Happy Sunday Beautiful People!
Where do I start?
Okay, so I have decided to protective style my hair for the whole 2016. What does that mean? Basically, I will be in twists or braids(with added hair) for 6-8 weeks at a time ALL year. I will only wear my real hair out for 2 weeks at a time so I can deep wash/dc and let it breath.
The reason I am doing this is because since I have been natural(almost 3 years), I have only done 3 protective styles which lasted only 4-6 weeks each time. I realized that in order for me to grow my hair out the way I would like, I need to incorporate long term protective styles(twists with my real hair isn't cutting it). This is necessary for my 4C hair and has worked in the past when I was relaxed.
I decided to take starting pics. So here they are. I am aiming to retain 4 inches of hair by January 2017. I may trim once this year, but I will NOT be cutting as much hair as I have in the past. I swear I was scissor happy.
I showed the shortest portion of the back of my hair. I am really trying to have it catch up with the middle. |
On to the Marley Twists-
So yesterday, I decide to install some Marley twists. It took me about 10 hours with MANY breaks in between. So it would have really been like 6 hours. I only used 1 full pack of the black hair and half of the blue hair. I don't like the added hair to be heavy, so this works for me. The black hair was a $14 pack which was 44'' long. It was like triple the size of normal packs of Marley Hair.
As usual, I braided the roots for a little then continued to twist. At first I was apprehensive about using blue hair since I work in Corporate America, but said f-it. I really want to have fun with my hair and in life, so hopefully my work ethic will speak louder than my hair.
I will keep these in for 6-8 weeks depending on my schedule. I will also most likely re-do the front at one point.
Anyone else protective styling this year? Share your plans :-)
Happy protective styling, I am weekly protective styling with cornrows and twists. I am still nursing my damaged hairline.
ReplyDeletehttps://lauralivll.wordpress.com
Thanks!
DeleteThat's great. One thing I am scared of is damaging my hairline so thanks for mentioning that. I will def be very careful with mine while in these PS's.
I am here cheering you on. I have to take care of some breakage and once that's done, I plan on a six month protective style challenge.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteThat makes perfect sense. Good luck on nursing the breakage and the upcoming PS challenge!
Ugh...I heart marley twists and honestly---they look like your real hair! Good luck on your year long challenge chica! You shouldn't have any trouble retaining 4 inches!
ReplyDeleteKLP @ www.savingourstrands.com
I love them too. Really? I wish my hair was this long though..haha. Thank you! I am really hoping I do!
DeleteBeen reading your blog. I want to do a protective style prefer crochet braids but I have a hard time with the synthetic hair bad allergies. I have been reading about the acv rinse which I tried once and it didn't work. May try again... Just Wondering if you know if some people still have a difficult time after doing the acv rinse? Thanks
ReplyDeleteHello. I completely understand. If you still had issues with just the rinse, have you tried actually soaking the hair beforehand? I did a post on this a while back..http://www.6footlonghair.com/2012/04/apple-cider-vinegar-soak-to-remove.html
DeleteYou could also try to wash and condition the hair with diluted shampoo and conditioner.
Another alternative is to oil your scalp with a carrier oil(Olive, coconut, jojoba, etc) mixed with a few drops of Tea Tree oil. That usually helps with itching.
Sometimes it takes a few days for the itching to go away all together.
Hope that helps.