How Did You Grow Out Of The Twa Phase?

[leigh.hill]

Okay, real talk here. I have been in the TWA phase for almost three years now. Admittedly, I have made mistakes along the way. Permanent dye. Braids. Permanent dye again. Random barber cuts. But I have been pretty serious about hair growth for the past 18 months. My ends are so sad. They break off all the time. I twist my hair every night. Is that the culprit? What do I need to do to wake up with moisturized un-matted hair with healthy ends? FYI - My hair is about 4 inches in the front and 1 inch in the back. I have a tapered style.

 

[koolkittychick]

I feel your pain! I just did the BC 2 months ago, after an 11-month transition, and although I have about 6 inches of hair all around, it's a TWA due to shrinkage. All I can tell you is that the last time I grew a TWA out (about 9 years ago), I left my hair alone. Kept it clean and moisturized, and let the 'fro grow. No twisting. No braids/extensions. Nothing. On days when it was too much, I wore hats and scarves. As it grew long enough, I put it in two French braids down the sides of my head and slapped the hat back on or just wore it like that with some curly bangs if I did them nicely enough. It grew out to APL/BSL (and this was back in the day when they didn't have products for our natural hair!) before I was dumb enough to bleach it blonde and murder my curls. For some heads, the less you mess with your hair, the nicer it is to you, even if it doesn't look super cute for a while. That's the stage I'm in right now; living with not so super cute hair in flat twists under a hat for the time being until I can get it back to the waist length it was when I decided to transition back to natural. Good luck on your journey!

 

[Prettymetty]

I started blowing my hair out every 2 weeks or at least once a month. Keeping it straight took me from twa to Apl in less than a year.

 

[Guinan]

I used wigs to grow my hair out of the twa stage. As far as a reggie: I clarify, DC, leavein and style.

What is ur current reggie. The twists could be the culprit if ur not twisting right or twisting too much. I just recently found out that you shouldn't borrow from twist. Meaning, just twist until no more or alittle before the end and twirl. Even if there is not enough hair from one twist. It can cause ssks. I'm not explaining it right but utuber naptural85 has a video on how to properly twist ur hair.

 

[Honey Bee]

Okay, real talk here. I have been in the TWA phase for almost three years now. Admittedly, I have made mistakes along the way. Permanent dye. Braids. Permanent dye again. Random barber cuts. But I have been pretty serious about hair growth for the past 18 months. My ends are so sad. They break off all the time. I twist my hair every night. Is that the culprit? What do I need to do to wake up with moisturized un-matted hair with healthy ends? FYI - My hair is about 4 inches in the front and 1 inch in the back. I have a tapered style.

Maybe over-manipulation?

 

[yaya24]

Vitamins, sulfur mix and inversion + Moisturized nightly.

Then 2 months after my big chop I started blowdrying and twisting (2 strand or flat twist). I would pin the twists into a style and it it alone for 1-2 weeks and moisturizing nightly.

From Feb- April I experimented with twistouts and other "out" styles plus less blowdrying. This resulted in ssks which I had to trim.

Majority of May I've been back to twisting.

I just installed some semi mini twists and I hope they last a month. I'll probably cowash them 2x.

All this to say- twisting it and low manipulation was the key.

Im 4b so my hair will probably shrink to twa status until I'm MBL lol.

 

[discodumpling]

Okay, real talk here. I have been in the TWA phase for almost three years now. Admittedly, I have made mistakes along the way. Permanent dye. Braids. Permanent dye again. Random barber cuts. But I have been pretty serious about hair growth for the past 18 months. My ends are so sad. They break off all the time. I twist my hair every night. Is that the culprit? What do I need to do to wake up with moisturized un-matted hair with healthy ends? FYI - My hair is about 4 inches in the front and 1 inch in the back. I have a tapered style.

The bolded is your issue. Especially if you opted to lighten instead of darken. It's a risk that us nat'ralista's take. Old colored ends are the devil! Daily manipulation is also not good if you want your hair to thrive. Try protective styling when you grow out your tapered cut...for now just enjoy it! There is so much to do with 4 inches of hair!

 

[GGsKin]

When I started transitioning, my hair was short (growing out a cut and bone straight relaxer, plus bald spots. I needed to stay away from heat because I seriously overused it before transitioning. I used extensions- braids, twists and crochet to hide my hair until it was a length I was happy to wear out. I occasionally wore it out, but not before I'd cut all the relaxed ends.

 

[leigh.hill]

The bolded is your issue. Especially if you opted to lighten instead of darken. It's a risk that us nat'ralista's take. Old colored ends are the devil! Daily manipulation is also not good if you want your hair to thrive. Try protective styling when you grow out your tapered cut...for now just enjoy it! There is so much to do with 4 inches of hair!

OF COURSE, I opted to lighten. Lol. That was over a year ago. I think all of that color is gone. I have learned my lesson with permanent dye.

 

[nothidden]

What do I need to do to wake up with moisturized un-matted hair with healthy ends? FYI - My hair is about 4 inches in the front and 1 inch in the back. I have a tapered style.

My 4c/fractals are around 4 - 5 long. I've come to accept that the only way to keep my hair from matting is to not let my head touch the pillow (not happenin'). But recently I began an evening routine of saturating my hair with Tresemme Naturals Radiant Volume, finger detangling as I work this thru, then rinsing in the morning before my WnG routine. Not only is my hair more moisturized and MUCH easier to finger detangle, but my root-to-tip coils are firmer and popping up everywhere. I don't have issues w/my ends, at least none that I can see.

 

[Evolving78]

Stop twisting your hair daily!
Use a reconstructor, along with a moisturizing deep condition.
Any time I have grown out a twa, I would do wash and goes, or put my hair in two strand twists and leave them in for a week or two.
You can try finger coils too.
With wash and goes, I would do a use goody hair bands to pull my hair back into a puff.
But the twisting all of the time has too stop. That's too much manipulation.

 

[Evolving78]

And use a refresher spray. Shea moisture shine and hold spray is good, oyin juices and berries is good too! You can use those daily through out the day if needed.

 

[leigh.hill]

I have not twisted my hair daily since this post. Thank you ALL for being real even though hearing the truth is hard I "saving" the twist outs for special occasions and very little manipulation for the remainder of the summer. I tried the MHM, little manipulation, but tooooooooooooo much work. I am going to try the Castor Oil Challenge. A little scalp massage would not hurt (I hope).

 

[Misseyl]

I twist everyday because that's how I do moisturized and seal. I would lay of the dye and the barber's chair for a while.

 

[almond eyes]

I shaved last May 2013 and shaped up in June 2013. My hair has about 4-6 inches of growth. It would have been longer had I not messed around with color at the very beginning.

What helped my hair to get out of that stage and why I am retaining length:

1. No color
2. No extensions at all, no wigs either my scalp needs to breathe
3. Washing my hair weekly and in sections with elastic bands or clips and with warm water. Warm water softens high porosity hair. I stopped doing this cold water rinse at the end, it doesn't work for me. Washing weekly helps to keep scalp clean.
4. Deep conditioning weekly making sure my moisturising conditioner has no protein and my DC treatments for at least 30 minutes to one hour or more but not over night
5. Understanding how to use protein properly and when it is needed
6. Using a harder protein on my ends only like every eight weeks and follow up with a Deep Conditioner
7. Using a mild protein on my whole hair every four weeks and follow up with a Deep Conditioner
8. Light dustings to prevent splits from going up the shaft and blocking progress
9. Drinking more water and eating well taking a kelp supplement
10. Not using protein leave ins
11. I protective style in cornrows (not all going back down like a duck that look doesn't look good on me) and pin them up and use a nice silk thick head band. I rarely wear my hair out when I do it is a stretched soft afro or a pony puff that I do not like to do often because of the tension and pulling
12. Finger comb but do use a comb occasionally to remove shed hairs and to stretch the hair a bit
13. Use moisturizer and oil/grease on my ends daily
14. Use a silk or satin scarf nightly and when I am going out into the hot sun
15. Once I wash my hair I do light flat twists using olive oil when it dries within five hours or so, I then use my fingers to stretch my hair and then do my cornrows but using oil to make sure my hair isn't dry. I will redo my cornrows twice a week but I do not do them tight. My hair texture is fine, dense and frizzy so they always look like my hair isn't even braided which means I can brush the front nicely. In doing my hair twice a week only I am not doing over manipulation to my hair.

I was doing water only before, the method helped me a lot but if you have fine hair you must do your protein treatments to prevent limp hydra fatigued hair. Washing once a week works for me and my schedule but I make that wash day count.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[naija24]

I started blowing my hair out every 2 weeks or at least once a month. Keeping it straight took me from twa to Apl in less than a year.

What was your length when you first BC'ed then? That sounds amazing. I'm now blowing out my twa (6 months post relaxer, 5 months post BC) weekly and I'm ear length. I'd like to be CBL by next April.

 

[Prettymetty]

When I first bcd I only had 1/2 inch of hair. I started straightening my twa once it was about 3-4 inches.

Even now I like to keep my hair straight for convenience. I can bun it, roll it, etc. In its natural state the only thing I can do is plait it or wear a poofy bun

 

[bluenvy]

I was in love with my hair when I bc. I transitioned for a while so bc left me with 4 inches of hair.
It started with finding lhcf and learning about cowashing which I did daily or every few days. And moisturizing and sealing.
After I m/s I put about 4-6 Bantu knots and tie with silk scarf. Take out next day to moisturized, loose curls. My ends were healthy because they were tucked away.

My hair would look dry if I slept in an wash n go style.
For my hair, the only way to wake up to moisturized healthy looking hair, I must stretch protective style the night before.

 

[k.belle]

When I went natural over 5 years ago, I cut it to only a few inches. I had hand in hair disease for sure lol, but I found that moisture was so important, I would co-wash about every few days or when it got dry; and because my hair is thick and sorta course in areas, I used castor oil mixed with olive oil to moisturize. (So the castor oil challenge may be a great idea)
I only did it at night because the oils was slightly heavy, but then after using a silk scarf overnight, my hair was the perfect balance by morning. (I didn't use too much to saturate pillows lol, my hair would drink the stuff).

As it grew, I would put it in twists, but leave it that way for at least a week to avoid manipulation. I remember I was at shoulder length in an year (did a couple of trims) and I believe it was because of the low manipulation. I became more of a straight natural for a while after then, but I still protective style in between.
Keep it up, and keep us posted