What better way to get into the swing of things than hair talk?! So update, I cut and dyed my hair last April at a hair salon. I wanted a pastel color, it didn't come out that way. I did so many natural methods to lighten the color. I also had some damage in my hairline from all of the above and had to get it back. I went to my barber a few times to conceal the damage then decided to grow it out. For my regular Fall/Winter protective style I wanted to give wigs a break so I decided to go back to crochet. The difference is in the past I had the sides and back shaved so I just had to do the top. This time the biggest challenge has been trying to get the crochet hair to hold onto my short sides and back (it may be 2" long) and especially the softer hair in the back! In retrospect I make no sense not doing wigs! Anywho, I've tried cornrowing the sides/back, but it's still too short to do those tight enough on myself. I then tried the net method, that was a disaster for the same reason. The rubber band method didn't work because I need the old-school real hair rubber bands, not the shiny ones they created to prevent damage because those just slide right out my hair. I keep forgetting to buy them when I go to the beauty supply store!
First style up were Sensationnel's 18" Lulutress Passion Twists in the color T1B/Burgundy (ombre). What a good idea until I realized they were too long for the winter if you have to wear a coat, hat and scarf! I first did single braids along the center part and cornrowed the sides and back and stitched in the net. Without a solid foundation, the net unraveled and became a mess! In the end I literally had no passion twists in the back and was wearing my hat at work all day!
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| I didn't have a close-up shot |
I really enjoyed the Passion Twist idea where I don't have to manipulate the hair at all day-to-day aside from oiling my scalp and doing my edges. Issue was the Lulutress twists didn't come in anything shorter than 18", at least not at my beauty supply store. I looked up twist styles and went to the beauty supply store to get either 2-strand twist crochet hair or box braid crochet hair. The store didn't have a great color selection for the twists and then I realized I'd need about 7 packs of the box braid hair and I did not want to spend that kind of money. I saw the Spring Twists and did some Googling in the store and saw that people used them to create Passion Twists (I know, I'm so late) so I bought 3 packs of Harlem125 Kima Spring Twist in 8", T1B/BG. In my Google search I did see that people were buying or getting the Beyond Beauty hair to try (bloggers) and seemed to enjoy it but I couldn't wait for that to be delivered. Plus the hair in the store worked out to be a couple bucks cheaper.
I did cornrows at the top and singles around the perimeter. Watched a couple Youtube videos and most were consistent: uncoil/separate each spring curl without pulling it right through to the end, attach it to the hair then 2-strand twist it with gel. I used my Ecostyler olive oil one. I kind of twisted it however then realized if you twisted one way you got the passion twist look (kind of a boho-2 strand look, a "nice messy") but if you twisted the other way it was more uniform. I prefer the former but when it came to the back I just did wherever my hand went because seriously, doing anything in the back of your head is tiring!
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| Hair in the pack |
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| Tightly coiled |
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| Hair separated |
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| End result |
It came out nicely. Perfect length, but one by one the singles have been dropping out! I had to put them in a pony and wear a headband to work all week! Last night I removed the few that survived on the sides and just twisted my own hair and put the headband on again today. Not sure what to do next because I love the ease and how it looks. I need to think about whether I want to use the rubber band method. What about a half wig?! Maybe my sides are long enough to conceal it! Hmmm...stay tuned!
My next series of posts are going to be about my New Year Home Revamp! I set off in a frenzy gutting and sprucing up the place.
