Success! Satin Strip Braid-Out Tutorial for Transitioners

RIP Satin Scarf...
I was going to wait until Monday to post this, but I woke up the morning after STILL uber excited about my hair. BF had a hard time understanding why I insisted on taking so many pictures in the car while on our way to Macaroni Grill for dinner. I was just so enthralled with my results that I haaaaaaad to make sure I captured them adequately for my Instagram and here on the blog.

I received a few questions about satin strips and achieving the style on Instagram, and I will do my best to explain them thoroughly here. Regular braid-outs can be a struggle for transitioners because of the inconsistency in hair thickness. The newly grown hair is almost always thicker than the relaxed or heat-damaged ends, which makes for half a great braid, and half a hot mess. Satin strips definitely help even the playing field, by not only creating a more uniform pattern on the thicker and thinner parts, but also by giving definition to ends that tend to always remain straight. Excited now? I am too. These are the basic steps I followed:

1. Detangle, Co-Wash & Condition
2. Towel Dry & Apply Leave-In
4. Braid With Satin Strips

Detangle, Co-Wash & Condition
For this step, I tried a couple of new things. One, I finger-detangled with a blend of Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie, Coconut Oil and water. I can honestly say it will probably be a while before I try that again. I didn't get nearly as much slip as I thought I would. I co-washed with Tresemme Anti-Breakage Conditioner for the 2nd time now, and I must say I am in love. I followed that up with a 10-minute conditioning blending Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Conditioner and Tresemme Anti-Breakage Conditioner. I must say...I LOVE this new blend of condish I'm trying. It leaves my hair moisturized, soft, fluffy, and full of body.

Towel Dry & Apply Leave-In
After the conditioning, I turbie-twisted my hair in a towel to absorb the excess water. Normally after this step, I would spritz a leave-in then seal. However, this time around I wanted to test out my new DIY fluffy styling cream -- featuring Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, Jojoba Oil, and Sweet Almond//Vitamin E Oil. I applied a moderate sized amount to my hands, rubbed together, then smoothed it down my hair.

Braid With Satin Strips
Before I get into how I braided, I will back up and share the origin of my satin strips. I searched high and low for a black satin scarf, to no avail. Okay, I'm lying -- I went to CVS and Target. When I found nothing, I realized that my best bet was to dig up one of my scarves from home. In my hair drawer, I have two scarves -- one for covering my natural textured hair (tan), the other for wrapping my heat-straightened hair (purple). Since I won't need that purple one until at least December, I grabbed my scissors and turned the scarf into strips, cutting them about an inch and a half each.

My satin strips used to look like this...
 Now, on to braiding. Have you ever had individual braids done, with added hair? If you have, it's just like that. If you've never had individuals done, or never seen them done...

My satin dookie braids
1. Section off your hair.
2. Apply leave-in or styling product of choice.
3. Wrap the middle of the satin strip around your hair, as close to the scalp as possible without creating tension that would pull your hair out.
4. Proceed to braid it down your hair. The key here is to not mix your hair in with the strip. Let the two halves of strip be like two pieces for braiding, and your hair be the 3rd.
5. Braid to the end of your hair (hopefully you have some strip left over), and tie the bottoms of the strips together into a knot. 

The next morning, or however many hours later, undo the knot at the end of the strips and take them down. Shake, fluff, whip back n' forth, and enjoy!

Pre-fluff. Waaaavy!
Before I sign off, here are some tips:
Post-fluff and shake.
  • The best results almost always come when you start with clean hair, If you can, try this one after a shampoo or co-wash.
  • Make sure your hair is 100% dry before you take the braids out. Otherwise, you're bound to have less-defined and more frizzy and stringy hair. No bueno.
  • Make sure you braid all the way to the ends of your hair, especially if you're a transitioner. The worst thing ever is having super defined waves and sad looking straight ends.
  • Unbraid the strips carefully. If you rush or haphazardly take the strips out, you run the risk of ruining the style you worked so hard to create.


Happy satin stripping!!! Lol, that doesn't sound right....oh well. 

4 Comments

  1. I like this, back in the day we did these braidouts with brown paper bags. Did your hair dry over nite or did u use a dryer?

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    1. WHAT? You have to explain this brown paper bag thing!!! And my hair dries overnight. Sometimes I'll use a bonnet dryer, but for the most part I prefer to air dry.

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  2. Hi Ms. Christina,

    Love your style, will try this and see how it comes out. Thanks for trying this style and posting, it really helps the rest of us girls!!!!!!

    Your hair is simply gorgeous, keep up the hard work and take care!!!!


    Claysie W

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Claysie!!! I really means a lot :) xoxoxox

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