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Registered: ‎03-12-2010

I've been into curling my straight hair, so I did the usual curling iron, hot rollers, and flat iron, but find I'm struggling to get up in time to do these things on my super thick hair, 4.5"+ ponytail circumference. I tried no heat curls with a headband and got frizzy from my super fine hair. I tried a fatter headband and it worked better but only did curls mid shaft, which is fine for somethings. I stumbled upon this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho03t3OAAag and she does hers with a ponytail and rolls sections into well....rolls. I now have my hair in two ponytails, since it is so thick, to see if this will work for me to get style without taking so much time in the mornings. She does this updo with curls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIPrzATuBec&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLkbOQwEvPFvZ_lk5P47N5cNd65yM... I plan to try both. Isn't youtube so wonderful!

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Posts: 141
Registered: ‎04-12-2010
I haven't looked at the video you mentioned, but look up "Bantu knots". If that's not the same thing. My daughter does that and it's so pretty.
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I have fine hair, can be frizzy and it is naturally curly/wavy, also I have a lot of hair and it is long so it can take a long time to style. So I went "old school" - I wash my hair, air dry 1/2 way and put a light gel or setting lotion in my hair. Then I use sponge rollers and set my whole head over night. The next morning I have tons of body, big awesome curls with no frizz. Way better than hot rollers, and it last for days. You can control how far up you want the curl to be also and the rollers come in all sizes, depending on the look you are going for.

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On 2/22/2014 SouthrnGirl said: I haven't looked at the video you mentioned, but look up "Bantu knots". If that's not the same thing. My daughter does that and it's so pretty.

Bantu Knots are very different. They make more spiral curls than hot roller type curls. Mine came out well, so I think I will do them for work tomorrow but use mouse to help set the curls and start with partially dry washed hair instead of starting from dry hair and dampening it. You rolls these like you would if you were doing a vintage hair style from a ponytail type bun where you section it and roll those sections over your fingers to form a roll of hair, then pin. I've done the bantu knots in my hair back in college. I got straight frizz and knots no matter how much was twisted at one time. My hair is too fine for that, but medium to coarse hair would do much better with bantu knots.

Bantu Knots make Pretty Curls (1)These are perfect bantu knot curls.

My hair would look more like this. Fine and superfine hair just fros out into a knotted mess. I wish I could get the first curls.

Here's a picture of what your rolls should look like (Rosie the Riveter type) With the damp/with mouse, they make hot roller curls.

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Apparently if you are going to roll up your hair, you can also dry your hair under cool air for non frizzy curls as well. I just saw a video on that last week. It's probably my next experiment.
Happy WEN Girl since 1/12/2012
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I'm doing it at night because I don't have time to do it in the mornings. Foam rollers are not as comfortable to sleep on as this or the headband method. I can sleep on those without issues.

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Registered: ‎04-12-2010

Oh no... that's not how my daughter's turned out at all. I think it has a lot to do with how big the knots are. Hers were big and bouncy. Here she is:

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Those are great! Mine didn't dry overnight from 4 hours of air drying, so I will go with the damping technique tonight instead of fresh washed. I can see where the larger the knot the better the results for fine hair. Thanks for the pic!

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Tigress, She blow dries her hair to about 90% and then lightly sprays it with a leave in conditioner. She doesn't always use the spray. Her hair goes to her waist now, and she only uses about 5 or 6 knots. She makes them big because she wants big curls. She has super fine hair and it's stick straight, too.

When she first told me how she was doing it I didn't think it would work because her hair felt too dry. But I guess that's the trick.... Good luck!

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Thanks for including that she has super fine hair. I may have to try that this weekend, just encase it doesn't work so well. Is it difficult to adjust to sleeping on them?