Twists Series: Maintenance II

FUTURE TOPIC: The Method I ...

"I have short hair (about 4 to 5inches) and whenever I twist my hair it twists up on itself so they look like they're sticking out all over my head. How do I get them to all lie straight down?"

I had a similar situation when I was at that stage.  What helped was to twist my hair wet as opposed to dry.  Doing that allowed for the water to weigh down the twists.  Once the twists airdried, they would remain down with the help of wrapping with a scarf nightly.  The longer your hair grows, the less they will stick out.  When I hit about 8-9 inches, my twists no longer stuck out.

"How do you keep them moist?"

I spritz weekly with water until damp and then apply whipped shea butter.  I also wear updos 95% of the time, which involves tucking the ends of my twists under.  

"What do you do to the ends when they are dry or ragged looking (or is it just time for a trim!?)"

•When my ends are dry, I revive them with water and whipped shea butter.  Sometimes, my dry ends call for a fresh wash.

••When they get ragged looking and even thin, I tend to trim them.  Raggedness sometimes implies damaged ends.  Additionally, such ends may cause damage to the healthy ones.  Ragged, thin ends make it harder for me to undo my twists and easier for tangles and knots to form.  Thus, I trim them away.  In between trims, I try to minimize tasks that contribute to thin, ragged ends ... such as impatience during detangling and twist takedown, sleeping on cotton pillowcases without a protective barrier (e.g., satin scarf), etc.

"Is it more important to not touch the hair in the twists for say a week minimum or to keep it in a style that will retain moisture and protect the ends? I ask this since the front of my hair especially gets extremely fuzzy after 2 to 3 days of fresh twists!"

•In order to retain length, it is more important to wear styles that retain moisture and protect the ends than to not touch one's twists for a week. It is more important to pin up the twists daily and take it down nightly than to wear the pinned style 24-7 and risk hairline damage.  It is more important to touch the hair with moisture and risk fuzz than to not touch the hair and risk dryness.  In other words, properly caring for your twists may require some touching within the week, which is fine.  Health supersedes no fuzz.
••For a future topic, I'll talk about how to twist such that fuzz is minimized.

"Did you experience alot of matting and knotting when leaving the twists in for even short periods of time?"

Short answer: It depends.  What I've learned is that I get the most matting and knotting when: 1) I wash more than twice during a twist period and 2) don't detangle thoroughly between twist sessions.  Even if it's a short period in twists, matting and knotting will occur if I do #1 and/or #2.  With my current regimen (twists for 3 weeks, 1-2x washes), I get no matting and very little knotting.

"I noticed some ppl do twists for say a week then use the twist out on the weekend...does this act as being counter - productive?"

I used this method during my in-between stage (between TWA and BAA) and it worked out well.  It's ideal for those who like to wear their hair out but do not want to sacrifice the health and length retention. It is only counter-productive if one is pinched for time; such a method requires weekly detangling and re-twisting.  Other than the time factor, it is a good method.