Protective styles-Part 1: A twist-out gone right

Protective hairstyles are just what they sound like. A protective style is one that is created to protect your hair-think little girl routine of getting your hair braided for the week on Sunday night, having your hair freed from the braids only to be able to sport a "presentable" look at church and then getting it washed and braided back Sunday night, Mommy had the right idea. Protective styles protect from the environment as well as from you. The less manipulation you do to your hair, the less it will break, split and tangle. There are a variety of protective styles that can be worn, and many can be worn with your own hair or with the addition of hair. Now please don't get me wrong, protective styles aren't meant to be worn indefinitely, with the exception of locs, but it is advantageous to wear a protective style for about one week-two months depending on the style.

Protective styles are especially nice in extreme weather conditions such as summer and winter. Keeping your hair protected will hopefully reduce the damage created by the elements. Some common temporary protective styles include braids, twists, style-outs, weaves, and bantu knots.

In this protective styles post I'm going to focus on the twist-out. A twist out can be either a two strand twist out or a flat-twist twist out. A twist out would be considered a protective style because it cuts down on the amount of handling you have to do with your hair. In addition, hair may be less likely to become tangled-which can cause it to break-if it is in a twist out opposed to a wash and go.

So, below is the description of how Ms. Berry does her twist out.

• Wash with Giovanni Triple Treat followed by Organix Coconut Milk Shampoo
• Deep Condition with Organix Coconut Conditioner, then rinse with cold water
• Lightly dry hair with a t-shirt
• Section hair into four sections
• One section at a time, moisturize scalp with CD (Carol's Daughter) Mimosa Hair Honey
• Rub raw unrefined Shea Butter and CD hair milk throughout the section
• Sectioned hair to be twisted
• Finger comb through Eco-styler Olive Oil gel
• Twist, there were about 7-9 twists per section of four

By doing smaller twists this style lasts for a week. Nighttime maintenance is to tie the edges with a scarf and put on a bonnet. In the morning she mists with Chi Silk Mist and is fabulously ready for a new day.

There are a variety of ways (ie. number of twists), and products that can be used to do a two-strand twist out so experiment with a suggested routine and then personalize it to fit your needs. I'm posting links to Curly Niki's blog (http://www.curlynikki.com/search/label/Products%20I%27m%20Using%20Now) as well as the Mop Top Maven (http://moptopmaven.blogspot.com/2010/01/twist-out-tutorial.html) so that you can also check out how they do a twist-out. I haven't quite mastered the two-strand twist out, but hopefully some of these tips will help you ladies out.

If you have any questions or comments for me or Ms. Berry please leave a quick note :-) Comments are much loved!!!

Tootles for now,

Me