My First Bantu-Knot Out

After a week of wearing my hair in a tuck-and-pin faux hawk (check out this post to see how I achieved that look!), my hair was extra thirsty and my scalp was becoming irritated from the bobby pins. Since I would be going to my stylist a few days later for a trim, I didn't want to wash my hair. Instead, I decided to take a chance and do my first bantu knot out. For those of you who aren't familiar with this style, you essentially section and twist your hair, and then wrap each twisted section around itself. The next day, you take down these "knots" and it should produce curls.

To achieve this look, I first took down my faux hawk, and I moistened my hair with water so that I could section it into four. Section by section, I detangled using my Tangle Teezer and applied a little Shea Moisture Raw Shea Restorative Trauma Masque. I traditionally use this Shea Moisture product for DC, but it can be used as a leave-in conditioner and possibly a styler depending on how your hair reacts to shea butter. For my hair, shea butter provides moisture and enough hold to act like a gel without all of the drying and crunchiness, which is why I chose to use it to both moisturize and style. Once detangled and moisturized, I then divided each of the four big sections into smaller sections, then twisted and bantu knotted each of the smaller sections. ( I had between 5 - 8 bantu knots in each section). Since I was hesitant on how the style would turn out, I didn't take any pictures of my hair  during the bantu knot setting process. To give you an example of how your hair should look once set in the bantu knots, here is a pic that I found on the web:

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Your parting doesn't have to be this precise (mine certainly wasn't lol), but you get the idea.

Coating my hands with EVCO, I took down the bantu knots the next morning. First, I unwrapped the knots. Next, I untwisted each twist. And Finally, I separated each twist and finger fluffed. These are the results:

 

For it being my first time, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

SN: Check out how much new growth I have now!

And this is why I am always tempted to cut off the remainder of my relaxed ends...