Firstly, thank you for recognizing that I got my coils popping. I’m excited to share how I got it done because why do we need to have hair secrets? We want all our sister’s roaming with their bomb ‘fros! So, let’s start with the fact that I have been keeping my hair in a protective style this entire year, but after the trauma of my December micro-braids, I am weary of running over to the salon for more braids (no thank you! I’ll wait for Andile and Mandisa to come home first).
Every week, I detangle and wash my hair and treat it to a good deep condition, but I didn’t have the best leave-in; I was using Cantu Leave-in Treatment, but it wasn’t playing nice with all the other products I was using, so my ends weren’t staying as moisturized and I was forced to keep using the leave-in (because I wasn’t about to buy another Cantu product, that price-tag…but I’m working on my budget I promise).
Fast-forward to about two weeks ago, my big sis and I went to the Brown Sense market in Midrand (for some amazing burgers from Streatz nomnom) and on our second stroll around the different stands, this lovely gent stops me and asks me to come check out this hair stall. I walk up, sceptical because wow, I like hair products so much, and I do not want to be hoodwinked and then be forced to write a bad review on a South African product. HEY! Was I not wrong? Was I not mistaken? Was I not feeling so many ways when I sat down and saw what this potion was doing to my hair! Dear reader, do not be fooled, I became a believer in The Moisture Factory that day. (www.themoisturefactory.co.za/blog). Tad bit of detangler, and some curl custard, and the section of hair Sis’Nyakalo had selected to sample the product on my hair was doing the things: properly defined curls and extreme hydration. Then she added another level which had revolutionized my hair care regimen, especially when it comes to protective styling; she finger-coiled my hair’s natural clumps before putting the section in a twist. And I’m thinking, “how have I been living any other way?”
I bet this all makes a riveting read, but I’m not getting down the facts! These are they:
1). Originals by Africa’s Best Olive Oil Shampoo,
2). Dr Palmer’s Coconut Oil Deep Conditioning Protein Pack,
3). The Moisture Factory’s Curl Custard,
4). African Pride Olive Miracle Growth Oil, and a DIY leave-in/’hydration spritzer made up of 5). Dark ‘n Lovely Au Naturale Knot Out Conditioner,
6). Jabu Stone Multi-Purpose Spray,
and Water with a little splash of African Pride Olive Oil Growth Oil (yes, it’s still my favourite, comment which oil elixir I should try out next) for when the hiar sections I hadn’t started with started drying.
This is the order in which I used the products too (take note), with the key ingredients being the Deep Conditioner and the curl custard. If I had the detangler from The Moisture Factory (or Aunt Jackie’s maybe?), then I believe I would have reduced the time it took to get my hair properly detangled and the coils popping. No kidding, it took me about four to six hours to do everything, but it was worth it so there is nothing to complain about. You have to accept that it will take a while to get into a routine with your ‘fro, ok’salayo your hair will stay healthy and keep growing. When finger coiling, I chose to stay with my hair’s natural curl pattern (and since I have tight coils it took longer), and where the curl pattern wasn’t defined, I added a little more curl custard.
You can try a larger finger coil—I’ll be trying that next—but keeping it natural hopefully means less work detangling, and if the theory of training your coils needs to be proven, this may be the secret.
Then, when I had finished finger coiling a large enough section, I sealed the section with some African Pride Olive Miracle Growth oil, and twisted in the section. Please be careful not to pull on your coils too tight when twisting in the section; you’ll see that your coils will stay together quite well, and then you can finger coil the end of the twist easily too since you won’t have unravelled the coils and of course, the curl custard being a monster hydration potion. If you look closely, you should be able to see the difference between a twist-in that doesn’t have hair separated in its coil cluster, and this twist in.
Some photos to explain better later, and I just left my hair in these twists for two or three days because life was happening and I had no reason to wear my hair out. But the weekend came around and I wanted to see what the result was, so I went on the YouTube to check how one takes out a finger coil to look more like a chilled fro and basically, I used my DIY leave-in to loosen the coil for the volume and ‘fro effect, and African Pride Olive Oil to seal the moisture and reseal the individual coils now that they were out of the twist. I left the front and top coils quite tight more for the look of it (and because I was in a rush to get done since my sunshine nice was on her way for a visit).
Well, that’s how I did mine, please share photos of the results if you try it out using this method; please share what products work for you, and if you use a different method, please let us know so we can also get amazing results. Remember real’fros stay moisturized and stay growing with patience and loving yours at whatever length.
