Wash Day Diary @ 14 Weeks Post: Kinky Twist Take Down 10.11.12

"The twists are out and ladies, let me tell you, this post could have easily been entitled "Miss T, have you gone and lost your damn mind - have you forgotten you are almost 14 weeks post relaxer!?"







These are the steps I followed spanning a delightful 14hrs !!!


1.  I took down the kinky twists on the evening of 9th November.  I didn't detangle them as I went along (this could have been [mistake #1]?  but the jury is still out on that one).   I took them all out and left my hair as it was before moisturising with Taliah Waajid and sealing and then went to bed.

TOP:  Shows me holding my own hair, without the extension hair.  Unfortuantely having my own hair almost the same length of the extensions means I can't speed up the process by cutting the braids shorter.  BOTTOM:  Shows my twists the day after taking out the twists, but before detangling.

2.  The next day [and not at my own place! mistake #2] I baggied my hair for one hour before I mustered enough strength/willpower to start the grueling detangling process and commenced with my wash day.  I sectioned my hair into four and starting at the front left hand side, I started to detangle the twists. I used olive oil which I had warmed in the microwave and smooshed the oil into the area of the strands where the extension hair had been attached.  I made sure it was completely lubed up before seperating the strands using  my fingers.

My hair sectioned and ready for detangling.

I did this, braid by braid, line by line, combing through with my Hercules Sagemann Mini Rake.  Doing this to the hair that had not been seperated previously to blend in with my twists was alot easier than with the braids I had twisted so I won't be twisting my own hair again, I will just take out the twists and wear them as they are along with the remaining twists to camoflage.  Once I had taken down two lines I combined the hair from both lines, combed again (I realise now that this second combing should have been done with my Denman Ebonite comb to get all the shed hair out!)  [mistake #3] and then applied Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Conditioner to the hair, although adding another conditioner with slip such as Roux Porosity Control would have been useful.

These images are to show the minimal amount of buildup in my hair.

TOP:  I have already finger detangled and combed one section.  BOTTOM:  With conditioner applied to two detangled sections.

By the halfway stage I had to take the dog out for a walk so I re-baggied my hair and covered with a warm hat so the back section could remoisturise and the front section could soak in the conditioner whilst I was out. 

3.  After completing the detangling and conditioner application process I left the conditioner on for a further 30mins before washing my hair.  With my hair still in four sections (but each section had three smaller sections at the front and two smaller sections at the back) I stepped into the shower and saturated my hair with water before applying ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo to the front left section.  My hair immediately matted up - this is not something new to me as it ALWAYS does this after long term protective styles.  However, that said, I am almost 14 weeks post and I know that at this point in a stretch 4 sections is not enough for my hair, I need 6 or 8 sections at the very least! [mistake #4]  Anyway, I continued with washing the other sections but I probably should have stopped there or just cowashed out the conditioner [mistake #5].  If I had been in my right mind and not totally sick and tired of detangling my hair which at this point had taken 5hrs! I would have stepped out of the shower and gone through each section with my denman but I probably wouldn't have gotten very far as the Giovanni 50:50 has ZERO SLIP andI didn't have my Roux Porosity Control Conditioner to help with slip and laying my cuticles down.  My hair matted in every section as I ditched the ORS Creamy Aloe and washed with both Paul Mitchell Super Strong Shampoo and Roux Porosity Control Shampoo.  As I washed each section I undid the twists, finger detangled under running water washed each section loose [mistake #6].

4.  I then put a towel on my hair for 10 mins before applying my deep conditioner mix which consisted of Keracare Humecto, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Grapeseed Oil and Silk Amino Acid Powder.  I then donned a plastic cap, covered with a scarf and I stayed like this for an hour or so.


5.  The deep conditioner worked wonders at loosening some of the tangles and softened my newgrowth tremendously.  I then rinsed with cool water and put the towel on my hair for 5 minutes.

Then the fun and games started.....  I must say that at this stage it was 10pm and I was so over doing my hair at this point but there was no way I was going to bed with tangles in my hair only to wake up to hair that I couldn't even finger comb!  So I had no choice but to press onwards.

6.  I applied Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Treatment, CHI Silk Infusion, Organix Anti-breakage Serum a little Elasta QP Mango Butter & Olive Oil Moisturiser and a little bit of coconut oil (in hindsight adding a bit of detangler would have been a good additon but I didn't think about doing so as I've not used one in so long and I'm sure my Aloe Vera Juice had most probably seen better days!).

7.  Then, starting at the back, I began finger detangling, followed up with my HS Jumbo Rake, HS Mini Rake and then both sides of the Denman Ebonite comb to get every last shed hair out.

My my my, it was a long slog!  It took me just over an hour to detangle each section throughly, trim and put my hair into four twists.  I lost more hair during this final thorough detangling, a larger amount than the first detangling.  I know that I didn't comb my hair as well as I should have prior to washing but I really wanted to avoid breakage - shedding is expected for me but breakage could be avoided and looking at my hair and the comb during detangling it seems like I won that battle.  During the second detangling it was shedding I was contending with as it was long strands of hair with the small bulb attached. Despite the tangles, I think I made the right call as my hair is just so so delicate I couldn't image what state it would be in now, if I started getting all happy with combing and combing and combing some more, before a good protein deep conditioner and a nice moisturising conditioner mash up had got to work on my strands.

I trimmed about 1cm from each of the four sections.  I didn't pay any attention to getting the sides even as it's not a concern for me at the moment. I noticed that I have about two inches at the bottom of my hair which is still bone straight relaxed for some reason.  This could be down to relaxer run off (even though I protect my previously relaxed strands, especially my ends!) because I thought I had have long since chopped off my relaxed ends.

LEFT:  Hair lost during kinky twist take down, finger detangling and combing prior to washing.  The hair in the middle of the picture on the left is the hair lost during washing.  RIGHT:  Hair lost during thorough detangling using a modified three/four comb method which saves me from a week of residual shedding after taking out my twists.

LEFT:  Two seperate bundles of hair lost.  RIGHT:  The two bundles combined.

I am not concerned about the hair lost as it is part and parcel for me.  My hair looked and felt thick when I'd finished detangling before and after putting in the kinky twists.

What I am totally pissed about is the length of time the whole fricken wash day took.  It took me all day!!!!  I didn't get to bet until 3.30am and now four days later, I am still damn tired and incredibly unimpressed!!!

After detangling, I put in four bantu knots (no additional shedding) and rocked a bantu knot out the following day (no shedding). 

My bantu knot out.  In the second to last picture you can see how much new growth I had.  My hair grows crazy fast in twists.  It grows in thicker and minimises thinning for me which is a massive plus point and counteracts any other issues the twists cause.  I don't braid tightly so my hairline doesn't suffer as there is minimal stress to it and I always oil it.  The twists are not too heavy as I make sure the amount of hair added is done so in well judged manner, i.e. I don't apply thick strands of extension hair and the Marley Braid extension hair is incredibly light!

On Monday evening I moisturised and sealed and threw my hair up into a (greasy) high bun.   I always go overboard on the moisturiser and oil following having my hair away in a protective style in order to keep it lubricated and to counteract any dryness experienced whilst in the PS.  I couldn't imagine blowdrying, flatironing or wearing my hair straight during this first few days.  My hair will stay like this until Friday 16th.

My hair is loving EVOO at the moment which surprises me as this is an oil I have always steered clear of as my hair hated it in the past.  I applied warm EVOO to my scalp last week and loved how it felt whilst in the twists and now out of the twists it is not dissappointing me.  I will ride this EVOO train till the wheels fall off!!  I have also been applying raw shea butter to my hair and its going well.  My hair just feels so soft and incredibly moisturised!  Infact, I noticed during detangling that my hair retained loads of moisture, I only had to slightly dampen the final section which means it pretty much stayed moist during the detangling of the other three sections.  I think this was down to the deep conditioner mix containing EVOO and SAA.

On Friday I will wash my hair again (cowashing in 8 braids to minimise tangles at 14 weeks post) and then install my crochet braids which I will keep in for 2-3 weeks.  Here's hoping the detangling session is a little easier next wash day.

Ciao 4 Now

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