A common problem that many kinky and tightly coiled naturals face is single strand knotting,  Single strand knots occur when individual kinky, coiled strands wrap around themselves or connect and entwine with other strands.  Such knotting often increase when textured hair is allowed to shrink back tightly to the scalp after cleansing and is worn in this shrunken state.  Wash and gos, braid outs and twist outs are common triggers for single strand knotting, especially in longer natural hair.

The massive and annoying tangling and breakage that results from single strand knotting can work against length retention in natural hair quite dramatically

When wearing my hair out – I normally snip about 3 knots a week – that’s a lot of hair!

Keeping strands moisturized and protein balanced and oiled does help!

Reducing styling manipulation by wearing buns helps protect against knotting.

Stretching with a blow dryer helps greatly! but to keep the hair from drying out stretching the  hair with elastic bands (ponytail holders) along the length of the hair to keep it stretched.  Banding can be done on wet or dry hair: however wet or damp hair will lengthen more easily.   The technique is to separate hair into eight to ten sections.  Dampen and detangle one section of hair at a time and place a band at the  start, middle and end, allow to dry.  Alternatively a hooded dryer may be used.

The result will be stretched out, lengthier natural tresses!

How do you keep your knots at bay?

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Hair grows quickly from a shaved head to a small afro – mine did – so did yours I gather! It went from afro to afro puff then from the ears to the neck and from ears to the shoulder.  Arriving at shoulder length is not just one of the fastest growth points but it is also the heaviest breaking point!

While waiting for your hair to reach shoulder length wearing puffs, twists and braids can be helpful in maintaining and supporting the growth of your hair.  

Once it reaches shoulder length special care should be taken as you look over your routine and modify any changes that need to be made.  Such changes should involve taking special care of your hair ends; hair can be entwined in collars, coat and your shoulder bag!  Those ends are really fragile.  To prevent this use a protective style that enables you to pin up your hair into a bun, or put them in a baggie covered by hat or scarf or a hair clip with the ends covered or a phony afro puff etc. There are so many protective styles to choose from – just keep those ends covered..

Fortify the ends at night with moisturiser and a heavy cream or spray with a homemade moisturiser using aloe vera juice, mineral water and castor oil. Cover with your usual silk scarf.

Are you past shoulder length yet?

Yeh that’s right! I love crochet braids – so will you!

Here are my reasons why:-

First of all buy your Kanekalon KK jumbo this is an easy to braid  synthetic hair –which is the best hair ever – it really feels good and behaves like real hair that is blown out!

The hair itself is very cheap and very economical. Best of all – you can do it yourself.

You cornrow your own hair then start crocheting. Using a crochet hook, pick out a few strands of kanekalon hair, thread it through a space on your scalp through a section of the cornrow and knot twice – there, your done – move on to the next section!. (You will need a crochet hook, look for examples on utube but you can see my utube pics here   The whole process should take you about 2 – 3 hours! After which you’re free to trim, cut and style or straighten the hair out even more should you please..

If you choose to go to a salon – like I did the second time around, be careful because they tend to cornrow in too many rows – and you could end up with extremely thick hair! In the end I had to get a pair of hair thinning scissors to reduce the bulk! Just do it yourself at home it’s far less stressful, or enlist a friend to help! Anyway when it’s done, cut it to your desired length. Results are beautiful bouncing synthetic tresses, that can be straightened with an hairdryer or curled or just left to hang – whatever you choose it will look very natural! Crochet braids are totally protective, you’ve cornrowed your own hair yourself so it’s not tight! Believe me that’s a bonus! You’ve had minimal outlay so you’re not out-of-pocket especially if you’re a student or on a low-budget!

Some people may prefer to leave some hair out – this is your choice. It makes for no detection at all. My hair hates being left out – it responds by breaking off – it loves company! It’s no problem to wash this hair and don’t forget to moisturize as usual!

When removing the braids which is very easy, don’t forget to comb out gently each section of hair and  do a thorough detangling with your fingers, then comb and wash very gently, being careful to not tangle the hair as you massage your scalp. This hair usually keeps for a very long time and whilst there is some shedding it’s nothing major. Six weeks is usually the norm but you can go for longer if you please.

Results: longer hair in a very short space of time! Happy growing! What’s your favorite protective style – and why?

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