Bantu Knot Out on Straightened SL Hair

 My straight hair was really doing nothing for me, and since I trimmed my hair I figured, why not try styling it? So I decided to take my second stab at bantu knots, first try on my straightened hair, and I really loved the outcome! Beautiful way to get heat free waves! This also kind of gave me the wavy bob look I was supposed to be going for with a weave.



I only used a little Jojoba oil and grapeseed oil to do the bantu knots and secured them with tiny rubber bands. I 'd say i wrapped them pretty tightly, doing my best to make sure the ends were wrapped around as well. I'm really loving the shape of my hair and I am starting to feel a little more patient about the growth process since I have a little more length to play with now... just a little, lol. I still can't wait for my hair to get longer, especially the front.

I had planned my halloween costume around that weave so now I need to figure out what I'm going to do about that... but I also know I want to go into another protective style some time soon.
After all the breakage I was experiencing, it has me really wanting to hide and protect my hair, helping me to trim less and retain more length for a little while too.

I can't afford the weave I really want right now (a long straight weave) and I'm scared of extension braids. They were kind of breaking my hair last time and my edges are so fine and fragile, that I'm afraid of putting anymore major tension on them.... hmm... Sets and Updo's then maybe?
Either way, loving this bantu knot out until further notice...

Have you done a bantu knot out on your straightened hair? Do you like it better on straightened hair or natural/curly hair?

Stretching Your Hair Without Direct Heat

A lot of us who are natural and have very curly/coily hair have to deal with the single-strand knots, shrinkage, tangles, frizz, and even matting. It comes with the territory of having textured tresses. We can minimize tangles, knots and shrinkage by way of "stretching" our hair out.Check the links for some of our favorite ways to stretch out our hair:
Twist outs
Braid Outs
Rollersets
Bantu knots

Before stretching your hair, be sure to de-tangle well. Whether it's with a wide-tooth comb, denman brush, or your fingers be sure to start from bottom to top with water and/or a conditioner.

What's your favorite way to stretch your curls/coils? Let us know!

EDIT: I forgot about a big one: BANDING ! SP has used it quite a few times for her TWA. Have any of you tried?

Bantu Knot-Out Side Pin-up

Since I've been making an effort to wear my hair "stretched out" (so I can continue the search and destroy method of cutting off splits and single strand knots) I stumbled upon doing a bantu-knot out. Both SP and I have done them, and I forgot how much I love 'em.

I washed my hair Wednesday night, and let it dry in a bun. On Thursday night I set my bantu-knots with Jane Carter Wrap and Roll using a single-strand twist, and secured with bobby pins. Friday morning I unwrapped the knots with some Vatika Oil on my hands and they were shiny and defined, but still a little damp on one side. I think I was too "generous" with the wrap and roll and bantu-knots already take so long to dry. So because I didn't want my hair to frizz up mid-day and because I like side-updos, I used a bunch of bobby pins and pinned up my hair, from the back and towards the side.

I really liked the way it came out and I got a lot of compliments at work; best of all I have second day hair, can't beat that! I'll try to make a tutorial sometime during the week, because I am most likely going to be wearing them like this.

Ketchup!

I hate the times when i'm so busy that i dont have time to post, and trust me, I try. These days i've been so busy I haven't been going to sleep, but instead, literally passing out... I woke up the other night wondering why i was hot and came to realize i was still fully dressed, leather jacket and all. LOL.
Either way, just because i've been busy doesn't mean i've forgotten you ::hugs:: I've still been trying to keep tabs with whats going on with Her Majesty up there. Time to play ketchup.

04/17 ~ Attemped Bantu Knots for the first time .... eehhh... Didn't come out bad but not really my cup of tea with this TWA. It curls up a lot which im sure would come out nice on longer hair with bigger knots, just with the fact that im trying to avoid shrinkage, no thanks on the bantu knots for a while.

I'm really over having short hair so i've been wearing my hair in anyway that i can keep it somewhat stretched. 04/18 ~ Trusty Blowout Pinned up on the side with a flower

The next day I decided to wear  a puff with twists in the front

And this past Thursday i rollerset my hair, brushed it out, and wore it in a banana clip :)

It seems as though the looser/silkier textures, which is basically down the middle, came out straighter and the curlier/dryer textures came out stretched but still looking afro-ey.

Here are some crappy phone pics of me today rockin' a 3 day old twist out from this rollerset (the flash is making my makeup look wierd.. uhg)

My hair is growing and April 29th, made it officially one year since i had last colored my hair, the reason why i did my second BC back in octoboer.

It's time for a trim and with how busy i am, i think i'm just going to do extension braids again so i can prolong needing to trim and work on some length retention :)

Meanwhile in Natural-ville....

Good morning, hair enthusiasts!

So, I'm about to leave for my color appointment but I just wanted to give an update on hair. I did pretty good with protective styling all week because of the buns. The problem of course is that I didn't manage to do anything interesting like the buns I was practicing with =/ I just kept it in a low bun, either using a donut or simply wrapping my hair around itself and using bobbypins to secure.

I had a semi-busy/stressful week so I didn't get a chance to wash my hair until Friday night, when I had actually planned to do so Wednesday. SP recommended that I also not use heavy products so soon before my appointment, but I generally don't so I wasn't worried. I opted to do a another bantu-knot out but since I work Saturday mornings and my hair takes forever to dry in bantu knots, it was still too damp and I knew it wouldn't hold so I put my hair in two messy banded ponytails and left some curly bangs. I wish I would've taken pictures! But I went out last night to dinner with some friends and I know they took some pics so I will post as soon as they make the rounds on facebook. I also wanted to say about the bantu-knot outs that I love the way my hair looks right now because of them. I dig the "messy" looks so I separated the curls some more for this fluffy look I've got going on at the moment:

Bantu-Knot set: Washed with Curls Shampoo, Conditioned with Renpure Organics My Hair Is Parched, Set with Aloe Vera Gel and sealed with Jojoba Oil.

Fluffed out knot out, 2nd day hair

Man, I'm gonna miss my dark hair. I already have a lot of anxiety about this because I've never been to a salon before and b) I'm wondering if it'll come out the way I want due to the henna. Wish me luck!!

Bantu Knot Out part 2

So instead of just wrapping my hair around itself I set my knots by doing two strand twists and then wrapping the hair. I co-washed my hair with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration, rinsed it out with cold water, and then used Knot Today as a leave in, sealing with Burts Bees Avocado Butter and Coconut Oil.



Unraveled hair



It seems to resemble more like a twist out to me. I like the way it looks, but it doesn't look anything like the knot-out I did with just single strands.

Hmm, more practice is in order... maybe more with the single strand knot out. I might even try using gel next time.



Bantu Knot Out

Thursday night I decided to wash my hair and do a bantu knot out. I used to be really good at doing them last winter, then I gave them a break and tried again and for some reason they didn't turn out the way I liked =/ Here are some pics I took last winter. I think at the time I was using Devacare One Conditioner as a leave in/styler (and yes my hair was hi-lighted)

And then present attempts. I used Hello Hydration and EVO to seal

I think some of them came out nice but the back was a little undefined and frizzed up. Tonight, I am going to co-wash and try this again but two strand twisting and knoting to see which one I like better.

*Don't forget about the mini giveaway!