Candice S.If styling or coming up with ideas to give life to your TWA has been an issue for you, you’re gonna love this post! I’m sharing top tips and one of my most popular Pinterest pins (Video) that will solve the problem of achieving a great finger coil style.
Get inspired to add some accessories, boost your color or play around with your texture. But no matter what you do, a healthy regimen is mandatory for keeping it right and tight.
Okay so you just did a big chop and your doo looked fresh for like 5 minutes. Now you’re wondering what to do to switch it up and keep it looking fabulous as you grow it out. Well, first let’s get down to the basics of maintenance. Then we’ll talk about styling options.
Here are a few things to remember to keep your TWA in tip-top condition.
Tips For Styling Your TWA
Learn your porosity – Basically, this just means how your hair absorbs and holds onto water. It’s something that all naturals should know, no matter what length your hair is. It’s important to know whether you have low, medium or high porosity so you can determine which hair regimen and products will work best for you. Here’s a quick test to see what level you have. Take a few strands of your hair (no need to pluck, just grab a few from your comb or brush) and place them into a cup or bowl of water and let it sit for about 3 – 5 mins. If your hair floats, you have low porosity hair. If it sinks, you have high porosity and if it kind of suspends in between, you likely have medium porosity hair.
Develop a consistent wash/co-wash routine – Product buildup can always screw with your style options and lead to other issues like dryness, dandruff, and breakage. So try to be consistent with your wash or co-wash routines to build a great foundation for fab styles.
Keep Your Afro’s Moisture In Check – Did you get the result of your porosity test? Well, your porosity is going to determine how you should properly layer products to seal in moisture or whether you should even layer at all. For instance, my hair porosity tends to rock between medium and high. So what works best for me is using the LCO (Leave-In, Cream then Oil to seal in moisture) method. If your porosity is on the high side, the LOC (Leave-in, Oil, and Cream to seal) method might work best for you because heavier butters and creams are your friends. If you have low porosity hair, humectants like glycerin and honey or super light oils like jojoba will likely work best for you because they bring the moisture to you. Light oil helps hold it for you (remember to add these on damp not wet hair).
Embrace your natural hair type and texture – If you weren’t born with curly texture, so what! That’s what they invented perm rods and flexi rods for. On the flip-side, if you weren’t born with wavy or coily texture, that’s what they invented braid outs and twist outs for, ’nuff said. Oh and if your edges don’t want to behave, then welcome to the real world. It happens to the best of us.
Okay now that we have the basics down, let’s get on to style!
Styling Tips and Options For Your TWA
Undercuts and Precision Cuts
Going to the barber isn’t just for the fellas. If you’re contemplating a big chop or just want to add some pizzazz to your TWA, precision cuts and undercuts can really make your style stand out. Go for a tapered look with precise edging, shave the sides or get fancy with a great design that’s perfect for you. Check out these ladies and how they rocked it.
Accessories
The great thing about rocking a TWA is, it really makes accessories and your face stand out. Play up your best assets. Rock your favorite statement jewelry and most definitely, play with your hair accessories. Headbands, crowns, flowers, hair jewelry, head wraps, and bows are great options to keep your style fresh with minimal manipulation. Check out some ways to rock various headbands on a TWA.
Color
If you’re not afraid of playing with a little color, this is a great option to add some pop to your new doo. Find something daring or play it safe with subtle color. It’s all about how it makes you feel. Here are a few options to give you some color inspiration.
How To Apply The Finger Coiling Method To Your TWA
Naturals have been blowing up my Natural Hair Stars Pinterest board clicking on this particular video pin. It gets close to 25,000 views per day.
So it seems that a lot of naturals with short cuts or TWA’s are struggling with getting the right shape and curl definition to make their looks pop.
If you don’t already know, finger coiling takes a lot of patience on pretty much any length of hair. But if it’s done with the proper products and technique, it can really spice up your look like nobody’s business. Check out this video by Mee Mahrii, on how to properly apply the finger coiling method on your TWA to get great coils and a killer shape.
If you’re not a fan of talking in videos, just skip ahead to 2:25.
I hope this post was helpful and gave you some great tips and tricks to use to get your TWA acting right and under control.
It’s really all about your personality and what you feel is right for you. TWA’s are beautiful scene stealer’s. So go ahead and show them off! I can’t wait to see all of the pics of your fabulous doos taking over Instagram and Pinterest.
What Kind Of Struggles Do You Have With Your TWA?
Candice S.
4 comments
I have not relaxed my hair for a full year, it is not growing, probably because I have health issues and take like 15 pills or more on a daily basis. It is rather short and longer at the top. My problem is that even though I have not had a relaxer and I have cut those ends off it still won’t really curl up. How can I get popping coiled curls?
Hi Kesha, good question. Congrats on transitioning! I know this can be tough as you may be learning your natural hair type for the first time or reintroducing yourself to your new hair.
Whether or not your hair coils naturally is going to be determined by your actual hair type(1-4 a,b or c) and texture (is it fine, medium or coarse/thick?). Your first step is to determine what texture and type of hair you have in general. Then, it will become easier to see the types of products and sets that would work best with your texture to get the results you’re looking for. Here’s a chart to help. https://www.curls.biz/curly-hair-type-guide.html
So in a nutshell, if you don’t naturally have a coily hair type you will likely have to create the effect by manipulating your hair with roller sets, straw sets or coil outs. Or, rocking a nice coily wig!
The hardest part of having a twa was learning to love myself and not what society had told me for 45 years that long and straight was beautiful and it took me about 2 years to become comfy in my own skin
I feel ya Tomiko. I think its wonderful that so many women are waking up and no longer believing the hype. Natural textures are hot and the versatility of our hair is what makes it beautiful.