Month: October 2013

Palm Rolling – Keeping Your Locs Looking Fresh and Neat

If you are wearing your natural hair in locs or twists, you definitely want to make sure that they are looking fresh and neat at all times.

My hair is natural and I recently did the twist, but they were getting a little fuzzy, so I used the palm rolling technique to get them looking nice again. This is an easy technique that anyone can use as long as you have the right hair products. Let me explain the simple steps that I used to palm roll my natural hair.

I started my palm rolling by separating the loose section of my hair from the part that I was going to be working on. Grab your jar of locking get. As I said in my blog post “The Easy Way to Twist Your Natural Hair into Beautiful Locs” I use the Organic Root Stimulator Lock and Twist Gel, and would highly recommend it.

  • Apply some of the locking get to a strand of loc (hair).
  • Use your fingers to gather all the stray hair at the root.
  • Hold the hair, from the root, in the palm of your hands (your palms should look like when you are about to say your prayers).
  • Palm roll the hair, using a twisting motion, in the direction that the hair was originally twisted in, all the way to the ends.
Palm Rolling Natural Hair
  • Use a Duck Bill to hold down each section of the palm rolled hair.
  • Follow the same pattern to palm roll all your hair.
  • Go under the hairdryer to dry your hair thoroughly.

 

Natural Hair After Palm Roll Technique

The Easy Way to Twist Your Natural Hair into Beautiful Locs

Natural Hair Twist – Longer Hair

Having natural hair doesn’t mean that you have to snap your hair back into a ponytail all the time. You can create some of the hottest hairstyles, keeping your hair fashionable, and trendy. The twist or comb coils is a popular hairstyle, commonly done on African American hair. If you have a different hair type, you can still do the twist, it’s just that it may not last as long as African American hair because of the texture. Follow this simple technique that I use to create my twist, shown in the above photo. This is the similar technique that is used to create new starter locs.

Washing My Hair

I washed my hair first with Wen® Hair Care Basic. This is a natural shampoo that can be used on any hair type. I like the fact that it has natural ingredients such as Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Avocado oil, sweet Almond oil, Rosemary Leaf Extract, and Lavender Extract. All these are natural ingredients that keep your hair, whether it’s natural or not, healthy and beautiful.

After washing my hair, I use the WEN Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing Conditioner. I love the way how my hair smell and feel after finishing washing and conditioning it. I use a towel to dry out as much of the water as possible, then use a hair dryer on the medium setting to dry my hair. Try not to dry out all the water from your hair. I like to leave it a little damp before I start my twists.

Twisting Short Hair

If your hair is short, one of the easiest ways to make new locs or twists is by using the comb to twist your hair.

  • Part a small section of your hair with a rat tail comb.
  • Apply some locking gel of your choice to the parted section. I recommend Organic Root Stimulator Lock and Twist Gel, which produces amazing results.
  • Use the comb to start twisting the hair clockwise or counter-clockwise, starting from the root.
  • Continue to twist the hair, while stretching it, until you reach the end.
  • Use a duck clip to keep the twisted hair in place.
  • Continue to part and twist each section following the same directions above.
  • You will need to dry your hair to complete your twists.

Twisting Long Hair

For longer hair, you would simply twist your hair with your fingers.

  • Part hair into the desired size, then apply the locking gel to that section.
  • Grasp the root of your hair and gently twist your hair clockwise or counter-clockwise (most people prefer clockwise).
  • Keep twisting the hair, while tightening the twist as you go along.
  • Twist all the way down to the ends, making sure to pay special attention to the ends.
  • Use a duck bill clip to keep your freshly twisted hair in place.
  • Keep parting and twisting your hair into small sections until all the hair is twisted.
  • Dry your hair using a blow dryer or simply sit under a hairdryer.

My Decision to go Back to My Natural Hair – Part 2

Natural Hair Twist

In my previous blog post “My Decision to go Back to My Natural Hair – Part 1,” I told you about my journey back to achieving natural hair. I am having a blast with my hair. I’ve been trying out some new styles, which I will tell you about a little bit later.

My hair grows so fast. The Tropic Isle Jamaican Black Castor Oil Hair Food is one of the natural hair products that I use in my hair. I am happy to see new growths popping up everywhere. I remember how thin and lifeless my hair was when I just started out. I used to braid my hair with extensions just to get some volume.

Fast forward to now, my hair is full of volume and screaming “healthy.” I intend to keep in that way, so I am trying to find out as much as I can about caring for my hair using natural hair products. I am trying to keep everything as natural as possible.

I did the two strand twist in my hair a few weeks back, but it gets really fuzzy quickly. I decided to do the twist look, similar to dread locks (see photo above), but I was skeptical at first. I was sure that my hair was just going to get even fuzzier. Guess what happened? My hair just snapped into place and didn’t look messy as quickly as the two strand twist.

This week I plan to freshen them up by using the palm rolling method. Check back for that upcoming post. I will tell you how I did it and share photos as well.