I am embarking on a new journey. A journey from relaxed hair, now reverting to my natural mane. I haven’t been natural for over 10 years plus. And saying that I am excited is an understatement. I have watched YouTube videos, stalked hair influencers and spent long nights surfing through TikTok videos and finally got influenced by the natural hair threading trends.
Delving deeper into my research, I got intrigued, then hooked. With a brief intro, African threading is an ancient hair styling technique that involves wrapping the length of one’s hair with any form of thin, flexible twine, string, or thread. It is a cherished tradition among women in parts of Nigeria, Ghana, and the entire Sub-Saharan Africa.
How Its Done
All you need is a head of clean, moisturized hair, some thread, and a pair of scissors to cut the thread. Step 1: Section and part your hair into the desired size. Wrap the hair from root to tip.
Step 2: Once the hair is wrapped in thread, style it in any look; you can style it into a simple up-do, create mini braids, chunky twists, or flat twists. This hairstyle technique works perfectly for those who want to transition without having the big chop.
When you do African threading, the main benefit is that you stretch your hair without using heat.
When hair is wrapped in thread, it leads to less manipulation, which is excellent for the strands. Since the hair isn’t exposed to as much breakage from overhandling, one can also get length retention as a sweet bonus.
When you condition your hair before doing this hairstyle, the thread helps retain the moisture for the entirety of the period that you are wearing the hairstyle. Moisture prevents unnecessary hair breakage. All of these benefits are interconnected.
Societal Take on African Threading
Adding African threading to my hair regimen has been one of the best decisions I have made when it comes to hair styling. There has been a huge cultural shift towards natural Afro hair. It’s wonderful to see that more and more women are embracing the wondrous textures of their hair and celebrating its versatility with bodacious ‘fros, beautiful braids, hair threading, tempting twists and luxurious locs.
Threading is an art form; the intricacy and skill of hair threading is heavily underrated, and there’s so much creativity you can express!