How will/did you grow out your TWA

[AfroDoll]

Hi Ladies...

I'm a bit frustrated with my hair at the mo... I think I Big Chopped too soon (@ 4 months post). After my BC I wore a couple of quick weaves for a few months but the wig caps would dry out my hair. Now I've got braid extensions which looked nice at first but after washing them they look a mess and its only been 2 weeks!
I know I'll end up taking out these braids soon but I just don't know what to do with this TWA of mine! My go-to style was a curly weave with my hair left out at the front, but I'm sure I can't do that now with only 3 inches... yeah 3 inches @ 8 months post I thought I would have at least 4 inches by now *sigh*

So my question is what styles did you use to grow out your TWA?
Or if you're at TWA-length now how are you styling it?

Thanks!!

 

[kandake]

I'm six month's post BC. I BC'd after a 3 1/2 - 4 month stretch. I wear puffs because my fro looks weird at this length. I'm going to where this puff until I'm comfortable wearing twistouts and braidouts.

 

[faithVA]

At 3 inches I alternated between a wig and comb coils. Then I moved on to cornrows with extensions. Then I moved onto kinky twists.

If you moisturize your hair in the morning and evening with the wig you should still be ok. Not sure what you mean about drying it out. Try one of the "juices" and see if that works.

What type of braids do you have. Washing 1x shouldn't leave them that bad. Perhaps try covering your braids with a wig cap and only shampooing your scalp.

There is a similar thread to this that popped up this month. Hopefully so one remembers which one it is.

 

[AfroDoll]

I'm six month's post BC. I BC'd after a 3 1/2 - 4 month stretch. I wear puffs because my fro looks weird at this length. I'm going to where this puff until I'm comfortable wearing twistouts and braidouts.

See, if my hair was your length I would happily wear a puff. But I just feel like my hair is too short to do anything with it right now.

 

[AfroDoll]

At 3 inches I alternated between a wig and comb coils. Then I moved on to cornrows with extensions. Then I moved onto kinky twists.

If you moisturize your hair in the morning and evening with the wig you should still be ok. Not sure what you mean about drying it out. Try one of the "juices" and see if that works.

What type of braids do you have. Washing 1x shouldn't leave them that bad. Perhaps try covering your braids with a wig cap and only shampooing your scalp.

There is a similar thread to this that popped up this month. Hopefully so one remembers which one it is.

I only moisturised & sealed once a day I'll try to do it in the morning and evening. I was using s-curl, I think that's a "juice" lol but it leaves my hair greasy. I have pick & drop/micro braids, I tried to concentrate on the scalp when washing but the braids have gone all frizzy.

 

[Charla]

My last relaxer was 10/22/10
In Jan 2011 I BC'd but left on about 1" of relaxed ends and started wearing half wigs. (Finally removed all relaxed ends 3/21/11) I've been wearing them ever since and I only use satin bonnets under my half wigs, never a wig cap.

Maybe try that because the satin bonnet won't sap moisture from your hair.

 

[Bublin]

I have seen some women with about 4 inches of hair really do some creative things....
On the train this morning it looked as though this lady had done a wash and go/gel and then used hair combs to pull up the sides and back, so it kind of looked like an up do. The combs were plain black, except for the one at the back that had crystals on it.

You could also want to experiment with scarfs and headbands.

ETA - years ago i shaved all my hair off - i was left with about an inch of hair and it was wonderful. As it grew out it became very 'awkward'. I remember for a couple of months i felt i had no choice but to start getting creative and used alot of pretty accessories until i felt it was long enough to cornrow, wear a half wig, braid extensions etc.

 

[AfroDoll]

My last relaxer was 10/22/10
In Jan 2011 I BC'd but left on about 1" of relaxed ends and started wearing half wigs. (Finally removed all relaxed ends 3/21/11) I've been wearing them ever since and I only use satin bonnets under my half wigs, never a wig cap.

Maybe try that because the satin bonnet won't sap moisture from your hair.

My last relaxer was in Oct.10 aswell! just a few days after yours on the 30th! I was thinking about getting a half-wig but wasn't sure if my hair was long enough How do you blend your hair with the wig & can you recommend any curly/afro halfwigs. Thanks

 

[iri9109]

i BC'd at 4 months post too...at first i wore WnG's because thats all i could do, then about 6 months later i got a weave (i dont think i had that much hair for my leave out either, but it still blended), then i experimented a little with half wigs (no hair left out because my wigs are wavy...check my fotki to see how i wore it), and an occasional twistout, and then ponies/puffs but my staple was the wash n go...now i'm doing mostly buns and ponies/puffs, and i wear my hair down maybe 1x or 2x a week

 

[Bublin]

I just came across this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm-_h0p9-ks&feature=related

This lady has managed to blend just 3inches of hair into a half wig. Not saying you will like the style or not but it may give you some ideas.

Also this lady has put a few inches of hair into an up do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODLs7FkChhg&feature=related

 

[AfroDoll]

I have seen some women with about 4 inches of hair really do some creative things....
On the train this morning it looked as though this lady had done a wash and go/gel and then used hair combs to pull up the sides and back, so it kind of looked like an up do. The combs were plain black, except for the one at the back that had crystals on it.

You could also want to experiment with scarfs and headbands.

ETA - years ago i shaved all my hair off - i was left with about an inch of hair and it was wonderful. As it grew out it became very 'awkward'. I remember for a couple of months i felt i had no choice but to start getting creative and used alot of pretty accessories until i felt it was long enough to cornrow, wear a half wig, braid extensions etc.

Thanks! I actually just ordered a few head scarves from ASOS. I'll definitely do some experimenting!... I wish I was more creative with my hair

ETA: Yeah, I feel like my hair is at the "awkward" stage.

 

[AfroDoll]

i BC'd at 4 months post too...at first i wore WnG's because thats all i could do, then about 6 months later i got a weave (i dont think i had that much hair for my leave out either, but it still blended), then i experimented a little with half wigs (no hair left out because my wigs are wavy...check my fotki to see how i wore it), and an occasional twistout, and then ponies/puffs but my staple was the wash n go...now i'm doing mostly buns and ponies/puffs, and i wear my hair down maybe 1x or 2x a week

Thanks *off to fotki*......

 

[AfroDoll]

I just came across this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm-_h0p9-ks&feature=related

This lady has managed to blend just 3inches of hair into a half wig. Not saying you will like the style or not but it may give you some ideas.

Also this lady has put a few inches of hair into an up do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODLs7FkChhg&feature=related

Thank u so much! will have a look...

 

[Roux]

See, if my hair was your length I would happily wear a puff. But I just feel like my hair is too short to do anything with it right now.

Okay, this is going to sound completely INSANE to you alright...

I BC'd at 13 months post, and I felt like my hair was too short to do anything with. And i'm dead serious. Even with 7 inches of hair I couldn't figure it the hell out.

Now at 3 months post I am just now figuring out which styles I like and such. I think your hair is the perfect length for wash n gos and finger coils.

 

[LongLeggedLife]

I just scruffed it around and let it grow. I strongly dislike that lil amount of hair pushed back and headbanded, it almost always looks better framing the face, imo.
I just got a feminine line up around my neck/hairline, then wash&go.

 

[Evolving78]

wash and gos! i loved my curly little shrunken fro. sometimes i would do finger coils, or two strand twists once i got two inches. twa is a great stage! get little flower clips too. i saw some in Target today.

 

[hairedity]

I grew mine out w/braids

 

[MzSwift]

I BC'd 2 months post but decided to shave it all off so I started at 1/4" if that.

By the time I was 2 inches, it was fall so I started rocking twist and curly braid extensions back to back. By the time I was 4 inches I learned how to cornrow (FINALLY!!) and started rocking wigs and headbands.

I will say that, initially, the styles I rocked felt awkward at first. But the more I did them, the more comfortable I felt rocking them. Here are a few of my short hairstyles when I did wear my hair out:

Braided roots

Braided roots, back

Braidout @ about 4 inches

Braidout side

Bantu Knotout fro

HTH!

 

[Charla]

My last relaxer was in Oct.10 aswell! just a few days after yours on the 30th! I was thinking about getting a half-wig but wasn't sure if my hair was long enough How do you blend your hair with the wig & can you recommend any curly/afro halfwigs. Thanks

That's cool, AfroDoll ! You can definitely wear a half wig! I don't bother with trying to blend my hair in -- details below.

This is my favorite one. It's Outre Nita. The wig is actually thicker than the picture (the lady told me the manufc added more hair, which I like!), but my wig had this same pic on it. You can get it on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ATFMRE/?tag=710-20

On these pics, it was my first time wearing it, and it's big! So I pulled it back a little more and used hair pins. And the hair on this wig is super soft! Now I really love the biggness (it has settled down some!) and I get a lot of compliments every time I wear it, so I don't pull it as far back anymore or use hair pins at all.









What I do is, in this order, I just moisturize my hair, apply my satin bonnet (at this point the bonnet is sitting in the middle of my forehead), put on a STRETCHY headband over the satin bonnet and let it go around my neck. Then I put on the half wig starting at where the bonnet is sitting on my forehead and then slowly slide it all back to where only about 1.5-2" of my hairline is exposed. Then I pull the headband up and it covers the wig line.

Doing it this way I don't have to try to blend the hair in or use gel to lay my hair down.

Also beware of wig combs pulling or breaking your hair. I always cut all hair combs out of my wigs.

HTH!

 

[tiffers]

I'm not very creative, so I just wear it curly. Maybe add a headband in the mix every now and then for a little spice.

 

[Nonie]

AfroDoll, I found myself going from SL to a little under 3 inches of hair w/o my consent when I trusted my natural head to a SHS (Feb 2007). So I do know what it's like to find yourself w/ short hair when you were not prepared for it. But after I got over the shock, I made it work.

So this is the hair I had before the BC:

And this is the hair I was left with after the BC:

And just so you can get perspective of how much hair you're looking at, I've got a huge fore- (nay, five-) head. Measured it's about 3 inches long:

I don't know what products you use but if you start by getting yourself S Curl and make that your only leave-in, you'll be on the right track. Trust me on that. (Or just read this thread to learn more.)

Following are some pics of how I wore my hair. First you can see even w/ that itty bitty length, I still wore a puff. I might've looked like those bald babies with a hairband around their heads, but I didn't let that stop me:

This is the front view from my ID (No really, there's a puff; I know it's hard to see without straining but it's there )

Now after discovering S Curl and plaiting my hair for the night then baggying, my hair was fluffy and not as shrunken. I got less shrunken with each subsequent night of braiding and baggying. I'd wait till it was partly dry after taking off the baggy, but not too dry to comb, and then style:

Then I got tired of having to braid my whole head so I cornrowed the front so I could leave it unbothered all week and just braid and undo the back. This was one style:

This was another style:

Now you have to understand that I'm lazy. I had spent most of my life not dealing with my hair on a daily basis so that^^ was work to me. Where I come from (Kenya) and back when I was growing up, folks didn't constantly style their differently every morning--unless school rules called for loose, combed hair, like mine did. The norm was to have your hair put away in some low mani style and save any loose/out styles for special occasions. So this bidness of combing my hair every day to go to work was more than I was used to so by April (2 mths after the surprise BC), I was tired of it and decided to braid my hair. Lucky for me, I can do my own extension braids, and I implore you to learn because once you do, you can put your hair away for months on end and not have any damage. You know how you say that your braids got messy? Imagine if you knew how to redo them... You could just undo one and redo it and keep that up as time allows till all are redone and looking fresh. And you can do the perimeter first so that when you put them up the fresh ones hide the messy ones. Makes life so much easier. What's more, you doing your own hair would be safer since you wouldn't pull too much and you'd take care to use less fake hair per section of yours so you don't create too much tension

Otherwise, wigs and headwraps and hats are awesome... Just fall in love with baggying and S Curl and you will find your hair will not dry with these methods. Saran wrap works very well for baggying because it lies flat against your head so that wigs and wraps can fit and look right. This is an example of my Saran wrap baggy for the night:

 

[itsjusthair88]

I am in that stage now: 4-5.5" all around and it's awkward as h3ll...at first, I wore WnG, then I wore a wig, then I wore twists with extensions, then comb coils, now twists with my regular hair...up next? half-wig with a braid/twist out in front (to blend) and cornrows in the back...that should take me to SL (fingers crossed)

 

[RubyWoo]

twists and twistouts were my 'go to' styles.

 

[skraprchik]

I BC'd to about 1 in, which looked like about 1/4 in with the shrinkage. I wore wng's for a good 6 months, then twists, twist-outs, flat twists in front with twist-out/wng back, headbands, head scarves, barettes to pull it back on the sides, and lately a few half-wigs at 4.5-5 inches all around.

It's summer time, and since with my shrinkage I still look like I have a TWA, it's back to the wng's for me. I may dress them up since I've found the beauty that is decorated bobby pins and clips. Right now Target has some really cute hair toys that I'm going to go stock up on this weekend.

 

[Luvcurlies1984]

Just do twist outs or wash n go.

 

[Truth]

Wash n gos ...alllllllll day ...

Sent from my MB200 using MB200

 

[B_Phlyy]

As soon as my hair was long enough to grip, I did my own box braid extensions. I washed once every 2 weeks using the C & G method.

 

[kandake]

I BC'd to about 1 in, which looked like about 1/4 in with the shrinkage. I wore wng's for a good 6 months, then twists, twist-outs, flat twists in front with twist-out/wng back, headbands, head scarves, barettes to pull it back on the sides, and lately a few half-wigs at 4.5-5 inches all around.

It's summer time, and since with my shrinkage I still look like I have a TWA, it's back to the wng's for me. I may dress them up since I've found the beauty that is decorated bobby pins and clips. Right now Target has some really cute hair toys that I'm going to go stock up on this weekend.

They have the cutest flower pins. I bought a few last weekend.

 

[AfroDoll]

Okay, this is going to sound completely INSANE to you alright...

I BC'd at 13 months post, and I felt like my hair was too short to do anything with. And i'm dead serious. Even with 7 inches of hair I couldn't figure it the hell out.

Now at 3 months post I am just now figuring out which styles I like and such. I think your hair is the perfect length for wash n gos and finger coils.

Yep you're right.. sounds completely insane
I just feel like if my hair was a couple of inches longer I would have way more styling options.
When I take out my braids, I'll try a wash n go & see how it turns out. Thanks.

 

[MyAngelEyez~C~U]

Wash n go's n puffs, easy peasy.