In all fairness, I knew what I was getting into when I decided to go natural. I mean, I was warned. Candidly. All of my friends and family who wear their natural kinks and curls gave me a fair heads up about the maintenance and patience required when it comes to caring for natural hair. And to be honest, I was up for the undertaking. I was sick of box braids, crochet braids, crochet box braids, and twists. And I definitely didn't want to damage my hair with yet another relaxer. Plus, I had an arsenal of YouTube tutorials and products at my disposal. I had this. Or so I thought.
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For my first twist-out ever, I had some assistance from celebrity stylist Vernon Francois (more on that later). And I have to admit that the results were pretty popping. I was able to wear my tight curls for a few days, before they fluffed out to a softer Afro. After a week, I could tell that my strands were in need of some lovin', so I deep conditioned as I made dinner, stretched out my hair, and prepared it for another twist-out.
In hindsight, it wasn't the brightest idea to begin twisting my hair at midnight...especially since I had to get up for work in, oh, about six hours. My tired arms struggled to section off my thick mane for more uniform twists, and the lightweight cream that promised to make my curls pop? It did nothing of the sort.
Thankfully, Phytospecific's Curl Legend Curl Sculpting Cream Gel came to the rescue. It was heavier, yes, but it didn't weigh my hair down — and I needed to use a whole lot of product to saturate my strands, Vernon had told me. The combo of botanical caviar and carob extract coated my hair just enough, and made it easier to create my twists. And it smells really good, too. I wore a head wrap around my twists for the next few days, but my (frizz-free!) curls still felt silky smooth after I took them down.
I know that I still have a ways to go when it comes to this natural hair of mine, but if products like these make the process smoother, I'm down for the ride.
PHYTOSPECIFIC Curl Legend Curl Sculpting Cream Gel, $28, available at Phytospecific.