Twisters please help!!!!

[Missjae09]

Ladies! I need some help, advise, or whatever you have to offer. I like 2 strand twisting my hair into small twists, but the ends of my twist are so thin!!! I can't wear them down because I look like the Predator!!! Now I'm really tempted to just trim the thin ends off but that would mean I would have to cut 2-3 inches in some areas! I'm not thrilled about that.. I just made SL and I don't really want to have to take that journey again! but I'm also not interested in having unhealthy looking ends!

What's also puzzling is that when I wear my hair straight (which isn't very often) my hair looks fine. My ends do not look thin. So I don't want to trim my hair for one hair style but I want my twists to look like everyone else! I want them have the same thickness from the beginning to the end. what should I do?

When I twist my hair most of the time I will wear them up or if I leave them loose when I shower the ends curl so you can't really see the thinness but This is really disturbing to me.... what should I do, I don't see any pics of twists that look like mine but I'm sure I can't be alone... or am I?!?!

 

[tiffers]

Do you have fine hair?

My two girls have a lot of hair, but it's very fine. So when I put their hair in twists, the ends end up looking very sparse. I don't leave their hair down in twists, I always end up putting the twists in a ponytail or bun. Or I have the top of the hair in a ponytail and the bottom hanging down. It looks really good like that.

 

[jayjaycurlz]

You could also curl the ends of your twists on perm rods so that way their thinness will be hidden in the curls.

 

[Missjae09]

No, my hair is not fine, it's medium... my nape is fine but the rest of my hair is medium.

Do you have fine hair?

My two girls have a lot of hair, but it's very fine. So when I put their hair in twists, the ends end up looking very sparse. I don't leave their hair down in twists, I always end up putting the twists in a ponytail or bun. Or I have the top of the hair in a ponytail and the bottom hanging down. It looks really good like that.

 

[Bublin]

To give my ends a nice finish i always use Satin pillow rollers. Makes the ends look fuller, especially for a braidout.

 

[NappyNelle]

Could you have mechanical or heat damage?

 

[Missjae09]

Could you have mechanical or heat damage?

uuuumm.... what is mechanical damage? I've never heard of that. I don't think I have heat damage. My twists just get thin at the end.

 

[tolly]

you could try the rollers first, if you still aren't satisfied perhaps trim 0.5-1 inch and see if that solves the problem. 2inches seem drastic to me, you can always cut more later if you need to.
I noticed mechanical damage to the ends of my hair, [last 1-2inches, but overall length of my hair is just 6inches root to end so your experience may be different from mine] when I was mostly wearing twists. I was using more force than necessary to swirl hair that was weaker than the roots trying to secure firm 2 strand twists with minimal unraveling at the ends. I don't use heat at all and rarely comb so I attributed it to the way I was twisting. The thinning was fairly even all over my head.

 

[Chameleonchick]

Are they thin after you wet them? If I have thin looking ends if I just run some water on them and they plump right up. I have fine hair.

 

[NaturalKMichelle]

I have the same exact problem and I didn't want to cut my hair either. I think I will try it one more time with the rollers on the ends and see if that helps. Otherwise I am at a lost for a protective style that suits my needs. I hope you find a solution.

 

[BEAUTYU2U]

I finger twist the ends to make it "blend."

Sent from my VM670 using VM670

 

[Nonie]

OP can you post a photo of what you're talking about?

Like Chameleonchick shared, wetting twists after you do them does them plump up so you could try that. You can see my results below:

I don't know how often you dust, but if you don't dust regularly then your ends are not in good shape. Mechanical damage is damage from friction while styling and combing. Split ends don't just happen because we abuse our hair. They happen because they are inevitable. Everying old and organic wears down somehow and just coz you don't see a "fork" at the ends of your hair doesn't mean you don't have splits or that they haven't wrong your hair down.

I got serious about dusting on a schedule last year and it paid off. (I have always dusted but in 2008 and 2009, I sorta just dusted when I thought of it. In 2010, I dusted every 8 weeks. I programmed this into my phone so I'd not miss my dusting appointment. And it paid off. When I stretch my strands, I see the same uniform thickness along the length:

And when I twisted that hair you see there, before even dunking the ends, this is what the end looked like:

 

[southerncitygirl]

i too am not sure what you mean....unless you don't dust on the regular as Nonie stated. i will continue to remain firm that the lead hairs theory is a load of crap and that its not worth the risk of your hairs health. search and destroy is not enough. dust/trim every 3-4 months. this is the only reason i could see the ends looking very thin.

 

[Missjae09]

when I wet the twist most of them curl at the ends. The steam from the shower definitely helps. I guess what I'm trying to achieve is being able to twist my hair and just wear the twists hanging down and have it look nice.

Are they thin after you wet them? If I have thin looking ends if I just run some water on them and they plump right up. I have fine hair.

 

[Missjae09]

Not dusting or trimming enough could definitely be the problem. I don't believe in the lead hairs theory either. I like neat blunt ends.

i too am not sure what you mean....unless you don't dust on the regular as @Nonie stated. i will continue to remain firm that the lead hairs theory is a load of crap and that its not worth the risk of your hairs health. search and destroy is not enough. dust/trim every 3-4 months. this is the only reason i could see the ends looking very thin.

 

[Missjae09]

@Nonie Thank you so much!! I definitely need to put myself on a dusting schedule. I do know that my hair benefits more from regular trims/dusting. Also I'd never known anything about mechanical damage but it makes perfect sense.. maybe I need to be more gentle with it as well.

I will post a pic, I didn't see your request until I had taken all of my twists down

OP can you post a photo of what you're talking about?

Like @Chameleonchick shared, wetting twists after you do them does them plump up so you could try that. You can see my results below:

I don't know how often you dust, but if you don't dust regularly then your ends are not in good shape. Mechanical damage is damage from friction while styling and combing. Split ends don't just happen because we abuse our hair. They happen because they are inevitable. Everying old and organic wears down somehow and just coz you don't see a "fork" at the ends of your hair doesn't mean you don't have splits or that they haven't wrong your hair down.

I got serious about dusting on a schedule last year and it paid off. (I have always dusted but in 2008 and 2009, I sorta just dusted when I thought of it. In 2010, I dusted every 8 weeks. I programmed this into my phone so I'd not miss my dusting appointment. And it paid off. When I stretch my strands, I see the same uniform thickness along the length:

And when I twisted that hair you see there, before even dunking the ends, this is what the end looked like:

 

[Missjae09]

tolly I think I'm just going to go ahead and trim another 1/2 -1 inch... I think maybe I need to concentrate on health more.. length doesn't mean anything to me if the ends are busted. :-(

you could try the rollers first, if you still aren't satisfied perhaps trim 0.5-1 inch and see if that solves the problem. 2inches seem drastic to me, you can always cut more later if you need to.
I noticed mechanical damage to the ends of my hair, [last 1-2inches, but overall length of my hair is just 6inches root to end so your experience may be different from mine] when I was mostly wearing twists. I was using more force than necessary to swirl hair that was weaker than the roots trying to secure firm 2 strand twists with minimal unraveling at the ends. I don't use heat at all and rarely comb so I attributed it to the way I was twisting. The thinning was fairly even all over my head.

 

[Nonie]

@Missjae09, you have the right idea! If it's been a while since you dusted then the first trim may have to be a big one as you plan to do. But the cool thing about this is once you've done this, as long as you get to the ends before they are busted again, meaning at least every 2 months, you will be able to get away with just trimming a tiny bit. And that tiny bit will be so negligible that you won't even notice a loss in length. And you will be so happy with how well your hair will behave: it won't tangle easily and it will be stronger and will be able to withstand styling better.

I really look forward to my dusting days. There's a peace of mind I get knowing that I just nipped splits before they got visible. In other words, I don't wait to see damage, I try to beat it to the punch. You'll see. An inch is about this big ___________ and that's a lot. But if after that cut or even half of that, you dust all your ends in about 2 months, you'll find you may just be able to cut just this much ___ and feel very happy about it. And really how much loss is that, eh?

Happy hair growing and two-strand twisting.

 

[tolly]

I like how my hair feels, styling and combing after a fresh trim. The challenge is trying to minimize new damage to the ends, and settling for health over length [which you have done], I'm still trying hard to get that and cut when its necessary.

 

[Nonie]

I like how my hair feels, styling and combing after a fresh trim. The challenge is trying to minimize new damage to the ends, and settling for health over length [which you have done], I'm still trying hard to get that and cut when its necessary.

tolly, that's where people go wrong. You don't wait to cut when it's necessary. You cut before it's necessary. IMO waiting to cut when your hair needs it is waiting till you have damage. That's way too late. You're supposed to cut before the damage is visible because you can bet your bottom dollar that as soon as you trim, new damage starts at a microscopic scale. This damage below looks horrible:

but that damage is so tiny, it could fit into 1/10 of a space this small--> -. So if damage can be so horrible at such a small scale, just think how bad it is when it's this grown to ten times that size and has actually become this size --> -. Now imagine when it's this big -- . And the longer you wait to trim the longer the damage grows. So why not catch it when it's only less than ___ and dust 1/4 inch to make sure you leave a whole unsplit end. Then sealing and protecting should help maintain the ends better.

 

[tolly]

@ Nonie Yes I see the pros of trimming on schedule, I think mastering the act of not cutting too much i.e dusting will be beneficial. It's a skill worth cultivating because I can't trust any stylist with a scissors in my hair, I can't even trust myself not to cut too much. without trims I retained 4inches in my first year natural, now I want to see what regular trims get me this year. I know all the arguments for regular trims but it would be nice to document my results. I think some people are alright with putting 'health' before length early in their hair journey but people like me don't mind ragged ends if the hair is long, however I see that ragged ends may result in hair that doesn't get long...... lol so I'm trying but for now I am still a reluctant trimmer.

 

[Missjae09]

Nonie- Thanks so much! I did trim my hair some more.. not quite an inch though, and I set the calender on my phone so that I can remember to trim again in 8 weeks. Yeah, I'm basically one of those people who wants to put health before length.. ragged ends bother me but I've made such progress I was reluctant to trim. I see now that I MUST trim on the regular.

 

[Missjae09]

OMG! that was so well put and makes so much sense!! I was trying to wait until I noticed splits. I will definitely stay on schedule.

In the past I always wondered how my hair seemed to grow/retain so much length after being trimmed.. so i thought that not trimming would allow me to retain even more. That hasn't necessarily proven to be the case... length means nothing to me if it's SHEER! lol