Sunday, January 24

1 Year Protective Styling Challenge- Style #1- Marley Twists - Blue Highlights



Happy Sunday Beautiful People!

Where do I start?
Okay, so I have decided to protective style my hair for the whole 2016. What does that mean? Basically, I will be in twists or braids(with added hair) for 6-8 weeks at a time ALL year. I will only wear my real hair out for 2 weeks at a time so I can deep wash/dc and let it breath.
The reason I am doing this is because since I have been natural(almost 3 years), I have only done 3 protective styles which lasted only 4-6 weeks each time. I realized that in order for me to grow my hair out the way I would like, I need to incorporate long term protective styles(twists with my real hair isn't cutting it).  This is necessary for my 4C hair and has worked in the past when I was relaxed.

I decided to take starting pics. So here they are. I am aiming to retain 4 inches of hair by January 2017. I may trim once this year, but I will NOT be cutting as much hair as I have in the past. I swear I was scissor happy.

I showed the shortest portion of the back of my hair. I am really trying to have it catch up with the middle.


On to the Marley Twists-

So yesterday, I decide to install some Marley twists. It took me about 10 hours with MANY breaks in between. So it would have really been like 6 hours. I only used 1 full pack of the black hair and half of the blue hair. I don't like the added hair to be heavy, so this works for me. The black hair was a $14 pack which was 44'' long. It was like triple the size of normal packs of Marley Hair.



As usual, I braided the roots for a little then continued to twist. At first I was apprehensive about using blue hair since I work in Corporate America, but said f-it. I really want to have fun with my hair and in life, so hopefully my work ethic will speak louder than my hair.

I will keep these in for 6-8 weeks depending on my schedule. I will also most likely re-do the front at one point.



Anyone else protective styling this year? Share your plans :-)
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8 comments:

  1. Happy protective styling, I am weekly protective styling with cornrows and twists. I am still nursing my damaged hairline.

    https://lauralivll.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Thanks!
      That's great. One thing I am scared of is damaging my hairline so thanks for mentioning that. I will def be very careful with mine while in these PS's.

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  2. I am here cheering you on. I have to take care of some breakage and once that's done, I plan on a six month protective style challenge.

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    1. Thank you!
      That makes perfect sense. Good luck on nursing the breakage and the upcoming PS challenge!

      Delete
  3. Ugh...I heart marley twists and honestly---they look like your real hair! Good luck on your year long challenge chica! You shouldn't have any trouble retaining 4 inches!

    KLP @ www.savingourstrands.com

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    Replies
    1. I love them too. Really? I wish my hair was this long though..haha. Thank you! I am really hoping I do!

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  4. Been reading your blog. I want to do a protective style prefer crochet braids but I have a hard time with the synthetic hair bad allergies. I have been reading about the acv rinse which I tried once and it didn't work. May try again... Just Wondering if you know if some people still have a difficult time after doing the acv rinse? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello. I completely understand. If you still had issues with just the rinse, have you tried actually soaking the hair beforehand? I did a post on this a while back..http://www.6footlonghair.com/2012/04/apple-cider-vinegar-soak-to-remove.html

      You could also try to wash and condition the hair with diluted shampoo and conditioner.

      Another alternative is to oil your scalp with a carrier oil(Olive, coconut, jojoba, etc) mixed with a few drops of Tea Tree oil. That usually helps with itching.

      Sometimes it takes a few days for the itching to go away all together.

      Hope that helps.

      Delete

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