ZigZag Banding on Natural Hair

I loved every minute of the inaugural Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge. It really was a challenge for both JJ and I to leave her hair big and free for four days - in fact, I'd safely say it's been at least two years since her hair spent that much time "out"!  It was great for both of us - for me to see that with the right preparation, hydration, and night-time routine it was possible; and for her to have a good little stretch of embracing her big hair.

JJ's favorite style of the challenge was a fairly well-defined "band-out" for Day 4:

I started on dry, previously stretched hair. JJ's hair was well-moisturized from a combination of avocado oil and Yes To Carrots Leave in Conditioner. I finger detangled in small sections, added copious amounts of Queen Helene Royal Curl Shaping Creme, and used a Denman brush to distribute the QH creme. I then took one-inch strips from an old pair up tights - cut into horizontal strips - and banded each section of JJ's hair with the tights. I secured the tights at the base by looping around a few times, and then I moved downwards as I banded to create a criss-cross pattern. The bands stayed in overnight.

Confused? Don't worry. It just may be one of those techniques that defies written explanation. Because of this, big brother helped me put together a little You Tube video of our ZigZag Banding technique for you to watch! We are very new to videos so please overlook quality issues (thank you). 

When the bands came out, JJ's hair was zigzaggy, like this:

Before the zigzags were separated , they looked like this:

And once the sections were separated they looked like this:

Later in the day (extreeeeeeme humidity in Toronto) the pattern was less defined, but JJ was still lovin' her hair! 

Thanks again to to Chloe at Baby Big Hair for organizing the challenge and to all the participants for great tips and tricks, and inspirational styles and photos!

Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge

What can I say? Participating in the first ever Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge has been nothing short of FROTASTIC!! An amazing group of mommies (and one big sister) swapped tips, tricks and frotos while we challenged ourselves to keep our little ones' hair big and free for four days.

Here are JJ's styles for the 4 days - we went from a shrunken 80's-style 'fro on day 1 (top left), to a stretched via twists for Day 2 (top right), to an even more stretched via banding for Day 3 (bottom left) and finally a zig-zaggy texture (also achieved through banding) for Day 4 (bottom right; more details to follow soon).

Please head on over to the BBH voting page to take a look at everyone's amazing four days of fabulous big hair! You really don't want to miss this!!