African Threading for Natural Hair - My Experience

Last week I had an event that I and 2 other bloggers were hosting. I didn't think too much about what I would wear and how I'd style my hair. In fact, 2 days before the event, I was still trying to decide if I would wear one of my wigs, or clip-ins. But then I watched a video via someone's blog, and it showed AMAZING results of someone's threading. The video is below. I mean, she looks like she literally blow dried her hair, right?

I figured that even though I didn't have 2 consecutive days to thread my hair, at least there would be some significant stretch, right? Well let's see what happened!

So I didn't exactly follow the directions. My hair wasn't freshly washed or damp. It was done on hair that had been washed a week or two prior.

african naturalistas, african threading, threading, natural hair, berry dakara

I didn't use thread either. I used some yarn that I had at home.

I did leave the thread overnight. I won't lie - it was quite uncomfortable. And I had a migraine - but I have migraines almost regularly so I can't exactly attribute it to the threading.

In the video, she loosened the thread, combed out and re-threaded. I didn't have that opportunity to re-thread, but these are the results from threading overnight.

I forgot to take a photo of my hair after I styled it - my camera died. But a few hours later...

The hair was shrunken!!!! Sorry the photo's blurry.

Have you threaded your hair before? I think I'm going to try doing it again according to the video's steps.

Have a lovely weekend.
Berry Dakara.

37 comments

Unknown20 November 2015 at 12:46
In happy to see a threading post here.So TESTIMONY TIME..... I am a threading connoisseur(is there such a thing sef)?,I thread after washing and keep the threading in styles for up to a week,so yeah my hair is stretched to an optimum level,real blowout like.The style lasts me a week or a week and some days(depending on how lazy I am to wash).As for the uncomfortable feeling,it generally lasts a day or two as with most new styles,i try not to thread my roots tightly to reduce traction and pain on my scalp,so when I take it down I simply pick my roots with a comb(problem solved).African threading has been a lifesaver cause it takes little time for me to do,helps me keep a style in for a week and does the best job at keeping my textures blended without using heat.Great stuff,threading.
Unknown20 November 2015 at 12:51
Oh,Berry I think the effects did not last for a while was i)you started on product-ified hair,lol,that wasn't freshly washed,depending on the products used,if they contained any humectants be rest assured a swelling spell is on the way(its why at this point,i avoid glycerin and its cousins like a tooth ache.
ii)the style wasn't left in for long,while I have never re-threaded my hair,it certainly helps that I keep it in for 5-7 days.
Love the style you had in by the way.
Unknown20 November 2015 at 16:16
hmmmm it looks stretched
African Naturalistas20 November 2015 at 20:53
I think you should try again, I tried the threading method to stretch one time when I was an amateur in hair care, using the sewing thread. The bad part was that I tied to the very tips, thus breaking my ends a considerable amount. I haven't tried threading since then.
Unknown21 November 2015 at 13:01
Yep! I've threaded my hair with yarn before. Left it for about 48hours. My hair was decently stretched.

Plan to try it again though.
Unknown21 November 2015 at 23:10
@oreoluwa,don't mind me o.Its one of like 3 styles I do all the time,so in quite passionate.Free me sef jo.
Unknown21 November 2015 at 23:11
@Berry thanks.*grins ear to ear*.
Unknown21 November 2015 at 23:14
@African naturalistas,yup the ends are really a hassle,I work around that by bending the ends and wrapping it upwards.I do not use sewing thread so I don't know how that is,I use the usual rubber thread.
Unknown22 November 2015 at 17:15
Love threading so much. Both for stretch and also using it to set a style in place (see threaded Bantu knots on YouTube in case you don't get what I mean).
Unknown22 November 2015 at 17:16
In fact the threaded Bantu knots have become my go-to low maintainace protective style. I'm that obsessed with it lol
Unknown22 November 2015 at 21:14
Ooh,ill need to try that,threaded bantu knots@nkoli.
Unknown22 November 2015 at 22:56
Please do. Not only is it considerably easier, it's also much cuter.
Unknown6 January 2016 at 23:00
For all my fellow britico folk, there is a lady/stylist called world of braiding she can really thread some hair! I saw a thread post on KL's blog. O gurl I wish I could have someone do my hair like that!