Second Helping: “Giiiiiirl WHAT Happened to your Hair ! ? ?”

One of my many many attempts at a style that went horribly wrong.  Originally published on March 30, 2010, this post chronicles one of my many attempts at a style that went horribly wrong.  Truth be told, I still have yet to revisit flat twists (because of this experience), but after re-reading this one, I’m more inspired to give it a whirl once again…on a weekend…when I don’t have to go into work….

Last week, all puffed up and jazzed about Operation Cornrow, I decided that my first step towards Cornrow-dom would be to try a set of flat-twists.  Basically, flat twists are similar to a cornrow in that they “attach” to your head, but instead of using three strands to do a braid, you use two strands and do a twist that lays flat therefore creating a FLAT TWIST.

I watch a couple youtube videos on the  Curly Chronicles channel and though “ok, seems easy enough.  I got this.”

Flat twist out--- pretty cute, right!??

Went home and before going to bed, set out on flat twisting my hair.  I was able to get in seven flat twists.  I have to say that doing the one on the direct back of my head was really difficult, but I found that the trick was not to look in the mirror while doing it because the opposite side/reflection thing kept messing me up.

When all was said and done.  I thought they looked pretty good.

Went to bed.  Went to work.  Went to the bathroom to change out of my bike clothes and untwist.

My hair definitely looked like it had been twisted.  Unfortunately, it looked like that twisting had been done by a tornado or something.  But I decided to put in some bobby pins and a flower clip and just rock it.

As I walked into my office, I stopped by my coworker/friend/third eye Fidel’s desk and say good morning.  Instead of returning the morning salutation, he looked at me wide-eyed and exclaimed “GIIIIIIIIIRL!  WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR!?!?!?!?!?”  I casually explained the flat twists and how it was supposed to look and that I was learning yada yada yada.    ”Well maybe you should stop trying to learn on week days…”, he suggested.

I slunk back to my desk, but I could just feel my hair sticking out in a weird, triangular formation. The smooth waves that I had attempted to create resembled more the shape of electrocuted strips of bacon.  Five minutes later, I was back in the bathroom with a spray bottle and more bobby pins getting Lola back to normal.

Flat Twist: FAIL.  BUT!  I will not give up, I think the more that I do this, the steadier my hands will become and the better the twists will be.  It actually is really helpful to master these because they use the same concept of “adding hair” into the twist.  I think the main issue is that did my twists too large for the length of my hair.  Next time I try this out (ON A WEEKEND, I GET IT!) I’ll go for smaller flat twists.  For now, I’m going to let Lola have a break, so that her, my, and Fidelito’s trauma wears off.

Recovered Lola