Puffy Ends

[Nubenap22]

Hello Curly Divas,

I have a problem. I want to two strand twist or mini braid my hair but my ends are puffy. I even tried twisting all the way to the ends but its still the same and twisting smaller twists, Any suggestions ladies? I'd really like to do something besides puffs

TIA!

 

[Phaer]

bumping... I have this same problem...maybe beeswax will help...waiting to see what responses you get.

 

[bride91501]

I've always taken "puffy" ends to be a good thing....that your hair has the same density from root to tip. Your hair looks healthy to me.

For a no-heat option, maybe you can try airdrying in braids braided all the way to the end, which should flatten your ends. Then maybe your hair will be easier to twist down to the end.

 

[Nubenap22]

yea they're air drying now and i might use my miss jessies or oyin(its says out for delivery from ups) shine and define later and re-twist it and maybe do them smaller

 

[Sunrise]

What about using some type of Oil moisturiser (I use Hairveda Whipped Ends) or, mist with Water and seal with chosen oil?

 

[Nubenap22]

Im also waiting on my afroveda stuff to arrive but thats weeks off. What I did use was knot today as a leave in and shea butter and aloe vera jell with castor on the ends

 

[Poohbear]

I was thinking the same thing (that puffy ends is a good thing). I used to have puffy ends when my hair was shorter and before I started using heat more often.

But if you want to get rid of the puffy ends, just add more product and smooth your hair more as you braid or twist the very ends of your hair. Let's say you are braiding and run out of a section to braid, you may just have to re-section the 2 sections that you have left into 3 sections and keep braiding down (hope that makes sense). And you may have to wrap a rubber band or perm rod around the ends of your braids or twists so the ends will not unravel.

Hope that helps.

 

[Nonie]

I think when you hair is freshly washed, it'll puff up like that. Making the twists thick also makes the puffs stand out more.

I think you should first stretch your hair in braids, braiding to the ends and let your hair airdry in the braids. And THEN retwist the stretched hair in smaller twists twisting to the ends.

If you do it this way, even if you wet your twists and they puff up, as long as the twists are small enough to be close to the size of your natural curl pattern, you will be able to press the ends and roll them between your fingers for neat single end.

Notice the puffing on the ends of braids done on damp hair:

Another image of puffing on ends (and I have fine hair BTW):

But once my hair has been dried in the braids, I am able to twist afresh and have less puffing but still the ends flare out in a way I don't care for. Wetting them makes them coil in a way that I can press together to have a nice neat finish:

 

[Nubenap22]

Thanks a bunch nonie!! I'm going to watch a movie and retwist later!!! Right now its time for blue crabs!!


Plus I think my curl pattern is too small to twist each single clump...It would take days and be a mess to take out! So I think Im just going to try to do medium ones and see how it works out!!

 

[Nonie]

Thanks a bunch nonie!! I'm going to watch a movie and retwist later!!! Right now its time for blue crabs!!


Plus I think my curl pattern is too small to twist each single clump...It would take days and be a mess to take out! So I think Im just going to try to do medium ones and see how it works out!!

My coils are tiny and I didn't mean you have to match your coils exactly coz that gives a mental image of taking extremely narrow sections. I think twirling the strands before winding them around each other does make the twists appear tiny, but as you can see, there's a lot of hair incorporated in each one:

And they really aren't messy at all to undo. Of course I don't use products over the length of my twists so matting isn't something I ever have to deal with. But because I do them small, the ends usually look like this:

 

[Nubenap22]

Wow those are cute!! I dont think I have enough length that I would be happy enough to do them that small....I might try ones about twice that size....my oyin products came in....happy about that!!


Hold on Nonie...so you dont use anything to twist them? what about mositure and how long do you keep them in?

 

[Nonie]

Hold on Nonie...so you dont use anything to twist them? what about mositure and how long do you keep them in?

Nope, I do them on bare hair. For the last 10 years, I got my moisture from washing my hair and from baggying every night or before wearing a hat or wrap, which I believe not only helped keep my hair from losing moisture gained from conditioning but also encouraged sebum production. I wash my hair twice a week, (shampoo, condition, ACV rinse) with one of the two washes including a DC before the shampoo.

Before I settled on two washes a week, I started by just washing my hair whenever it felt dry, because water is moisture and because conditioning locked in the moisture. Sometimes I'd just CW. For a long time, I would always CW my twists before styling them because they'd be more flexible and easier to work with. Other times I'd just CW so I'd do a WNG on twists, so they'd hang down straight.

But yeah, until August 2010 when I decided to start putting something on my ends, I never used anything on my twists. I still twist on bare and then keep them bare until I plan on wearing them down, when I spray the ends with S Curl. But I can tell you I usually can't wait to wash them every time I do that. It's like I just tolerate having product on the ends only coz I think it'll do them some good, since the ends are old and need all the TLC they can get if retention is to happen. Otherwise, I'd rather just leave them bare, put on a baggy and wear a hat or wrap to protect my ends.

 

[Nubenap22]

What do you put in your baggie?

 

[Nonie]

What do you put in your baggie?

LOL, nothing.

I just put on a plastic cap on my bare hair and it works beautifully. My hair stays soft and moisturized. The cap traps my own scalp's sebum and because it cannot evaporate, it seems to just transfer to my entire strands so that they seem to get better with time. Also the heat of the cap sort of seems to create a steaming effect and it's as if the conditioner coating from my last wash penetrates even more. And because I have not used a mixture of many products, I don't wind up with wet or smelly or moldy hair, nor do I have product oozing out of the cap down my face. My hair just has a clean smell of the conditioner I used and it feels moist, not wet.

Now that I used S Curl on my ends, the product does transfer to my hair when I baggy, but because I am never heavy handed, I still don't get dripping hair and now my hair just smells like S Curl. But since I prefer my hair bare, I seldom baggy with S Curl because I stretch the bare hair thing by wearing a baggy 24/7, only using S Curl on ends when I wear my hair out once in a while. That night I might baggy with the S Curl still on ends, but you can bet your bottom dollar, I'll be washing my hair soon.

Product on my hair gets on my scalp which does give me the itches if I baggy with it--unless it's 100% natural like the concoction I used to regrow my bald spots. But I love a clean scalp and clean bare hair so I gravitate to that the most.

 

[Blkprincess]

interesting thread, I have the same issue, I was thinking that maybe I would have to cut them off. maybe I need to pony-tail roller-set more often to smooth the ends out.

 

[song_of_serenity]

I use "kimmay tube conditioner" on my ends. She says the aloe vera actually helps keep the cuticles closed and the ends from puffing/flaring out. It works for me. Instead of puffing out mine coils up nicely

 

[Charz]

It may be a porosity issue. try rinsing with diluted ACV, or Roux Porosity Control

 

[Ms Lala]

I would try some aloe and shea butter mixed. I think the fact that your ends are so thick is great though. Also try making your parts smaller and be sure your hair is detangled well. This is why I stopped cutting my ends blunt, my hair would not hold braids and twists when I did.

 

[choctaw]

I braid down at least an inch to half the length of strands, smooth ends with castor/coconut oil and twist down to end and coil tip around my finger. When my ends are freshly dusted (blunt), it is more difficult to twist/braid because of the puffy ends.

HTH

 

[Nubenap22]

It may be a porosity issue. try rinsing with diluted ACV, or Roux Porosity Control

I would like to try this but I don't know the ratio that would work....Would I do this after deep conditioning and not rinse it back out? I tried the roux once but not since being fully natural...I might have to figure out which works......Does anyone know a good mixture of the water to acv for mostly 4b hair?

I would try some aloe and shea butter mixed. I think the fact that your ends are so thick is great though. Also try making your parts smaller and be sure your hair is detangled well. This is why I stopped cutting my ends blunt, my hair would not hold braids and twists when I did.

When I went back and rebraided them in all much smaller braids I liked that much better but my skills wernt ready for the public yet Theeenn I tried mixing my raw shea butter with my aloe jell..... I even melted the shea on the stove in a water bath and tried to whip the aloe in.....negative! So I just used the oyin shine and define.....and burnt sugar pomade....I have found heaven in the pomade!! But Once I made them smaller and recoiled the ends they looked better and didnt poof!

 

[ilah]

When doing 2 strand twists I do them on co-washed hair. I do use MJ's Curly Pudding but I'm sure I could used something else. (I think it needs to be thick enough to coat the hair like a ORS Olive Oil + S-Curl No Drip)

Hair is detangled and really damp if not flat out wet. I use a "denman" to detangle and proceed with twisting, when I come to the ends I use my "denman" again to curl the ends and then twist each end a few times so it curls onto is self almost (pics in fotki). Your twists are on the larger side (assume that's for more volume ) maybe smaller twists would help???

But honestly I think Nonie's got you covered. What would we do with out her I'm not sure but I don't really want to find out.

 

[ajargon02]

YouTube - ♡♡♡LUVNaturals #19 Leave In Conditioner Recipe - Step by Step

apply and smooth through ends, then twist or braid. My hair curls right up every time. I think it's the combo of the cuticle being closed with product and smoothing.......just my 2 cents

 

[Ms Lala]

I would like to try this but I don't know the ratio that would work....Would I do this after deep conditioning and not rinse it back out? I tried the roux once but not since being fully natural...I might have to figure out which works......Does anyone know a good mixture of the water to acv for mostly 4b hair?



When I went back and rebraided them in all much smaller braids I liked that much better but my skills wernt ready for the public yet Theeenn I tried mixing my raw shea butter with my aloe jell..... I even melted the shea on the stove in a water bath and tried to whip the aloe in.....negative! So I just used the oyin shine and define.....and burnt sugar pomade....I have found heaven in the pomade!! But Once I made them smaller and recoiled the ends they looked better and didnt poof!

THat's odd. I can mix my shea and aloe together w/my magic bullet or other mixer. Is your shea butter really hard? Maybe add a little olive oil in.

 

[Nubenap22]

yea it was.....I just prefer to buy somethings like that pre mixed....Im not too good at mixing stuff like that.