After doing a two conditioner co-wash (see blog post for details).  I deep conditioned my hair with Eden Bodyworks All Natural Deep Conditioner.  I followed this with the LOC method using Jane Carter Solution Revitalizing Leave-in Conditioner, lavender oil/water (for detangling), jojoba oil and Camille Rose Curlade Moisturizing Butter.  Once my hair was detangled, I followed the steps below to complete a flat twist out.

1.  Divide your freshly co-washed or shampooed and conditioned hair into four sections using clips. Make sure the front section is parted the way you like wearing your hair.

2. Starting from the bottom section take either 1/4 or 1/3 of the section (depending on your hair thickness) and finger detangle, shower comb detangle and denman brush detangle the section. (Feel free to add oil and water to aid in the detangling process. Remember to detangle from the ends to the root.  Be careful!)

3.  Work a generous amount of your favorite curl cream (Curlcare Soft Hold Cream) through the section.

4. Begin your flat twist with a small two-strand twist and continue to add hair to your flat twist all the way to the end of the section.

5.  Either roll the end of the twist around your finger or roll the end of the twist with a flexi rod.

6.  Repeat this process until you are done. Allow your hair to air dry overnight or use a hooded dryer.

7.  Take the twists down VERY slowly using your oil of choice on your fingers.  I used jojoba oil.  It is important to take the twists down slowly to avoid frizziness. Think of taking your twists down as gradually and gently unraveling them.

The flat twist out takes about half the time that it takes me to do a normal twist out! This excites me so much because it normally takes me at least an hour to do a regular twist out. My hair turned out to be a great deal more defined than a regular twist out and the curl pattern was a lot different.  If you love twist outs as much as I do, you will love the flat twist out even more!!  Its a nice change in my usual curl pattern and my hair was more stretched than normal.  The only catch to using this method is that the drying time is considerably longer. Air drying took me about 10-12 hours or overnight. I would do this style the day before I was ready to wear it. You could also consider using a hooded dryer.  Good luck!


***When I took my flat twists down, I decided to do a simple updo.  I will post a tutorial for this later***

I am one of those naturalistas who just loves washing her hair.  Yea, I know about the great benefits of co-washing. (Co-washing is "washing" your hair with a conditioner instead of a shampoo, see my youtube channel for a demo).  I have also read that it is good to co-wash as often as every two days. Co-washing helps prevent natural hair from becoming too dry from frequent washing with shampoo. Knowing all of this, I always choose to wash my hair anyway. I just like starting my styling days off with fresh, clean, non-weighed down hair. My experiences with co-washing my hair have ranged from ok to just plain horrible.  The "plain horrible" experience left my hair feeling like it had a residue on it. This made it difficult to style.  

     Now that I have colored my hair, it's more important than ever that I properly condition my hair so that it will not be damaged.  With that being said, coloring my hair has made me revisit the idea of co-washing my hair more often.  I don't want my hair to break or my color to fade too fast. I set out to co-wash my hair yesterday and I was having a hard time choosing a conditioner.  I absolutely love the As I Am Coconut Co-Wash Cleansing Conditioner but I also love the Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Hydrating-Calming Conditioner. I could not decide which one to use, so I decided to use both of them. My results were amazing! My hair is really soft and shiny. It was also easier to detangle. The moral of the story is that if you have two conditioners that both offer benefits that you desire, don't be afraid to try them both.  You may be surprised at the results.  I will say that a good rule of thumb for selecting your co-wash conditioners is to be sure that they don't contain any sulfates or parabens. Also, stay away from silicones. These ingredients can make your hair heavy and also leave a residue.  Nobody likes weighed down curls. I followed my cowash with a brief deep conditioning using Eden BodyWorks All Natural Deep Conditioner.  When I got ready to style my hair there was no residue.  See my next tutorial to see the results of my first flat twist out!

Ever spend your precious time twisting or braiding your natural hair, only to untwist it and it looks like an undefined mass?   It happens =(. One of the perks of having natural hair is its ability to be shaped with something as simple as a bobby pin.  Spring and summertime weddings are the perfect time to put this to use!!  I created this wedding style on a 2 day old twist out I did using  Nothing But (brand) Pure Pudding  cream. This cream was very light and therefore my twist out was not as defined as usual. This style is perfect for a twist out that did not turn out as defined as you would have liked.  Follow the steps below to recreate this easy half-frohawk.

1. Using CurlCare strong hold gel, brush and smooth back the hair on front right side of your head and secure it with small bobby pins.

2.  Once the hair is secure, arrange your twisted or curled hair to fall foward to cover or hide the pins.  Arrange the rest of the hair from this section to your liking. (I did more separating of the twists and light teasing to make hair bigger)

3.  Leave the other side of your twist unsecured and arrange curls to your liking.

5-10 minutes and you're done! How do you save your twist-outs or braid outs that you don't like? Please Share!