Hello ladies! I met Davene through email. She is a beautiful natural Apostolic from Jamaica. What is so intriguing to me is one of her protective styles- micro twists. There are over 1,000 twists in her hair! She keeps them in for 3 months and they look great. Hmm... sounds like that takes a lot of discipline right? Anyway here she is to talk about her regimen and hair care routine!
♥Kendra
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| Meet Davene! |
I love my hair (or so I thought – until I met Kendra’s blog). I do not intend to boast but I learnt how to comb hair from the tender age of five. Being from an humble beginning, my practice began with coconut tree leaves. I would go out in the yard, and plait the leaves together. Then I got the opportunity to practice in my mother’s hair (which is not as lengthy as mine). Oh how she ‘abused’ my ability once she found out I could do different things to her hair. She rarely allowed me to comb my own hair however, hinting to me that if I continue to do it on my own, it is going to ‘peel out like her hand middle’…Thank God I have not see those days yet…and Lord knows I don’t intend to.
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| Coconut Tree Leaves |
By the time I got to high (secondary) school, I did most of my combing and even sacrificed to do styles that as far as other people thought only “pro” hairdressers could do. I was always blessed with a lot of hair on my head. Thanks to my mom who would use aloe vera to steam (deep condition) my hair on a regular basis. I loved it when she would finish up the job by putting cute little bantu knots (chiney bumps) in my hair. My curls were pretty when they came out.
College meant I was hardly at home and also that I hardly had time on my hands to be constantly combing my hair. I increased the tasks of twisting my hair and I can safely say that’s how my love for ‘very mini’ twists were born. Even though it meant 8 hours or more (leading up to days) for the style to be done, I sacrificed the time because “ I love my hair”. Persons at college would comment and ask if I did not have any other styles for my hair. In fact most persons would easily identify me as a Pentecostal because of my twists. The sizes ranged over a time and the twists got slacker.
When I twisted my hair too tight, I felt as if it was ‘over-breaking’ when it was time for me to lose it out. Notice I said ‘over-break’. I got to the point when I accepted significant hair loss as being normal because I did not see any difference with the volume of my hair. There is a twist called rope twist, which makes the twist looking like securely knotted rope (as the name suggests). Though it looked good and got me comments almost all the time, I was not happy when my hair was tearing out. Not to mention how bouncy and pretty it looked when the twists were out.
After a while I took a break from doing my own hair and went to an hairdresser who in my opinion charged me to do my hair based on its length. Needless to say, it became expensive and I went back to doing it myself. That hairdresser might I add, was the influence behind my ‘bone-straightening’ my hair on several occasions.
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| Hair blow dried at hair dresser |
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| Hair straightened at hair dresser |
I felt that I was damaging my hair, but once again, because I did not see any difference I never felt to stop. Until I noticed the back of my hair was almost gone. So I made a decision to apply no more heat to my hair. Thank God, Jesus specializes in mending broken things, even hair. I believed he inspired me to put plaits, cornrows and twists at the back of my hair until it regained its original length.
Now to the reason why Kendra asked me to write. My very mini twists which I did in November 2012, took me approximately 3 weeks (on and off – of course) to be completed. It has to be ‘love’ why I did it. Honestly. And ever since I did it, I have people making comments about it every single solitary day (and I am not exaggerating). The most commonly asked question is ‘What have you done to your hair?” Twist it. Followed by “So fine?” Yes. “How are you gonna pull it out?” Just like how normal twist is pulled out. Then on to the most mean comment (I am kidding) ever made about me. “You have absolutely nothing to do”. I wish they could understand. I love my hair. So I decided to do my hair because:
- I was graduating in November 2012, and had a banquet following graduation
- I was taking part in a wedding in December plus another banquet the night before
- I was going overseas from late December 2012 to January 2013
- I have church conference in February 2013
- I am a teacher and a student – and very busy might I add. Not to mention church responsibilities.
My birthday is in May, so I will undo my twists by April 2013. I don’t do stale styles in the month of May (I know I am crazy…….about my birthday and my hair).
I literally take close to ten strands of hair (not that I count it but I do imagine it’s not much than that) and twist them together especially for the front part of my hair. The middle parts my have double that. The sides and back are as fine as the front (I call it fronting). Now to answer the question that Kendra asked me when she first saw a pic of my twists, “Doesn’t your hair get frizzy?” My exact reply was “They do get frizzy…but when I style it, the frizz hardly shows. The new growth looks a mess sometimes, but I try my way around.”
To tell you the truth the reason I found the blog was to find a solution of how to dry clean my hair. Well though the answer was not here, I am glad I found it. Kendra has surely taught me what to do to prove I truly love my hair. What I realize is that I just love having my hair twisted and appreciated the compliments I get when I style it. It lacked moisture and most of the times I did not wash it, for fear of it being knotted. And then when people ask I would say to them “Dirt grows my hair”.
Now back to this. Since reading Kendra’s blog (and to confess to you I introduce you to people and the say to them – she is a drug, she has me addicted) I realized I need to take more care of my hair. So I have cleaned my roots with cornmeal (the previous dry cleaning method I tried literally burned my scalp and other surrounding skin areas). I had to dry clean seeing that my twists are so fine and the growth rate at my roots is rapid, and I do not want my hair to start locking. Just so you know whenever I am to put new products in my hair, I breathe the name of Jesus every time.
This dry cleaning method involves:
- Using refined cornmeal which I place on my finger tips and gently rubbing and massaging the grains into my scalp to remove the build up of oil at the roots.
- I use a large makeup brush to remove the left over grain so that none is revealed when I am styling my hair.
- I then section my hair into small portions and apply some moisture to my ends and gently rub it along the strands being careful not to get my roots wet.
- The small sections are individually placed into bantu knots. After which I gently spray the moisture mix (Jamaican Mango & Lime NO MORE ITCH GRO SPRAY, Lusti Professional Braid Sheen Hair Spray, Ginseng Wonder 8 Hair Mist and Doo Gro hair mist) over the knots.
- I tie my head with a smooth scarf for bed. When I awake in the morning, I once again spray the moisture mix over the knots before totally removing them and styling my hair. I also oil my roots with Blue Magic Castor Oil.
I am sure by now you’d realize that my regimen looks and sounds like a Kendra regimen. You are so right, not that she personally recommended it to me, but I am challenging myself to let Da Christ Reside in my Hair for 2013. I am going to take better care of my hair, my glory, God’s beauty.
Here are a few styles that I do with my twists (even some inspired by Lady Kendra).
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