So, I've been coming up short when thinking about spicing things up stylistically. However, with some inspiration from Curly Nikki, I've decided to try setting my hair with bantu knots. Now, I've tried doing Curly Nikki's absolutely gorgeous signature 'do, the twist and curl, a few times now with less than satisfactory results. Usually, when I twist my hair, I'll leave it twisted for a few days, but the twist and curl seems to require twisting and curling on night 1 to untwist/uncurl on day 2. So, what always ends up happening is that my hair is still damp in the morning when I take my twists down, so my hair is a frizzy hot mess. This time around, I've made sure to get my hair done early enough today so that the twists/bantu knots should be dry enough tomorrow when I untwist them.
In other news, in the process of doing my hair this weekend I think I have decided my hair routine for the rest of the month of April. This is what I did this weekend:
Friday night, I prepared 200 grams of henna with about 2 cups of chilled, strongly brewed green tea, mixed well and covered. Saturday morning, I parted my hair in four sections (as always) and did a quick co-wash/detangle with a wide-tooth comb. I then jumped out of the shower, added about 1/3 cup of honey to my henna, mixed well, and applied the henna my hair. This was my third henna and I think I've got the technique down: I drape a cape over my shoulders like you would get at the salon (this really helps to protects my clothes and minimize mess) and use my gloved hands to plop and smooth the henna on and through my hair. I covered my hair with two shower caps and a towel and took a nap/watched TV for about four hours. I then rinsed the henna "paste" from my hair then rinsed my hair until the water ran mostly clear. Then I conditioned/detangled with some left over conditioners and rinsed twice. I then used a mixture of Pantene Pro-V Nourishing Moisture Replenishing Mask, coconut oil, DevaCurl One Conditioner, and Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner as a deep conditioner. I left this mixture on overnight and rinsed it out this morning. I wanted to make sure that all of the henna was out of my hair, so I did a quick co-wash with the AO Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner and rinsed thoroughly.
After all of that, I shook my hair to remove excess moisture (I almost never use a towel on my hair) and applied Giovanni Direct Leave-in Conditioner section by section. I then twisted my hair in two strand twists using a mixture of shea butter and coconut oil to smooth down frizz and seal the ends. I think the combination of conditioning from the henna and the deep conditioner really imparted a great healthy shine on my hair. This being my third henna, I think I've achieved enough color saturation/conditioning to actually be noticeable. I don't think I've ever seen my twists look so good. I took each twist and twisted it tightly around my finger and then around itself so that it would form a knot sort of like this. I sprayed my bantu knots with Deva Curl Set it Free and voila, the finished product:
Bantu knots from the front
From the front again, note the shine
From the top, I need to work on smoothing my roots into the twists
And from the back: cute, tight bantu knots
