Hi all
Senegalese twists are great style to
use to give your hair a break from daily styling. I’ve worn Senegalese for a
while but last had them in sometime last year and I’ve enjoyed the hairstyle the
times I have worn it. Before you take the plunge and get some installed, there
are a few things that you need to know about how to prep for and care for
Senegalese twists.
How I prepped my Hair for Senegalese
Twists
- Conditioned hair
My hair is going to be contained in
the twists for several weeks, hoping 6 -8 weeks max so it was important that i
conditioned it well before styling. I
like to make sure that my hair has a good balance between protein for strength
and moisture. Moisture is especially important because the synthetic hair that
is used for the twists can rob your hair of precious moisture.
One week before I got the twists
installed, I did a protein treatment. If you are having severe breakage,
consider Aphogee’s Two-Step Protein Treatment. I opted for a lighter protein
treatment like Aphogee’s Two-Minute Protein Treatment. After the protein
treatment, I infused my hair with moisture for the week leading up to the
install by co-washing my hair once and moisturizing frequently. For the wash
right before I get my twists installed, I use a heavy moisturizing treatment
Elasta qp DPR. Also, after I blowdry my
hair (more on that later), I moisturize and seal my hair a few hours to one day
before the twists are installed.
- Blowdry or Stretch Out Hair
Senegalese twists take some time to
install. (Mine took about 5 hours.) In order to make the process move faster,
the braider grabs pieces of hair quickly. If your hair is curly, or if you have
curly roots, your hair may break if they have to comb through it or untangle
it. You definitely don’t want to wait until you get to the salon to get it blow
dried by the braiders. They will not care for your hair as gently as you would
care for it yourself. For that reason, I always blowdry my hair straight before
an install. To minimize the possibility of damage, I let my hair airdry about
80%, then apply a heat protectant, then I blowdry my hair in sections.
If you are strongly opposed to using
heat at all, don’t worry. You can stretch out your natural hair with braiding
or banding. You could rollerset it on large rollers and let it airdry, then
wrap it. For relaxed hair, you can wet wrap your hair. Just remember to do this
well before your braiding appointment! Wet hair can take many, many hours to
dry.
- After all of that is done, I make sure to moisturize and seal my hair one day, or even up to a few hours before an install. For a job like this, non-greasy moisturizer is in order. I use Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango butter Moisturizer. Remember to seal lightly. You don’t want you hair to be slippery or weighed down with grease I used a bit of Jojoba oil. I keep my scalp clean, but if yours feels dry, you can massage it with a small amount of oil. These steps can be tedious, but if the health of your hair is important, then they are necessary. I also added edge control and slickened my edges down before telling my braider to stay away from your edges, so new there was a barrier right there.
Though after the twists were done I massaged
a little bit of coconut oil on my scalp to soothe the mild tightness that I was
feeling, am also in the Hairlista coconut oil challenge hope I can keep up with
it since I am already in 2 other challenges. Better to try for healthy hair
results. Two months I hope and this will also help me stretch my relaxer till
my next one is due.
I will do a post on how to wash and deep condition with Senegalese twists/box braids
P.S you can see pics in protective style pics : http://curlyeva.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_24.html
laters
Curly Eva...xoxo
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