Hair that Travels Part 3: Preservation

As I mentioned in part 1, I prepped my hair for the week by detangling, washing, conditioning and twisting.  I wore those twists from Friday night to Sunday evening.  

I had to attend a pre-registration/cocktail hour Sunday evening and had about 15 minutes to style my hair.  When I snatched off my satin bonnet, I was faced with dry-looking, fuzzy twists.  In the words of Scooby Doo, “Rut-roh!”  Common sense would have told me to apply a little shea butter over the twists to control the frizz but for some reason, I decided against that.  I unraveled the twists, separated them just a bit and pinned up one side.  My hair looked cute enough.

When I returned from the cocktail reception (all of 20 minutes – nobody was there), I decided to try a hair preservation technique: the pineapple method.  I realize that I don’t have the length that Curly Nikki does but I used her method as inspiration.  I didn’t section the bangs because, to me, they looked great.  So I split my hair down the middle and took my ouchless band and gently made 2 low ponies, tucking the ends under.  I threw on the bonnet and went to sleep.  

The next morning I snatched off the bonnet and got a little nervous.  Reading is fundamental.  I should have put something in my hair before I “pineappled” to tame the frizz and I should have gathered the hair up high in the pony and then gathered it low in the morning.  I worked it out.  Just know that plenty of bobby pins were used.  

Monday night I decided against the pineapple method.  I spritzed my hair, rubbed a dab of creamy leave-in and then I grabbed large chunks of hair and re-twisted using a bit of shea mixture to seal.  I should have left well enough alone but this night I decided I wanted to try another technique: banding.  Again, I put a twist to this method.  After twisting my hair I banded groups of twists together in order to stretch my hair.  The results weren’t horrific – although some hair wouldn’t lay in the right direction – but the technique was not necessary in this instance.

Third time’s the charm.  Nights 3 and 4 I spritzed my hair, applied large twists and threw on the satin bonnet.  I had great results.  The picture in part 1 was my day #3 hair.

I’d like to offer jet lag as my reason for my temporary loss of common sense in trying new techniques without first vetting them at home.  I knew better.  Lesson learned.

By the way, how do you preserve your style at night?

In retrospect, I would have done a few things differently:

1.      Prep – moisturize twists under the bonnet and add a little sheen prior to take down.

2.      Products – pack hair accessories to jazz things up, leave the spray leave-in at home, pack travel sized, and add a rinse out conditioner for co-washing, if needed.

3.      Preservation: no new techniques unless vetted at home.