This style was inspired by YouTuber KeKe52284. She does a lot of great flat twist styles so I use her channel for inspiration. Here’s my version of one of her styles.
This is a great example of a protective style because most of my ends are tucked away.
If you want to retain and gain length, aim for these kinds of hairstyles.
Hi Lisa! The site had really been helpful and also had really boosted up my zeal of becoming a very beautiful natuaralist with a long hair too tho am Just in my second month of low Big Chop. But please I use a Bold 5 model Of blackberry and its really been difficult for me to view or download any of your posted videos to follow up with the. Styles and their makings. I did wish I get a response quick to know how or where else I can get them downloaded please. Thanks Much while the Good job keeps going.
Have you tried watching directly on YouTube? All my videos are hosted on YouTube so I have no control over how they play on other devices unfortunately.
Hi Lisa, my name is Courtney. I’ve been natural since last year and ever since then i’ve flat ironed my hair a lot. After about 3 months ago I decided that I wanted to stop flat ironing my hair. Even though i’m natural i see no difference in my hair. The only time it’s curly is when i wet my hair. After that, it goes back to being straight. I don’t know what to do up until this point. I was suggesting braids. I’m not sure, Please help!
Hi Courtney, unfortunately you have permanently altered your hair with the heat so the only way to get the curls is to chop the straight parts out and grow your hair out.
If you try to shampoo and condition and it doesn’t come back then yes, you have heat damage from the flat ironing. If you want to keep your curls and flat iron then you should only flat iron maybe once every month or once every 2 months and use a heat protectant to protect your curls.
Hi Lisa! I have watched so many of you videos I feel like I know you personally! I love your advice, tips and have even had great success with trying some of your hairstyles and products! Thanks so much!!
Thanks for your support!
One more thing Olivia: don’t get wedded just to twists. See how your hair responds to braids (tight and rolled up on the perm rod roller in the pepper mint style) For a period of time I had more success with braidouts and then came a period where twist outs worked better. So see what works.
If you’re a better braider you can make small tight braids and then twist the hair up with the perm rod rollers the same way I explained. Your hair will be wavy with curl at the ends. Treat it the same though. You could have the type of hair that works better with “braids” than twists. Try that also.
oooohh.. Please don’t pic your hair. If you need to get it to lift up, just grab gently and pull sections up and out but don’t go through the strands.
I’m telling you combs are the devil. Try not to use them. You can finger detangle, lift hair, gently pull hair. pat hair, but don’t comb or use things that can break hair
I don’t even use a pic or anything anymore. They’ve collected dust.
If I run into tangles, I treat my hair like a bunch of threads or yarn and literally pull one hair gently out of a knot. You get to be a pro at this. I also finger separate hair before and after washing section by section. It really helps. It’s a learning process. And I’ve got REALLY tight hair. I’ve tried denmans, combs, pics, and tangled teezer. And nothing works as best as my hands. The key to managing hair is really to put something on your fingers and rub it through and soften the hair and it will straighten with the pulling and then braid or twist.
i get it, but how do you mantain the twist after the 2nd day?
Once when i wake up my hair is matted, so i pick it with my wide tooth comb. I wish this style could last oonger.
On my second day it has started to loosen up. First, and this is hard: I’ve not been putting my hand in my hair–I had to learn that…it was like a disease for me.
That said,
On the second or subsequent days, I only retwisted the hair sections that needed it. And don’t add lots of water. Use something that has moisture in it. One of the things that worked for me when I didn’t have lock and twist gel was an equal amount of conditioner, some type of oil, and a teensy weensy amount of water. I put this in a squirt bottle and squirt a little on my fingers. The conditioner part of the formula kept the hair from getting dry, the oil part of the mixture kept the hair from getting brittle and the small amount of water enabled the mixture to have a consistency light enough to come out through the spout bottle and also so I could rub the mixture with my fingers before putting it on the hair. The big thing is to smooth that section with your fingers. It literally feels like you are straightening the hair and twist tight as you can from the root to the end and then role all of that hair up to your head in the spiral peppermint style.
Once you get the tightness of the twisting down, you’ll find you may make it to three day hair with spot twisting. I wore headbands (the wider the better…found some cute ones in a rubber like plastic in neutral colors by goodie) I also used the single strand rubbers but wore them in 3’s so they don’t overlap each other but look fashionable. It looks more intentionally chic than just wearing one rubber.
By the end of the 4th day there is obviously more curls in the back and less in the front unless you’ve been spot twisting. I must admit when it was humid, and I got faster at twisting, I sometimes would just flat twist all the front and sides(that is what most people see) or all the back if I was going to wear a head band, or all of my head if I was going some where special.
Find a hairdo(s) that work for different days. You may start off with full twists for the 1st day, wear a headband and just twist the top or and back, or wear a scarf folded to about 2-3 inches which means less twisting. My head is so big I rarely could wear a full hat. But I tell you if I could have I would have just twisted some tendrils on the side and wore the hat.
You will get creative and figure out a way not to twist all of your hair each and every night.
If you have problems flat twisting then just practice flat twisting the sides(easier) or flat twist the front to mid back. Keep that flat and then twist the rest.
Bronzeqt on you tube came up with some styles where she would form one big braid or twists going across from ear to ear(super cute and easy) and just wear the back out in a twist out. I did that for months. What I’m saying is: don’t get wedded to just one style.
I’m not sure how you feel about the way your head looks(strengths and weaknesses) but if you aren’t self conscious about your features then you can come up with styles where you twist and also wear the hair without twists that look intentional. It sure helped to wear accessories. My kitchen area of my hair was the worst, but once you learn how to make that lie down then you can do styles where the hair is up in the back pinned with combs or bobby pins and then twist curl the top.
That message was @ Sandy
Olivia I responded to your message but for some reason it went to Lisa’s comment. So can you come to the board to check the response? Hopefully this is going to the correct space. I initially hit the reply button under Olivia says That message was @ Sandy but it apparently sent the answer to Lisa. Let me know if this is working now.
Ok well
1. My hair is kind of thick and ive hot 3in of nu growth
2, i wash my hair with Shea Moisture shea butter shampoo (i usually pre-poo, but my hair had enough oil in it from the other day i oiled my scalp)
3, i conditioned my hair with Hask Henna and placenta conditioner ( id usually use the Shea Moisture Shea conditioner but i wanted to try it) ilet it sit 30min and i detangled during this process. Then rinsed
After shirt drying my hair my hair felt soft and i was able to comb through it withou too much of a fight lol.
4. Then i sectioned my hair into 6and rubbed the Shea Moisture Deep Conditioning masque in ( because i dont have a head dryer i just keep the treatment in my hair) and i also rubbed in Organic Lock&Twist gel.
5. I parted my hair in half from ear to ear, and then i parted my ear half front hair into 6 flat twist. Sadly my twist were tooooooooo loose and my parts were uneven, but it was 2am and i was MEGA TIRED. At the end of the twist i rolled the ends with rods. Btw i used my squirt bottle with water and Shea Moisture conditioner to keep my hair wet and soft
6. Today: i oiled my scalp with jojoba oil andon the fourth i will take em down.
I BEG ANYONE TO TELL WERE DID I GO WRONG AND HOW CAN I MAKE THE TWIST TIGHTER.
Thanks Olivia for writing back…
Sounds good. Now let me tell you how I did my hair when I had the same situation. At one time I had about 3 inches of new growth and about 3 inches of old hair.
Your washing and conditioner on point.
Your products on point.
But here is where I had to do a little different. I have what Andre refers to ass cottony 4 b hair.
I pretty much stayed with the parts you had.
I did parts ear to ear. A part from middle of forehead back to nape of neck.
I had 4 big areas, right?
I used clips or rubber bands to hold the areas I was not working on. In other words I treated each section alone. I focused on 1/4 section at a time. I got those other 3 sections out of the way by using something to hold them.
Now I’m working on one section:
I start at the bottom of the section, I use my index finger an thumb and pick up a section about 1and 1/2 inch by 1 and 1/2 inch and rub it with my fingers to smooth it and pull the hair almost like I’m straightening it out and begin twisting tight at the root, twisting down (not out away from the head) and at when I got to the tip I used a perm rod roller and end paper(if no end paper just make sure the ends aren’t sticking out) and rolled the hair almost like a peppermint twist all the way to the root.
When you are done the curler touches the scalp and the hair is wrapping around the curler. The hair is damp (BUT NOT WET) If the hair is too wet it makes the roots puff as they dry. So sometimes I didn’t even spray with water if I had a product that had its own moisture in it.)
Now you’re probably thinking this is too many sections because at first I used more sections and then overtime I finally figured out the optimum sections to use. I say this because I found when I initially made 4 sections my new growth was too puffy and loose when I took out the rollers and the set would not last. (you’ll have to find what works, but my experience is that it is better to start with more sections than less until you are more skilled at making the twists tighter.)
Yes I would get tired too. But with less hair you can do tighter twists and use the perm rod to roll all the way up in peppermint pattern.
Your styles will be curlier and wavier on the first day, but each day will loosen some and then you can begin doing spot twists and roll after the second day on the sections that got puffier.
Another thing: Organic Lock and twist gel actually has enough moisture so you don’t need to wet your hair down to twists.
So try aiming for 6-8 preferably 8 for each section, not using too much water, letting the product provide the moisture and not concentrating on parting the hair after the initial 4 parts and using your fingers to pick up about and inch and a half or inch of hair.
Take down:
When hair is dry just put a little oil on the fingers. After taking the perm rod out just turn the hair twist in the opposite direction of the twist. Do that for all over. Then you can always go back and see which areas need more separating. Actually it will separate on its own over time. But just make sure that you leave the little twisty curls near the bottom of the hair in place as much as possible. You can pat your hair into place, You can take a section and gently pull it into place. But what you don’t want to do: is separate too many times for the same section.
Summary:
I don’t use a comb but my fingers more for separating the hair after the initial sections have been made
I use less water, rely on moisture in product
I use more curlers per section
I twist the hair in a peppermint pattern
I use light oil on fingers to take down twist.
This is how I first started.
Let me know if this makes sense. If not, I’ll see how else I can help.
Ok i get, but how do you mantain the twist after the 2nd day?
Once when i wake up my hair is matted, so i pick it with my wide tooth comb. I wish this style could last oonger.
Sorry my keyboard is on the fritz so plz ignore speeling errors
Heybms.lisa,
Im 4months into my transition and i feel so discouraged. Eadh time i try to flat twist,braid,or even two-strand twist i fail. I can only bantu knot my hair and i dont want to be stuck with that look. Idk maybe this isn’t my thing. Im writing this message because i need some encouragment. Thank u for any response
Hi Olivia
I remember my 3rd month. My hair was brittle, breaking off, my flat twists looked a hot mess and I didn’t know how else to style my hair. But I kept going on YouTube and re-watching a few tutorials and kept at it until I got it. I started deep conditioning my hair to get it to soften up and began trying new styles with rods and flat twists. I was NEVER one to style my hair before transitioning so if I can learn, anyone can learn.
Olivia: Encouragement on the way
If your twists are looking a hot mess then you are facing one of the following problems:
1) You have not found the day which is best for twisting.
2) Your hair is too wet or too dry for twisting
3) The tension you are choosing to twists your hair is to tight or too loose
4) You do not have the right number of twists all over your head
5) Some twists are too small or too big for your texture hair
6) You are not using the right products for your hair
7) Your hair is not in good condition
8) When you pick out your hair, after twisting, you are pulling out all your waves and curls
I’m convinced one of these is your problem because you can do bantu knot outs without problems. The difference between bantu knot outs is that you are wrapping the hair around close to the scalp which tells me there is nothing wrong with your fingers or your patience.
So as one who has been twisting for quite some time, you’ll have to experiment a little until you find the right “twist set” for you. That’s all we are trying to do with twisting is “setting” the hair, as you may have down with curlers a long time ago. Except no curlers are used, just product and two strands twisted.
The effect of the curl has to do with the placement of the twists, how close they are to one another, and the tension of the twists.
Can you write back and tell us your present regime (how you twist) and what it looks like? in other words when it doesn’t look right what does that mean? If you can write that, I think I may be able to diagnosis the problem and apply some solutions. Its hard to do this without pictures so you’ll have to say what “not looking right” means and then I can take a stab at helping you.
Ok let me know?
Olivia hope you aren’t getting this message twice. But I did respond to your last post but it went to Lisa by mistake. Please visit the board to see the response. Thanks Sandy
Hi Lisa I just wanted to know that when you do your protein treatment do you rinse it in cold or warm water and do you use the whole egg or just egg whites?
I rinse it with warm water before I shampoo and I use the whole egg. Girl, my mom said it’s like I’m making a salad for my hair. LOL
I suck at flat twist. Do you recommend any tutorials of close ups I can review?
I watched a bunch of different videos on youtube and just kept practicing. The key is in the hand positioning and you have to find what’s most comfortable for you. Here’s a good video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB5jwFbPPAs
I love it. That’s too cool for summer, Lisa. You are so talented and you must have the patience of Job, as the saying goes. How tired do your arms get?
Thx Aunt Jean. My arms don’t really get too tired. Occasionally they get tired when parting near the top, but it really isn’t that bad because it only takes about 20-30 seconds to do each twist once the part is done.
This hairstyle is flattering to your face and style. I really like it. Updos like this get better and better as your hair gets longer. You can also add bobby pins which have beads glued on and create some nice accessories for the updoo. Keep going. You’re going to be the updoo queen…now If I could just twist close to my head. I’m still having problems with one side of my head looking different than the other. And arms still get tired.
Thanks Sandy! Ooooooh, great idea on the accessories. I don’t know why I never think of trying stuff like that. Thanks for the suggestion.