Bantu Knots with the Nappy Hutt

bantu plural of Ban·tu (Noun)

Noun A member of an extensive group of native peoples of central and southern Africa. The group of languages spoken by these peoples.     So I was going to research the history of bantu knots aka corkscrews aka Zulu knots aka Chinese bumps! But I found a great blog post on blogger that gives a great detailed history on Bantu Knots and the orgin of the bantu! You can read up on the history here: http://goodhealthdiva.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-hair-bantu-knots-little-history.html?showComment=1368705640730#c7462440294606126265   2 days ago I had my hair done from The Nappy Hutt, this time Jazmin was my stylist and I came in wanting bantu knots! Looking at my natural hair pictures most can see I like transitional styles. Styles that last me a while and goes in stages. For example, when I get bantu knots, I rock this style for about a week, then I unravel them and pin them in my cute/sexy curly androgynous look. Then over the next few days pulling on my little corkscrew spiral curls elongated them and they begin to fall which allows me to have  a curly fro or Mohawk, or anything else I decide to pin it into. From bantu knots lots and lots of hair styles are born!   FAQ when I have bantu knots:   How do you sleep in those? easy I moisturize my scalp, wrap my head and Lay down. When done properly bantu knots can be slept on with little to no irritation or change in sleep habits. Did you cut your hair?! no no no I did not cut my hair, that's the more of condensed curl patterns and natural hair in general. you can go from a long hair do to a short hair do in a matte of minutes. I embrace it and I love it! I get the best of both worlds minus the scissors. Enjoy the rest of the images. Bantu knots are an interesting style, most know it from the Matrix but   its bold and well respected especially by those who know about the beautiful noheat curl it will produce when unraveled.

New Year New Nappy Hutt = 2014!!

December of 2012 saw me with a head full of Bantu Knots by a young girl who didn't last too long at The Nappy Hutt. BUT while she was there she gave me some funky bantu knots that I rocked all of December till the week before Christmas.

After the bantu knots I unraveled them. I proudly took my observations from Trell (the QUEEN on Pin-ups at the nappy hutt) and pinned my curly fries together in a very sexy (sorta androgynous look) that I rocked into the New Year! The front corners of my scalp right before my ears do wonders for me when pulled back. My face is angled and just damn awesome looking. lol.

Here are some ways I rocked my curly fries pinned up.

I rang in the new year with my Bebe/ Neo Perry on the downtown streets of Delray Beach, FL and watched fireworks from the roof top of a local garage :) and  a peak of the moon from the beach.

Since then I returned to Savannah with Perry and we spent the last few days of our winter break together before we parted ways and went back into our academic schedules :/

Last night I got my hair done at no other place but THE NAPPY HUTT and celebrated my anniversary with them lol. I've had my hair styled by all of the hairstyles starting with Trell and last night I cycled back to her :) I was blow dried a little bit in the process of getting some braids and damn near cried. Heat hadn't touched my hair in nearly a year but my thickness and tangley curls were cramping Trell's hand sooo she heat protected my hair and blow dried it some. I constantly touched it making sure it was still ok but my tresses and I made it our safely lol.


I also got a TRIM!! No more bad ends (again) and I'm hoping to keep up with it by doing the following:

-No more keeping hair styles in for 4+ weeks. Since my hair is so coiled and curly I have the advantage of not needing a wash as frequently because the oils from my scalp take longer to travel down my hair shaft. Unfortunately I have abused this advantage and pulling out months old braids and twist leave my head full of sad oily dirt balls in the roots and hair ends.

So new rule!!! No matter what I wash every 2 weeks. and I'll trim every 2-3 visits. I'm getting a lot more comfortable with the idea of trimming my hair. I went from anti scissors EVER to once in a while. but my hair depends on my hair ends to grow and this year I am DETERMINED for some super growth. So my hair ends come first!

Lots of people straighten their hair to see how long its gotten but after straightening my hair for so long back in the day I don't need to do that. I know based on my fro and portions of my hair whether my hair has gotten longer or not. Its grown a little but not as much as I know it can with better care.

But I'm in good hands at The Nappy Hutt, I just have to do my part and show up!

In even better new The Nappy Hutt will be expanding into a brand new and much much bigger Shop! more details to come!

Natural Hair Do's

My speech teach Mr. Campbell announced from the first day of class how fascinating my hair is. I've been washing my hair every two weeks or so now and I have been trying my best NOT to tie it down into one style.
Each day is a new style and says something toward my outfit. I love this experimentation cause with my hair out on its own I'm challenged every day not to do the same thing I did yesterday! My mom hates when I do this but I love it! She says my hair own in its all mighty natural state is how "Mad Women" in Jamaica wear their hair... lol. Whatever!
The most I've gotten her to do is China Bump my hair or what you hair professionals call Bantu Knots. In the country, us Jamaicans refer to them as China Bumps and pronounce China "Chi-knee" lol. My late Grandma use to part her white hair and twist it and roll it into these bumps on her head. Its something I found funny before but the next morning when she took it down her hair was all wavy. Well for me Bantu Knots provide a thick coil that's springy and even tighter when I do it Jamaican style by twisting it first.

The best thing about my mom doing my China Bumps in my hair is that she got to use another Black Earth Product. She is stubborn and she has to use something before she believes in it. OR she'll believe in it if it was on one of her shows like Dr. Oz or the Doctors -__-
Anywaay she also thinks I ruined my hair...So now! She was combing my hair and praising how beautiful and long my hair still is and how I should show off my length and how no one knows how long and pretty my hair is because I wear it like rasta mad woman. lol.

The thing is that I'm happy with my hair and I no longer feel the need to show off my length like I used to. People who KNOW hair can look at my hair once and praise my length and bucket me with compliments. And if they don't know hair they'll think I cut it or I'm going natural, unbeknownst to them I've been natural all my life. I like keeping people guessing. As long as I'm loving my hair that's all what matters.
To me I have the best of both worlds. Long hair when I choose and short hair when I choose. And medium when I choose. Without cutting a strand! Wet/or Dry! Thats the POWER and CONTROL I have with my hair being natural! Do you have that authority with your hair?

Lots of my other styles come from the use of lots and lots of hair pins.
The products I use mostly are Curly Curl Cream and style N shine for my Bantu Knots.

The great thing is that I don't use this stuff daily. Once its in my hair I reactivate it by moistening my hair with water. It saves on the product too!

Enjoy the Pictures!!!!
(The Last Style is how my hair is currently)
I also enlarged the final style since I have some process images in here as well :)