Sunday night, I decided to attempt a modified WnG incorporating the techniques of Naptural85 and Cipriana of Urban Bush Babes and putting my own twist on them. Back in October, CurlyNikki posted a Winter Wash & Go video tutorial by Naptural85 aka Whitney. Essentially, Whitney washed and twisted her hair (sans detangling and styling or leave-in product!) and then allowed it to fully dry overnight under a satin scarf, finally releasing and separating the twists in the morning for the finished style.

via Naptural85

Frickin’ GORE-GEE-US!! I LOVE Whitney’s hair. It is just so thick, curly, shiny and delicious.

I often place my hair in large twists after washing and applying my leave-in and styler for a WnG. However, this is typically in the morning, not at night prior to going to bed. So, although my hair is not similar to Whitney’s, I decided to “leverage” her nighttime twisting routine, if not her product and detangling free styling session.

Then in December, I read Cipriana’s post, Turn Your Tumbleweeds to Seaweeds: 6 Quick & Simple Steps to Longer Lasting Sealed Ends, on BGLH. My biggest “take away” from that was how she wrapped the ends of her twists around bobby pins after moisturizing and sealing them. Sometime between then and now, I experimented with this on twists or braids and found that it worked very well. Given the earlier results, I thought it would probably work well for this modified WnG experiment.

So, without further ado, here is how I achieved the above WnG … or WTSnG (Wash, Twist, Seal and Go ;)).

WTSnG: What I Did

On Sunday night:

• Pre-pooed, de-shedded and lightly detangled hair in 6 sections with Vatika oil mixed with EVOO.
• Loosely braided each section after pre-pooing, donned plastic baggie and “marinated” for approx. 2 hours.
• Shampooed scalp and hair in braids using DevaCare No Poo; Rinsed.
• Applied HEHH conditioner to braids, donned plastic baggie while finishing shower rituals (approx. 10 min.); Rinsed.
• Applied Darcy Botanicals Pumpkin Seed Conditioner to braids, donned plastic baggie and heat cap for approx. 1 hour 30 min.
• Allowed hair to cool for approx. 15 minutes then applied conditioner rinse (Aussie Moist diluted with cold water) before doing final rinse with cold water.
• Squeezed excess water out of hair with Curl Cloth.
• Released each braid to apply modified Kimmaytube leave-in (2 tbsp KCKT, 2 tbsp Aloe Vera juice, 1 tsp jojoba oil, 1 tsp JBCO/EVOO mix), detangle and twisted.
• Repeated until all four sections complete.
• Secured ends of 4 twists to crown with jaw clip.
• Donned two satin bonnets and hit the sack with very damp twists.

Monday morning (hair still damp, especially at roots):

• In parking lot ;), removed scarf, released ends of twists from doobie pins and unraveled twists without separating any further.
• Allowed hair to dry for another hour or so at work before lightly and gently separating (ends were dry; roots were still slightly damp).

Finished Look (Pics taken after work)

Overally, I think I got pretty good results. I achieved a pretty consistent curl pattern using this technique and nice curl definition on my ends. Here is a comparison shot of the same section last week and this week.

Left: First wash after having hair straight for two weeks. I also didn’t use a leave-in conditioner.
Right: Second wash after having hair straight. Used Kimmaytube leave-in and bobby pin sealing technique. 

“Heat damage? We don’t see no stinkin’ heat damage.” LOL! Although I was pleased with the uniform curl pattern, curled ends and mostly frizz-free appearance, my hair was a little flatter and generally less ginormous than I like. I’m hoping that placing it in a pineapple overnight will “pump up the volume.” Also, although it’s not super noticeable against the grey sweater, that pesky gap is still readily apparent in the rear shot. This is why I prefer TnCs over WnGs as they give me bigger hair and make my gappy perimeter appear full. I still can’t determine if the gap is caused due to my shorter and more tightly curled crown, less dense, finer and shorter nape hair, a permanent part or some combination thereof.

All that being said, if it’s due to a shorter crown and/or nape, I’m planning to close the gap a little very soon (no pun intended!). I recently won a contest for a free wash and trim by Ahava Felicidad! She is actually the friend of a mutual friend and works at a natural hair salon in West Orange, NJ. You may have even noticed her commenting on a few of my posts recently. Anyway, I was supposed to be getting my hair straightened to trim it myself. But, uhhhmmmmm, yeaaahhhhhh … see what had happened was … yeah, I wussed out. So, this contest was right on time given that I was going at my split ends like a madwoman today. And bonus, Ahava follows the blog and knows a lot about the level of care I take with my hair, so I’m thinking I’ll be in good hands :).

So stay tuned for the post-trim update at some point in the next month or thereabouts!

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Have you tried Naptural85’s Winter WnG and/or Cipriana’s Sealing technique(s)? If so, what were your results? If not, do you have any tips or tricks for achieving the perfect WnG or perfectly sealed ends?