Rough ends and TWA envy

[nlamr2013]

So after taking down my mini twists my ends feel a bit rough granted I haven't detangled, washed, conditioned or anything yet by still this is alarming to me. Any pre wash steps or precautions I should take?
If it helps to know I had the twist in for a week and cowashed about 4-6 times and the twists were about the size of
A single yarn strand.
Also does anyone else who transitioned instead of doing the big chop ever get TWA envy, I see many people online and in person rocking shorter styles (sl and above) and get envious since my hair went from sl relaxed to about apl mixed to about sl natural no TWA :sad
20 months natural and loving it!

 

[Roux]

I have transitioners envy period. seems that everyone's hair is longer than mine...especially those that transitioned around the same length of time or shorter. I think it's normal.

try oiling your hair and finger detangling to get the sheds out of your hair first before washing.

 

[Nonie]

Since I'm 4B, TWA envy isn't something that worries me coz I can wear a TWA at any length. All I need to is let my hair shrink and then pat it down to whatever size TWA I want it to be. I can at least get it to about 1.5 inch TWA, I think. (I'm APL stretched)

Your twist were the size of yarn? Eek! Those were micro. I wish you'd posted before you'd taken them out coz I think waiting to detangle when all your hair is out is just asking for a headache.

My twists are not as tiny as yours. But if I were undoing them all, I'd thoroughly finger comb each before moving on to the next. I am undoing and redoing a few twists today and my ends do not feel rough. Do you dust? I do it every 8 weeks and I suspect this is why they feel good. Below you can see what my ends look like and I swear they are as soft as they look. The second pic shows you my freshly redone twist, and you can see how neat the end is because I last dusted on May 13.

Normally I have to wet the ends of my twists to get them to look nice and neat but it seems that if I'm consistent with dusting, that's not necessary at all:

And this is what the freshly done twists looks with those tidy ends:

OK, so here's what I think you need to do: Get some slippery balm (conditioner or oil), pull out a small section of your hair and smooth the balm through it by stretching the strands to open up the coils and ensure the product is making the strands slippery. See if you're able to pull out strands like I'm doing in this vid when you have the hair stretched out. If you're able to, then you'll find you can get fully detangled hair. I suggest you braid the section and then work on another. You will need to do this to remove shed hair and fully detangle before you wet your hair. If you get tired, put the rest of the hair in big plaits and put on a plastic cap and then continue when you're not tired. But you'll have to commit to anally separating strands as I do in that vid to pull out the shed hair and make sure tangles don't happen. I can't promise that your ends will be as cooperative as mine are in that vid if they are in bad shape, but do your best. Add more oil for slip if you need to...but focus on stretching to separate.

My suggestion is not to do very small twists like that, especially not if you take them out after a week. Also if you don't twirl each strand of the twist about its axis both in the same direction before winding them around each other in the opposite direction, you should start doing that. Then please please please dust your ends regularly. Honestly folks hate when I implore them to do this but if my coily hair can be this easy to undo when I don't seal my ends, surely dusting has to have some positive effects if done regularly.

 

[nlamr2013]

I am just seeing this thank you for your responses. I detangled and dc'ed and the ends feel much better now.
:yep
20 months natural and loving it!

 

[nlamr2013]

Also nonie thanks for the pics and advice. Yes I do dust my ends and do search and destroy when I see anything wrong with my ends. I tried doing larger twists but they just fell out when I went to wash them.

20 months natural and loving it!

 

[DDTexlaxed]

If I could switch with a long haired natural, they could have my TWA. I have transitioner's envy right now because I wished I transitioned longer.