Protective Styling and What I'm Learning

This is my latest creation and I have to say that I'm pretty darn proud of it. For those of you who don't know, I spent most of my life wearing relaxers and I've only worn braids a few times.

After deciding to return to natural my biggest challenge by far has been learning to style my hair myself. I'm still learning to part and section correctly and I've yet to master corn rowing or french braiding.

My hair is very tightly coiled, thick and dense. Because of it's thickness and density, I prefer to style it in styles where the hair is not on my neck. I also don't like heat stretching my hair so most of my styles are created on hair that has been either banded or dried in braids.

I love styles that are attention getting as well so when I see something eye catching I try to duplicate it the best that I can. The idea for the front "waves" came from a photo by @sharonthestylist on Instagram.

Most of my hair styles also have my ends tucked in in some fashion which has allowed for great retention. In almost two years I've only trimmed my hair once. I cut of 1/2 inch when I allowed single strand knots to become an issue. I switched to using a home made Shea butter mixture on top of my oil and have almost completely eliminated SSK's.

I'll probably always wear twisted styles of some sort because of how they work so well in my lifestyle.

What are some of your favorite protective styles and from where do you draw your inspiration?