I always hear about people opting to wear protective styles during the harsh winter. But what about protecting your hair during the hot summer months? I’ve worn micro braids and Senegalese twists, but never tried my hand at kinky twists. If you follow the same premise of two strand twists, kinky twists should be a fairly straight forward installation and can save you lots of money should you choose to do them yourself. Here’s how I did mine!
Preparation
I started with freshly washed hair, then washed, conditioned and also went ahead and deep conditioned since I planned to keep my hair in this style for at least a month. Once my hair was clean and separated into four sections, I applied Kinky-Curly Knot Today as my base leave-in, EDEN BodyWorks Jojoba Monoi Hair Oil and EDEN BodyWorks Jojoba Monoi Hair Milk to seal it all in. This combination of products gave me soft, well moisturized hair and allowed me to proceed to the next step.
Once my hair was nourished, I applied a light coating of grapeseed oil to each section before I tension blow dried my hair. During tension blow drying, it’s important to use a heat protectant and grapeseed oil offers a natural option for heat protection. It’s also important to make sure your hair isn’t soaking wet when blow drying. Working with damp hair will make it easier to keep the hair smooth and speed up your blow dry session. Finally, make sure to keep the heat settings on low to medium so you don’t burn your hair!
Installation
Now on to the fun and hard part! I started with my hair in eight sections, four across the front and four across the back. I found it easier to start in the back of my head, though you can start in the front or around the perimeter. I used Marley braid hair which comes sectioned into 20 pieces per package. I chose not to cut the hair in half since I have longer hair and wanted to make sure I covered my entire length. I also wanted the longer twists look.
I made small parts, between ¼” and ½” and used the braiding first method to attach the extensions. I started by creating a braid with my hair and the two sections of Marley braid hair. With my hair between the two pieces of braid hair, I wrapped my hair over the braid hair and back to the middle position, creating a secure hold so that I could continue braiding. Once I got down about an inch or so, I twisted my hair around one piece of braid hair to get two pieces and then began two strand twisting to the ends. I repeated this over a total of 160 twists and 16 hours later I was done! It’s important to make sure you don’t pull the hair too tight, especially around your hairline. You can create larger parts, but try not to put too much stress on weak areas.
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Final Thoughts
Although this was a long process, it was definitely worth it. If you were to get this type of style done at a braid shop it could easily cost upwards of $250 dollars or more, depending on the length and thickness of your hair. The great thing about being able to braid your own hair is that you can, not only save loads of money, but you can also refresh your style and perform any maintenance when needed. Kinky twists are a great protective style for any occasion and I’ve gotten lots of compliments on them already. They blend quite well with my own hair and will last four to six weeks.
