Mini Twists - Two Week Update!

Hi all, I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving week! Just a quick update on Skye's mini twists. They have now been in for two weeks and even though they are still holding up pretty well, I have noticed a difference in her hair since she has more new growth. As you may know, since April we've been transitioning from a texturizer to natural hair. Now that her natural hair is longer I find that after her weekly shampoo, the texturized ends seem to be unraveling more than they had previously with mini twists. I do plan to continue washing her hair weekly while the mini twists are in so this is just something we'll have to deal with. Luckily, only a small few of the twists in the front are having this issue so I just retwisted them and everything was fine. Below are some close up pictures of the twists that unraveled a bit, and you can also see her new growth:

 

I am going to start measuring her new growth so I can see how much progress we're making! So on the next post I will include some measurements and continue to measure each month. I also need to post our routine, I've been meaning to do that! Here are a couple of pictures of what I'm calling her Thanksgiving style (lol):

After shampoo/leave-in, I put the mini twists into four big twists and left them in for a few days which made the ends a lot curlier. I achieved the look above by twisting two sections in the front and connecting them in the back with a cute bow. I'm saving up for a new camera so I promise the pictures will get better:) Thanks for reading!!

Mini Twists - One Week Update!

Hi all and happy Friday! Just a little update on Skye's Mini Twists before I do her weekly wash tomorrow. Tuesday night, I put a little Nutiva Extra Virgin Coconut Oil on her ends and it worked wonders!! As you can see in the pictures below, her ends look so much healthier compared to how scraggly they looked after I first finished her twists.

The first two pictures are before using the coconut oil, the second two were taken today (a couple days after using the coconut oil)

The products I used on her hair this week are pictured below! I only used the coconut oil once this week (on Tuesday) and I only put it on her ends. I used the Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel a couple of days this week to make her edges lay down in the front. And finally, I sprayed her hair with the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Hold & Shine Moisture Mist every other day.

Today I styled her twists with an ouchless ponytail holder for a little ponytail at the top with the rest hanging down, and topped it off with a pretty black headband with a flower on the side! I bought the headband at Family Dollar of course, for only $2!!

Mini Twists

Hi all! Just wanted to update you on how Skye's teeny, tiny mini twists came out. I made them a bit smaller than I usually do in hopes that they will last at least six weeks. As you may know from Friday's post, I washed and banded her hair on Thursday and put in a leave-in conditioner (Kimmaytube's recipe). I started on Friday night, using a little Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Style Conditioning Milk on each twist. It took about two hours on Friday, then four hours on Saturday, and five more on Sunday...with long breaks here and there of course. Her ends were a little scraggly and frizzy so I had to spray them with water to get them to curl up some. Usually her hair curls up a lot more after the first shampoo with the twists in, so the ends will probably look curlier after I wash her hair on Saturday. I think I'll look into some deep conditioners or protein treatments or something to help her ends because they always tend to look kind of frizzy and dry. Anywho, I posted pictures below of the twists and some close-ups of her ends after I clipped them. Thanks for reading!!

Banded Twists

Since I plan on putting mini twists back in Skye's hair this weekend, I decided to wash her hair Thursday night instead of our usual shampoo day on Saturday. I washed her hair with Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Control Shampoo and I used Kimmaytube's Leave-In Conditioner recipe for a nice leave-in. I detangled her hair, banded and twisted it, then clipped her ends a bit. Here is the banded style that she wore to school today! I don't usually do styles that look like kid styles, so she really liked this one...and she loves patterns so the purple and yellow ponytail holders made her smile:)

Skye's Style for the Week - Twist Out

Skye will be taking school pictures today and I wanted her to have her hair out, so we decided to go with a trusty old twist out with a few flat twists in the front for this week's style. I actually borrowed this style from this Beads, Braids, and Beyond post.

Skye has two different textures in her hair and I like to stretch out the tighter curls by using the banding technique...which is explained beautifully here. I just use one ouchless ponytail holder and wrap it around 3 times at the base of each section, since that is where the tighter curls are. Then I just twist each section down to the ends. I used Shea Moisture's Organic Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Style Milk, this was my first time trying this product from the line and I really liked it.

These are my favorite ponytail holders to use right now. I got them from Family Dollar for only $1 for 36! I love shopping there for cute and cheap hair accessories!

I added 3 flat twists i the front, using rubberbands to hold them in place. Then I just banded and twisted each section.

I left the twists in overnight, then in the morning I just removed the bands and separated the twists, then added a bow on the opposite side of the flat twists!

Mini Twist Take-Down

I took down Skye's mini twists this morning, and she wore a cute twist out for the day. The take down was easy and fast, which is generally why I prefer to do mini twists over mini box braids. I just start unraveling towards the top of the twist, that way when I take it apart the whole thing comes apart pretty quickly. I included some pictures below, and I tried to get a couple of close ups so that you guys can see the difference between the natural hair and the texturized hair. Her hair is pretty dry because we skipped our weekly wash last weekend and the only product I've used on it all week is Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus Hold & Shine. I probably should've at least put in some sort of leave-in conditioner, but at least I know for next time. To prepare for the shampoo today, I'm soaking her hair with Extra Virgin Coconut Oil and putting on a plastic cap for at least 30 minutes. Sorry the pics aren't the best, but I'll post some more tomorrow after I've washed and styled her hair. Happy Friday!

Mini twist out with week-old flat twists in the front...if her hair wasn't so dirty I'd let her wear this for the whole weekend!

I wanted y'all to see her super cute Hello Kitty boots! And she really couldn't be less concerned with me in this pic...lol!

Here's a close up of her hair...I love her new curls that keep coming in! Her last and final texturizer was in April of 2011!

Close Up #2

Protective Styling

Okay, so since we are transitioning Skye's hair from texturized to natural, I like to do a lot of protective styles. Protective styles are generally low-maintenance and low-manipulation, which helps to protect the hair from breakage. These styles include box braids, cornrows, bantu knots, buns, and twists. My favorite style right now for Skye is mini twists. They always last for at least six weeks, and I can still wash her hair once a week. I usually do the mini twists all over, but this time I switched things up by putting flat twists in the front of her hair. This picture is from Week One of the mini twists:

I have been re-doing the flat twists each week when I wash and style her hair, but the mini twists have held up pretty nicely. They could probably last for another couple of weeks or so, but I will do a new style this weekend because we are taking family pictures on Saturday! Here are a couple of pictures from this past Saturday at the Halloween Festival! Week Four of the mini twists:

I'll be sure to include styling instructions and some of the products we use in my next post!