This is for all the ladies who have tried the style for my most popular natural hair video. While many have had great success, some have tried it and was a womptastic adventure that came out nothing like mine. So in this video I provide some quick tips that will ensure your flat twist is just as fab. Plus a review on the Alikay Naturals Lemongrass leave-in and Totally Twisted Loc Butter (spoiler: ummm this is is THE BOMB.com). If you have locs I most definitely recommend the Totally Twisted Loc Butter because it moisturizes and adds great shine to your hair.
Flat twist outs are especially great for 4C natural hair and any kinky hair texture, because we often have the MOST shrinkage, so flat twisting the hair both stretches out your coils and offers a sleeker look without the harshness of a fine tooth comb or direct heat.
So here’s the tips I provide in the video + a few more.
1. Only do this style on FRESH hair, there can be no prior product in the hair. You’re doing a curly style so going from a twist out to this will not work. When we do twist outs we are usually going for a puffy, full look which means we are inclined to use products that are glycerin heavy. Glycerin is a humectant that absorbs moisture in the air and poofs up hair. If you do this look on top of an old twist out, you’re curls will be big poof balls by the end of the day. The type of product you use does matter.
2. Style on dry hair. Give your hair time to air dry or dry on cool with the blow dryer after wash. You want to be able to control the dampness of your hair so that your hair is dry when you take it down. Depending on your hair’s porosity will sway how wet you want your hair to be. If you have low porosity like I do, then only slightly dampen it with water or the leave-in product you use.
3. Do clean parts and keep hair sectioned off to avoid tangles. Clean parts really make a difference and help to speed up the time it takes to do your hair. It ensures that your flat twists are neat and there’s no hair being tangled into the twists. Your hair is being manipulated into a curl, so you don’t want to disrupt the curls you’ve created by having to pull strands of hair out of the twist because their caught in another flat twist.
4. Your flat twist need to be tightly done. Loose flat twists will not create a curl and will only end up as big frizzy clumps.
5. Unwind your twist first before pulling it apart. You want to make sure you completely unwind the ends because that is where tangles tend to form.
6. This style without any holding product will last 2-3 days. Simply tie a scarf down at night. If you want it to last longer, use gel. I’ve used ORS Lock + Twist gel.
Hope that helps, you can check out my original flattwist out (and my 1st ever natural hair) tutorial below! Let me know if you have tried this style and what your results were 🙂
It looks great…once my protective style is done…its on!
I saw your video but I totally should’ve read this when I went out to get products today. I got shea moisture products, which contain Glycerin. Blah… I guess next time. Can’t wait to try it! You make it look so good!
Question, how do you lay out the flat twists in your hair? does it effect the finished hair the direction you twist it to? i couldnt tell from the video how you laid out your twists. could you do a rough drawing?