Maintaining Low Manipulation Hair Styles

Hey!

This post is on how to maintain low manipulation hairstyles such as braidouts. twistouts, and bantu knot outs.

The Braidout

Night-time Routine 
   The Pineapple  
        The Pineapple is a technique used in order to preserve curls overnight. It is simply piling your curls on top of your head and keeping them in place using a ponytail holder or the Puff Cuff. I use the Puff Cuff because it does not hurt my hair. The pineapple does preserve curls but it can change the style and even loosen curls a tad bit. This is why when I set my hair in the first place for a braidout, I try to use 8+ braids. The more braids, the tighter the curl. The tighter the curl, the longer the curl lasts. I can go more days with the same braidout set the longer the curls last. Therefore, although the curl can change slightly from utilizing the pineapple technique and I am unable to enjoy the same exact braidout style, I can make alternative hairstyles from the braidout style in my day 2+ hair. I do not braid or twist nightly as some naturalistas do to preserve their style because I think this causes too much manipulation. As long as you made tight curls for day one and preserve it with the pineapple, you shouldn't have to rebraid or retwist your whole head. However, if one strand becomes fuzzy or no longer curly, I do braid that one strand again (and maybe even squirt it with water to revitalize the setting spray I'd used to form the braidout in the first place) in order to make it curly again.
Day 2+ Hair 
    Alternative Hairstyles that Preserve the Curl
              I pineapple to maintain my curls, but sometimes the "style" of my day one hairstyle is lost. The upside of this is now I can experiment with different styles on my braidout hair that looks best on slightly stretched, curly hair.

 

The Cascade 

One option is the Cascade, which is a hairstyle created by braiding a French braid from your nape to the top of your head and then letting the rest fall over your face.

Top Twist Out

A puff is an easy style to use on day 2+ hair. If I am doing the puff on day 2+ hair, I just keep my pineapple in from overnight. The top twist out is just curls held on top of your head by a ponytail holder or Puff Cuff.

Curly Double Buns

 This hairstyles retain the curls from the braidout and was achieved with regular non metal ponytail holders.

Top Curly Bun

This is another hairstyle that retains the original style's curls. It is a loose bun using a ponytail holder that shows off the curls.

   

Curly pigtails is an easy 2 day+ hair style because I just make two ponytails on the side of my head using two junior sized PuffCuffs.
Alternative Hairstyles that Gets Rid of the Curl 
These hairstyles are great for day 2+ hair because they can be easily done on hair that has already been stretched. However, because these hair styles causes you to manipulate your hair too much (by braiding for the crown braid or pigtails or smoothing out the curls for the top knot bun or double minibuns), they do not preserve the curls of the original hairstyle.

Crown Braid

Pigtails

Top knot bun using a bun maker

double minibuns