Hair Files: Pin Curls/Bantu Knots

Recently I've tried two new hairstyles: bantu knots and pin curls....both hair styles I absolutely fell in love with. 

Pin Curls: Its super fun and easy. My recommendation is that you do these over night or when you have about 4 or 5 fives for the curls to remain pinned up. I pin curled my hair on Saturday morning for a party that I was going to that night. I will admit I used heat to curl my hair before I pin curled it, only because I didn't know how they would turn out if I didn't and I didn't want to run that risk lol.....but what I realized is that this would be a great hairstyle for a 2nd or 3rd day braidout/twistout/bantu knot, where no heat is needed. Once I try it this way, I will definitely post the pic. Here is the pic with heat:

• Pin curls are pretty easy all you do is section the hair; make sure you comb the section so that it is smooth. 
• Run you index finger down to about an inch for the very ends of your hair, use your index finger and thumb to pinch that area. 
• Take your other index finger and wrap the very end of your hair around your pinched index and thumb
• roll you two index fingers around each other up to the root of your hair and then pin the curl to your head
  

How to do Pin curls: Here is a video link from youtube of ulovemegz pin curls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufb31um7zKI

Bantu Knots: I LOVE these! I love the form of the curl and the maintenance is quite easy too (for maintenence i jsut bantu knot my hair again and go to sleep)! I currently have this style now (its my 2nd day) and I'm going to stretch this till tomorrow (my co-wash day). For this style, the only heat I used was the hair dryer. It takes my hair forever to air dry, especially if it is not left down, so I just decided to get under the dryer for about an hour. Getting under the dryer is completely optional; matter of fact, I hope to eliminate heat all together pretty soon, so I will let you know how the no heat version of both of these styles come out! Here are my bantu knots:

Its simple: 

• all you have to do is section the hair (depending on how thick your hair is and the type of curl you want, my hair is pretty thick so I usually do 7 to 8 knots). 
• Gather the hair together and twist the hair in whatever direction you would like. The twisting of the hair is not a two-strand twist, it is more like twisting a nail or something in (hopefully that makes sense lol) and thats it! 

**note: if you want bigger, more looser curls section the hair bigger; if you want smaller, more tighter curls section the hair smaller....how big or small are the "bigger" and "smaller" sections? thats completely up to you to decide...play with different sizes and see what fits you the best! 

Here is a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4BWt3_7WVQ

(this girl is completely natural but the concept is the same for both natural and relaxed hair)