It's a new year, so I decided to try something new with my hair. I've seen many natural hair bloggers/vloggers create cute, curly styles by creating bantu knots. After watching a handful of YouTube tutorials, I attempted a set.
I started by lightly spritzing the ends of hair with a water bottle to make it slightly damp.
Taking one section in my hand, I began to twirl the hair around itself; as the hair becomes twisted, it starts to curl around itself to begin forming the bantu knot. When I got to the end of my hair, I took the last inch or so and wrapped it around the knot and tucked the end to secure the knot. Some naturals begin by creating a two-strand twist and then wrapping it around itself to form a knot, but I chose not to because I wanted to see what kind of curl pattern the bantu know would create on it's own.
After completing my whole head section by section, I ended up with 10 knots.
I kept the bantu knots in overnight to set the curls. The next morning, I sprayed my hair with
Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Reconstructive Elixir Spray and took aloose each knot. I was happy with the curl pattern produced by the knots, but as I started separating and fluffing my hair I realize that my sections were too big, and I may have used too much product. At some places, the curl at the root was much looser than at the ends, and the hair at the back of my head was still damp so the curls hardly set at all. I ended up just smoothing my hair into a curly ponytail.
I will definitely be trying this style again in the future, probably using about 20-25 knots.
What do you think? Have you ever tried a bantu knot out?
