I took a break for a few days to take care of something I'd been meaning to do for a while: my hair.
Since my hair tends to get dry and brittle, I've experimented on and off with protective hair styling, like twists and braids, as a means of preserving and encouraging growth. While typically reserved for People of Color, my experience with protective styling is that for Caucasian hair like mine, protective styling is something that's more work than it's worth. While it's bound up in twists and braids, I certainly don't have to waste time or energy combing my hair and keeping it clean is pretty minimal too, the amount of labor involved in the installation is hard to justify the benefits. It's also kind of hard to do stuff like yarn twists with Caucasian hair because our hair tends to have alot of slippage, so the yarn doesn't hold its place well.
Occasionally, I get the itch to do something with my hair, especially now that the weather has become pretty hot and dry at the end of summer. So, out came the yarn.
And then I'm reminded why I rarely do these sorts of hairdos. With the yarn extension twists I did this time, it took me two days to install them, partly because my natural hair is pretty long (it comes just above waist level) and my extensions have to be longer to compensate, and partly cuz no matter how fast I try and be, I always wind up working slow.
The good thing is, these will last about 6-8 weeks. I also put a special leave-in conditioner made from coconut oil in each twist, and finished the job off with an olive oil spray to seal in the conditioning for extra moisture. It does feel a little heavy on my head, but not so much as to restrict movement of my head and neck muscles. I did get a tension headache from having to do these twists though, so for anyone out there wanting to attempt these, do so at your own risk. But, for a little while at least, my hair is out of my face and my scalp is more exposed for better aeration.
Also, to any People of Color who might come across this blog, please do not take offense to the sight of me, a White woman, wearing a typically Black hairdo. I did this more for practical reasons than style reasons, and do not wish to disrespect anyone. Unlike Kylie Jenner and her cornrows, I do not appreciate, or wish to engage in, cultural appropriation of any sort.
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| Yarn twists |
Since my hair tends to get dry and brittle, I've experimented on and off with protective hair styling, like twists and braids, as a means of preserving and encouraging growth. While typically reserved for People of Color, my experience with protective styling is that for Caucasian hair like mine, protective styling is something that's more work than it's worth. While it's bound up in twists and braids, I certainly don't have to waste time or energy combing my hair and keeping it clean is pretty minimal too, the amount of labor involved in the installation is hard to justify the benefits. It's also kind of hard to do stuff like yarn twists with Caucasian hair because our hair tends to have alot of slippage, so the yarn doesn't hold its place well.
Occasionally, I get the itch to do something with my hair, especially now that the weather has become pretty hot and dry at the end of summer. So, out came the yarn.
 |
| Black yarn for the base color, hot pink yarn for the highlights. Both skeins were the size of that pink one before I undertook this little project. Yarn extension hairdos require alot of yarn |
And then I'm reminded why I rarely do these sorts of hairdos. With the yarn extension twists I did this time, it took me two days to install them, partly because my natural hair is pretty long (it comes just above waist level) and my extensions have to be longer to compensate, and partly cuz no matter how fast I try and be, I always wind up working slow.
 |
| Unfortunately, my arms aren't long enough to show the true scale, but I can sit on the ends of my extensions if I wanted to |
The good thing is, these will last about 6-8 weeks. I also put a special leave-in conditioner made from coconut oil in each twist, and finished the job off with an olive oil spray to seal in the conditioning for extra moisture. It does feel a little heavy on my head, but not so much as to restrict movement of my head and neck muscles. I did get a tension headache from having to do these twists though, so for anyone out there wanting to attempt these, do so at your own risk. But, for a little while at least, my hair is out of my face and my scalp is more exposed for better aeration.
Also, to any People of Color who might come across this blog, please do not take offense to the sight of me, a White woman, wearing a typically Black hairdo. I did this more for practical reasons than style reasons, and do not wish to disrespect anyone. Unlike Kylie Jenner and her cornrows, I do not appreciate, or wish to engage in, cultural appropriation of any sort.
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