Saturday, February 14, 2009

The Highs and Lows of a Protective Style Challenge

Last week, I wrote that I would try to continue with my protective style challenge of keeping my hair in twists. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), I only woke my twists until last Saturday because they were not looking great. Since I was disinclined (read: too lazy) to put my hair in another set of twists, I smoothed out the front of my hair with a scarf and wore my twist-out in a bun for a few days. I then wore a wash-and-go for another two days before conditioning and twisting my hair in much larger that normal twists on Thursday night (I really need to get better about taking pictures). I took  these twists out on Friday morning and they looked good so I wore a twist-out that day. 

Some point this past week I realized that I had basically been keeping a routine that included protective styling the entire time I've been natural. I usually washed and conditioned my hair and then twisted it. I would wear the twists for a week and then wear the twist-out for a week. This routine helped me go from a TWA after my big chop in December 2006 to nearly bra strap length today. Clearly, I was doing something right. So, while I admire all the ladies keeping to their Winter Protective Style Challenge, I just don't think it's right for me at this stage in my natural hair journey.  

1 comment:

  1. I know how you feel about the protective style challenge - and I committed to do it for a year :o( - But what I decided to do is to take small steps - like you I usually wear protective styles most of the time anyway, so I just decided to extend it.

    In the beginning of my challenge I said I would wear styles for one month at a time and now I am down to about two weeks at a time then changing - I also give myself a couple of days in-between to wear a puff or twist out on occassions - which helps.

    I really think it is laziness that has actually gotten me this far in my challenge I started in August and have about six more months to go.

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