Happy November, ya’ll. This weekend, I decided to put in some Bantu knots for her in an effort to change up the usual two-strand twist and/or fro look that she likes to sport. This isn’t the first time I wore Bantus, but I changed things up a bit. Typically, I Bantu on dry, stretched hair; i.e., an old twist-out. This time wasn’t that different, but I decided to follow a method I saw on YouTube and do things a liiiitle bit differently. So:
- I started by sectioning my hair. I almost never do this. Something about putting my hair into sections before styling makes me believe that the styling process will be prolonged and therefore cause my arms to fall off.
- I should say that I started by turning on the TV for some much-needed entertainment-while-doing-my-hair. This is intrinsic.
- Anyway, after sectioning my hair into about 4 or 5 big ole sections, I began by dividing the first section of hair into smaller sections. Usually, in the past, I’ve Bantu’ed with huge, chunky sections of hair. But the course I saw on YouTube University convinced me otherwise. With the smaller section in hand, I lightly sprayed my hair with my accidental mixture of water, Cantu Shea Butter leave-in conditioner, and some essential oils, focusing on my ends. It’s an accidental mixture because I kind of threw it all together one day. And it’s been working. Thank goodness for accidental experiments when I just happen to be hanging out in the bathroom. I digress. (Constantly.) This is a change for me with lightly wetting my hair for Bantus. I typically do them completely dry.
- After spraying the section, I then applied a dab of my Jane Carter Nourish and Shine Product from Heaven throughout the section, again focusing on the ends.
- I then two-strand twisted the section before Bantu-ing: winding the twist around and around my finger until it basically created a ball/knot. I’d like to happily add that this was the first time I Bantu’ed without using bobby pins to secure the knots. My hair knotted all by itself!
- After about 1,000 knots, I gave my hair some time to air dry before placing my gigantic satin bonnet on my head and heading off to SleepLand.
- In the morning, I may have whispered a tiny prayer before taking off the bonnet, the Natural Hair I Hope This Style Worked prayer.
- I coated my fingers and hands with some oil and undid each knot. Then I gently untwisted them and began to fluff.
Photos of the process and the results below. I really liked this “different” approach to this style, and I certainly loved how awesome and soft my hair turned out in the end. Will definitely stick to this process for the future.
Onwards for the rest of the weekend. Last night, me and a friend headed to the theater and saw The Hundred-Foot Journey, a wonderful film by Lasse Hallstrom (no surprise there; he directed Chocolat, a movie that remains one of my absolute favorites) about an Indian family that turns a little French village upside down when they open a restaurant across the street (100 feet away) from a Michelin-starred French restaurant. It was moving, sweet, compelling, lovely, funny, and beautiful. Ugh, I loved it. It made me both happy and hungry. Five Square Pegs on that one. Get thee to a theater and see it if you can.
Other than the hair and the movie, it was a grand weekend. We feted a good friend of mine for a surprise baby shower (can’t wait to meet her little girl!); I ran errands and got in a few cat naps; and, most importantly, engaged in my usual fulfilling spiritual activities.
A good time was had.
How was your weekend?
This Square Peg. 
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