Senegalese Twists Help :(

[PianoTiles]

Ok, so I've tried before to install senegalese twists on my own but it didn't work out. Today, I tried again. I deep conditioner my hair yesterday, stretched my hair on low heat, and at 8 o'clock this morning I got to work. It's not 7:13 and I haven't finished my hair yet.

I'm having issues with stretching the hair--when I try to feather the tips the hair gets really knotty and tangly and I lose a lot of the braiding hair try to comb out the tangles. Luckily I got 4 packs of x-pression braiding hair, so I have a lot of hair to work with. Any who, because the hair is so tangly, when I try to twist my hair the twists have hair poking out of it and its not as smooth as I would like it to be

Secondly, I for the life of me cannot get my twists to be tight. I know they're not supposed to be super tight, but they're very loose and if I were to tug at a twist it would slip right out my hair and its not like my hair is fine--it's pretty coarse. Its like Im having trouble holding the braiding hair against my scalp and as im twisting I feel it slipping...could using too much moisturizer on the hair be causing this?

I wanted a cute protective style and Im getting very discouraged right now...any tips?

 

[movingforward]

If your natural, hair is always going to poke out and get frizzy. I personally use Marley hair to blend my natural hair more effectively. Hair still sticks out and frizz, but hey what can you do.

You can try to anchor your hair. What I do is twist my hair and proceed to wrap the hair around the root and twist as usual.

 

[julzinha]

You have to brush the X-pressions hair first. Every braider I know does that so the hair won't tangle as you braid.

If hair is poking out you have to adjust your real hair to braiding hair ratio.

And some ppl start with a braid at the top to latch the hair, then continue to twist

 

[PianoTiles]

Im not natural, Im texlaxed

Ok, so today I tried braiding first and then twisting. It definitely feels more secure--but I still need to work on it being braided closer to the scalp. Im gonna try and finish it up tomorrow, but right now, I dont really like how they're turning out...they just look really unprofessional to me (which is to be expected lol) Im going to add some pics from my phone in a second.

Edit: Pictures...looking at it, some partings are too large with too little hair, so I will fix that tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be done with my hair on Monday by the latest...Im starting my second semester of college in one week so I need this to come out bomb so I dont have to fuss with my hair for a while

 

[coolhandlulu]

I had a hard time with learning to braid and i just immersed myself in youtube videos. It takes awhile to get the hand of the motion of twisting because its twisting the two separate sections of hair WHILE twisting the sections together. Once you get this motion the hair will be uniform, tight, and very little of your hair has the chance of sticking out.

Also, my trick of getting the braids to stay tight to my scalp is using the rubber band method. This method may not be for you if you are doing really small braids.

Just keep with it. You may have to wear some janky braids for a week or two. Gel, scarf, and a bun works wonders on janky braids! Lol. Youll get the hang of it.

 

[PianoTiles]

@coolhandlulu I was joking with my sister saying that if my hair comes out terrible Im just gonna have to rock it up in a bun with a headband or something 24/7 lol! I will look into the rubber band method, thanks

 

[julzinha]

beautifulbrownbabydoll I think has a video on how she braids her own hair. Also, the braid part is just for latching, it should be barely noticeable.

 

[MzSwift]

You're doing ok for your first time! Your first few sets may not look professional but if you get them in, you can just set them in an updo or something that you can rock for a few weeks. It still serves its purpose as a PS. This was one of my go-to PSs while I was growing out my hair and they would not turn out great at first (I think the photos are still in my LHCF album).

As far as the twists go, the trick is to roll the hair between your fingers as you twist. When I was natural, I usually did my hair while it was wet to help it mold more with the twist. The tension of the roll-n-twist method also helps to keep the hair from sticking out. You can also add a little gel to your hair. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it! GL!

 

[GGsKin]

That advice about rolling/ twisting the two strands individually as you twist them together is sound and is what will make your twists look tight.

If I am twisting at the base and not braiding first (Senegalese twist technique), it is key to roll the strands of your hair with the two strands of braiding hair before you actually start twisting in the opposite direction. It's the rolling first that locks the hair in place and stops it from slipping out.

Also your grip on you hair at the base should become easier once your parts are made much smaller. The larger the parts, the more hair you need to be able to hide your hair within the braid hair.

I don't know if my explanation helps without pics, but there are plenty of YT vids. Just hang in there, your technique will improve with time and effort.