Banding

September 18, 2017 by pursuitofnatural 10 Comments

I’d heard good things about banding your hair to stretch it. Here’s why it’s a no go for me.

What’s Good

It really stretched my hair way more than my normal two-strand twists. I was actually astonished at my length. Installing the bands was quick and uncomplicated and I could do larger sections. Of course, not having to use heat is always a plus.

How to Do It

Some people use multiple hair ties along the length of the section. I decided to cut up my favorite t-shirt into strips long enough to do the job. (The t-shirt had been ruined prior to that, of course.)

Starting at the root, grip one end of the band and the section of hair together, then start wrapping the free end of the band all the way down the section. It’s really simple. When I got to the end, I just tied it off onto itself. It took a bit longer to dry but was overall comfortable to wear.

The Disastrous Takedown

I wanted to stretch my hair using the banding method so that I could flat iron without blow drying and raking a comb attachment through it. I thought!

My hair was matted, so I had to spend an extra two hours combing it anyways. With so many hairs fused together, my patience was running thin and my temper running high. I thought it was because I didn’t have any product in my hair, so I tried again at a later date with my regular products. It was only marginally better but there was still matting.

So banding is a no go for me, but that’s how it is on this natural hair journey. It’s all about the trial and error. Let me know in the comments about your trials and errors. Have you discovered any methods that left you pleasantly surprised at how well they worked?

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