You would think a twist out style would be simple: just add some product, twist your hair, and set overnight right? Well often times for many of us, it just isn’t as easy as it seems. Here are the reasons why your twist out failed and turned out all wrong:
It’s Time for a Trim
Good style results are more achievable when your hair is in a healthy state. If your hair is thinned out, uneven and filled with splits it’s going to be challenging to make any style look good. Especially when you are doing a twist out the shape your ends are in matters because they are fully exposed.
You Didn’t Detangle Your Hair Thoroughly
Make sure your hair is tangle free by working in sections and making sure each strand has been detangled before you twist. It’s more time consuming but you are likely to have a better outcome. Use duck bill clips to separate your hair, a paddle brush and or a wide tooth comb to detangle.
Determine Whether You Like Wet or Dry Styling Your Hair
For some of us it just works out better to dry style and vice versa. I use to prefer dry styling because I was felt like my hair turned out more shrunken and dry, but that was before I discovered a new product favorite which I will get to later. I still feel that my hair has less shrinkage when it is styled while dry, but if I don’t feel like waiting around for that I am open to wet styling. In short wet styling often does produce more defined curls, while dry styling will give you the most stretched out full outcome. You will have to experiment and see what you prefer best.
You Haven’t Found Your Holy Grail Product
There are tons of natural hair products on the market, the trouble is finding the right one for you. Some will riddle your hair in flakes or even dry your hair out giving you terrible results. Unfortunately, you must go through a trial and error process to see what’s best for you. Need a starting point? Check out my recommended products page. One thing I would suggest is trying a setting foam. I used ORS Setting Foam on my hair while wet and I fell in love with the results. Foams will give you a longer lasting hold and they eliminate frizz. You can of course add your favorite creamy product first for some moisture, but you have got to try a foam along with with it.
Apply Enough Tension to Your Roots
When you don’t have enough attention being applied to your roots your end result is just bound to suck. The front and back of my hair curl easy without me even putting in much effort. However, the mid section where my 4c hair texture is dominant it requires more tension to get a good result. This means I have to do smaller twists and make sure I grip my roots tightly, if I don’t it just comes out pretty frizzy. For those who may have trouble gripping your roots you may want to try clips to secure them in place.
Veepeejay using the clips for more elongation on her wash day.
Coil Your Ends
The ends of your hair will make or break a twist out style. When you are nearing the end of your twist instead of tightly twisting all the way down, add some product to your ends and coil it around your finger. This avoids breakage when you are removing the twist and it gives you an overall better look once you remove the twist. You can also choose to use rollers on the ends of your hair, to ensure they have a smooth look.
Make Sure Your Hair is Completely Dry Before Removing Your Twists
If you remove the twists while they are still wet, you are likely to encounter some frizz. You do want your hair to be damp with product when installing the twists, but if it is overly saturated this may make your drying time super long.
Avoid Over Fluffing and Separating Your Curls
Of course you want your hair to have some body, but if you over fluff you will lose definition and cause frizz. A lot of the flatness we see is coming from the root, so try fluffing your roots with a hair pik, but don’t comb your curls.
Any other suggestions that we missed? Let us know in the comments below!
This article was written by Ariane of BlackNaps.org and published on CurlyNikki.
