I think I finally figured out sister twists!!

At least I think they're Sister Twists...

Sister twists have been on my To Do List for a while now. I've tried and failed enough times to be super-motivated to overcome the challenge! 

What I did before (step-by-step): 

• Take a section of hair. 
• Divide into two sections. 
• Put one section in each hand.
• Completely twist one section clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. 
• Try to twist the twists around each other. 
• Get frustrated when these unravel. 
• Give up and do plain old two-strand twists. 

To me this always felt like patting my head and rubbing my tummy at the same time, and I've never been very good at that. I admit I can be easily confused by right/left/clockwise/counterclockwise, and I could never quite coordinate the whole idea of twisting some hair clockwise and some counterclockwise all at the same time. I am a pretty fast two-strand twister though. I find them kind of mindless. I just have to look to get them started, and then I can pretty much speed through them without even looking (how wonderful; this means I can really attend to that favourite hair-time movie for the millionth time - most recently a fascinating Dora video). 

Anyway, it was really bugging me that  I couldn't get my head around the sister twists. So, I watched the how-to video at Beads, Braids and Beyond, and then played around with JJ's hair a bit. I realized that when I do two-strand twists I tend to use my two hands differently. I almost always twist clockwise. I start with a section of hair that I divide into two sections. I use the middle finger of my left hand to grab the right section of hair which I pull under (or behind) the left section. I then continue grabbing the right section with my left hand, twisting all the way down to the bottom. Hmm, maybe I need to get that on video, it's challenging to describe. Speaking of challenging, here now is my attempt to describe how I am now doing what I think are sister twists!!!  

What I do now:

• Take a section of hair.
• Divide into two sections.
• Put one section in each hand.
• Pull right hand section under left hand section (I use the middle finger of my left hand to do this).
• Switch which hand is holding each section (because I use my left middle finger to grab the hair I have already switched this section, I then use my right hand to grab what was the left section).
• Twist section now in left hand between thumb and first finger. My hands naturally want to twist the hair clockwise, so I do that.
• Again pull the right hand section under left hand section (again, I grab the right hand section with my left middle finger). 
• Again, switch which hand is holding each section. 
• Again, twist the section now in the left hand between thumb and first finger, the same direction as before (in my case, clockwise).
• Continue pulling the right hand section under the left, switching hands, and always twisting the hair in the left hand section the same direction. 

I'm sure that's all gibberish to anyone but me, but at least I've recorded what I do in case I forget one day. 

Most importantly I am ***loving*** these twists. They really do seem to be less fuzzy, and don't take me that much longer than regular twists. They have withstood the tests of swimming lessons and washing. And the twist-outs have a very, very cool texture and are easy to put into ponytails, etc. 

Why can I never get the (auto) focus right?
Anyway look at how much the sister twists stretch out JJ's hair.

Twists after a few days, a swimming lesson, and co-washing!

Cool twist-out texture. The rather noticeable part lines were not so noticeable in real life.

JJ lovin' the twist-out

More recent twists with cornrows at the top.