A few years ago, Cofounder of Urban Bush Babes Cipriana, gave us the secret to her long 4C natural hair she said she does loose twists in her hair 99% of the time and uses those twists to create updo styles which she wore quite often at the time.
The way she did her hair meant that on a weekly basis her level of manipulation was very very minimal and as a result, she retained a ton of length. Fast forward to today, Cipriana’s hair is probably below her hips which means there is something about those twists that 4C naturals should be paying attention to.
Why loose twists are a great option for 4C Natural Hair
Afro-textured hair thrives on moisture and low manipulation because the texture and shape of each individual strand can easily lead to knots, tangles and breakage. In this post I wrote a week or so ago, I told you that if you are serious about retaining length you must get serious about protective styling. Protective styling is one of the most important things you can do for your hair when you are trying to retain length.
The secret behind loose twists is the fact that they help you to organize your hair in chunks as it grows out similar to curlier textures that clump naturally when wet. Clumps are stronger than individual curls so unless you want to create a fro let your clumps remain intact.
How to do a loose twist
The technique is simple, but you just grab pieces of your hair and loosely twist them together then style the loose twists in whatever style you want.
Watch Cipriana do it here (skip to 2:38):
Now that video was in 2011, and since then 4C naturals have been incorporating that technique to retain more length than ever.
Watch this video from Wet African Baby
And this one:
And finally if you want to learn how to style the loose twists, watch this video:
If you are struggling with retaining length try this style for a couple of months and see how it works for you!
