of just flying into it on my own. I only have six in my head so they are HUGE! Second after reading about the technique (I waited until I finished them to read about them - can we say backwards) I found out that you do not have to secure them with any bands, like I did. They are suppose to hold on their own. I will take them down Friday. I hope I can sleep with them because right now my scalp is screaming. Not sure how they are going to look because I should have made more. We'll see.

Hey HumanNature, Welcome.

Did you try to put some oil on your scalp? That may help to ease the pain. And be careful if they are too tight, you don't want to suffer unnecessarily, maybe you can just take the bands out and then wind them back around. Listen to what your hair (body) tells you and good luck!

Happy Thanksgiving,
Blessings!

Welcome to the site. The loads of information can be a bit overwhelming! But I'm so happy to have another great resource to help me on my journey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Friday,
Like I said, my twist were huge. My hair was still straight when I did them so there was not much texture when I took them down. The look is different from what I imagiend but I liked it. Next time I'll put in more twist and it will not be with flat ironed hair. Here is a pic of the twist.

@beautifuleyez: Thanks for the welcome and the tips. I did take the bands out and it helped a lot.

@curlykinks: Thanks for the welcome. The more resources the better

Here are the bantu twist taken down

another pic

Very cute! I liked the finished result. And your hair looks very shiny and healthy!

That is fly! I wish my knot outs looked like that...

Thank you Beautifuleyez and LilMsPuddles,


Hi Everyone,

My knot outs lasted the weekend. On Sunday the curls were more loose so I put my hair up in a very loose bun (you could still see the waves in the bun), it was kinda cute and I added a colorful headband for flava.

To maintain the style before I went to bed I pinned up my hair with hair pins (the jumbo ones). Because I started with the big bantu twist I also pinned them big, so I only had six. I wrapped my hair with a satin scarf. Before I put up the bun I sprayed the edges of my hair with Wet Wavy Leave-In Conditioner and brushed my hair to the crown and then twisted my hair into a bun and secured it with a couple of hair pins.

Happy Sunday

Lazy day for me... did not do much with my hair (it is in a bun looking pretty blah).

Well I wanted to try the Bantu Knot out again. I saw this girl who had perfected the style and it made me want to try again. I have to say this time there's a big difference. First, instead of 6 I had about 23. I love the end results. As far as product I did not do anything special. I stuck to the Wet-N-Wavy Leave-In Conditioner but this time I used the double strand twist with the Bantu Knots instead of single twist and applied olive oil to the ends. When it was time to take them down I unraveled them and gave my head a couple of shakes to loosen up the curls. The curls were very soft and bouncy and much fuller this time. I'll post pics as soon as I can find the hook ups to my camera.

Oh Yeah. The curls lasted all day, much better than using a curling iron. My curls usually do not last when I use the curling iron.

I am glad you are enjoying your hair styles dose this mean you are giving up the curling iron?

here is the double twist bantu knot out

second pic

Looks good, girl!! Beautiful!!

Thank you Intelligentbeauty, I really liked them this time around.


Yay! I love my second day hair. Well at least I think it is my second day hair (I may be somewhat of a cheat). I retwist some of the hair along the edges. I have issues with all things being in order.

Tonight I'll do the pineapple. I will not retwist, not even my edges.

Here's my second day hair

trueT, I have to think about that curling iron question. Actually I do not use the curling iron much, I can live without that. It is the flat iron that I will not part with, even when I'm not using it, I need to know it's there.