Remember I said I would be doing some new things for March … Well here is my first tutorial on how I do my Twist and Curl hairstyle. This is a staple style that’s been in my arsenal since last year and I love the way it turns out (most of the time). The steps are easy. You just need a few things:
Favorite Shampoo (I’m partial to Giovanni 50/50)
Favorite Conditioner (Again, I’m partial to Giovanni 50/50 and Aussie Moist)
Perm Rollers (Featured HERE) I like these because the rod is skinny. A skinny flexi rod or straw and bobby pins would do the trick too.
Favorite Moisturizer (I used Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie)
Favorite Oil (I use any oil that’s within reach; this is just for sealing the ends)
This style works BEST on clean hair, so give your tresses a good scrubbin’.
Next, make sure that you condition your hair. I always end up following with a good deep conditioning just to make the hair extra soft, but that is totally up to you.
You want to section the hair into 4 sections: part (with your finger) ear to ear and forehead to nape of neck.
Within each section, you should section at least 4 sections.
Smooth a light amount of moisturizer down the length of your hair and seal the end with oil and two strand twist the hair.
Take your perm roller and roll the ends.
Do this for each section of your hair.
Sleep in a satin bonnet or set the style under a hooded dryer (I normally sleep on the style and it’s dry by the morning).
Once dry, take down the rollers and undo the twists.
Separate each twist 3 to 4 times, but make sure to do it gently or it will frizz up.
Fluff and style and GO :). You should have cute ringlets that are bouncy and spring back when you pull on them.
To maintain the look, I normally sleep with a satin bonnet. I bobby pin the side back where I normally lay my head (right side) and in the morning I’ll fluff and and reset some of the curls.
How to create a Twist and Curl FAIL
I have learned that using too much moisturizer or oil can result in a twist and curl fail. This just means the curls will not be defined. Also, taking down the twists while wet will have the same effect. If your 2 strand twists are too large, the curl will not be as defined either. The pictures below are my failed Twist and Curls.
As you know, I’m trying to get back on the health & fitness path as I fell off of the wagon in February and the majority of March. But, I’m 2 1/2 days down in our 28 Days of Exercise Challenge and my body knows it! OooohWEEEH!! That Full Body Blast kettlebell routine really kicked my butt! I was a’huffing and a’puffing at the end of each 12 minutes (I did the routine twice)! And my thighs? Whoah! They are a’burning!!
Anyway, I’m also trying to get my eating habits back in order too, although Saturday was a wash! We won’t even go there. But, I did hit the grocery store on Saturday evening to pick up the rest of ingredients that I needed to make the green smoothie recipe that I posted here. And, you know what? It was goooood!! At least, I liked it and won’t have a problem drinking it first thing in the morning!!
So, after I made my smoothie, I took some pics to share on the FB page. When I saved the pics to my computer, I had to do a double take.
One of these is my green smoothie and one is zizyphus!!! Let’s just say, you don’t want to mix these up!! My hair probably wouldn’t be too much worse for the wear, but my stomach?!?! Bleh!!!! LOL!!
Excuse the expression please! This was my fave hair shot!
I decided to do my second ever treatment with Zizyphus Spina Christi (ZSC) this weekend. You see, my curls were looking far more like waves and even those were pretty lackluster.
This is how crazy it looked Saturday after being bunned for the morning.
So, with my Terressentials order not yet arrived, I figured I’d dig up the remaining 50g of ZSC I had stashed in the cabinet to see if it would rejuvenate some of my volume and curls in the interim. It really worked the last time that I used it (see here and here), so I figured, “What the heck?”
Z-Mix: Last time, I mixed about 50g of ZSC with a cup of water and it was far too much. So, this time, I started with 25g and 1/2 a cup of water. ZSC doesn’t mix as quickly as henna; the powder kind of beads as the water is introduced and stirred into it. But then, when it does begin to absorb the water, it more than doubles in volume and becomes thick, like the consistency of melted marshmallows! It also foams, due to the saponin I learned this weekend. However, despite the increase in volume, I didn’t think that I had enough to coat my hair, so I added another 1/2 cup of water. The instructions indicate to mix it to the consistency of yogurt, my yogurt was a little watery;).
I left it to sit for a few hours (the online instructions indicate about 2 hours, but it ended up being longer than that by the time I got around to applying it).
Z-Application: So, I finally got around to applying the ZSC late Saturday afternoon. I had finger detangled my hair on Thursday night to put it into twists and wore the twist-out in the second picture to work on Friday. So, I didn’t finger detangle prior to applying the ZSC. I also didn’t feel like pre-pooing this weekend, so I applied the mud to dry and dirty hair. First, I sectioned my hair into four and secured three of the sections out of the way with round-tooth jaw clips. Then, I squished the gloop through my hair section by section. By the time I got around to the last section, I realized I was going to run out of the paste. So, I quickly made a little more and finished coating all of my hair (figured I’d have to live with applying it freshly mixed to the last section).
I felt like I could see my loopy S-curls popping already! I clipped my hair up and covered it with a baggie (you don’t want this mess drying in your hair). Then, I went about my business for an hour or two. Oh yeah, and during that time, I revisited this post on Newly Natural and read in the comments that the Somali call Zizyphus Qasil and use it to cleanse the body as well as the hair. The commenter also indicated that Qasil is mixed with eggs and sesame oil to make a hair treatment that leaves hair soft, shiny and bouncy. You know my PJ senses were tingling … cleansing, protein and moisture?!?! Let me find out. But, I digress …
Z-Rinsing and Conditioning: This mug is a b@#$ to rinse out!! Ughhh. I mean, I knew it was … I didn’t forget … shoot, that’s why I hadn’t done it again since September. I was flicking twigs and flakes out of my dry hair for three or four days after my last treatment. Anywho, I hopped in the shower and commenced to rinsing with hot water. I continuously ran my hands and fingers down the length, slowly detangling and loosening the hair to allow the water stream to get into all the nooks and crannies. I guess I was at it for about 15 minutes.
Post ZSC rinse/pre-DC
Then, I hopped out of the shower and applied my DC, which was Shea Moisture Raw Shea Deep Treatment Masque mixed with about a tablespoon each of honey and EVOO. There were definitely flakes in my hair still. But, I baggied it anyway and threw on my Hair Therapy Heat Wrap for about an hour/hour and a half. It was probably around 10 p.m. by then, so I ended up going to sleep with the DC in my hair (I really want to stop doing that, but it was late and I was so tired again!!).
The next morning, I got the last bit out of my HE HH by adding water to the bottle, shaking it up and pouring it over my DC. Then, I rinsed with warm water, then cool in the kitchen sink using the sprayer. I rinsed for another 5-10 minutes, I guess, to try to get the remainder of the ZSC out of my hair.
I allowed it to air dry to barely damp and finally styled with a modified Kimmaytube leave-in (1 tsp or so of oil instead of 4) and a new styling product that I’ll reveal shortly *evil laughing* … “BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Once my hair was dry (ummm … mostly … it just takes soooo long), I used a little JBCO/EVOO to seal and soften it. And voilà!
I was pleased with the results and these pictures don’t even do the volume justice. It’s big! LOL! Also, although I do see a speck here and there, I don’t look like I have a bad case of dandruff this time. Keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t be pulling an Ally Sheedy making it snow at work tomorrow!! LOL!
Now, although I get good results with ZSC, I don’t have any plans on re-upping just yet. I’m hoping that the Terressentials will be just as effective without the half hour rinse cycle and pesky twigs and grit! Anywho, here is a slideshow with some additional pictures.
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Now, I’ll probably be wearing my hair out today, but hope to put it into twists tonight. We’ll see if I can squeeze that in between putting together posts for Tuesday!
by Miss Leah of A Diamond Through the Fire
hairscapades 