Stretching hair with Banding

First of all, what is Banding? 

    Banding is the process of stretching washed hair without the use of heat.

I wanted to try this system for my younger daughter because although she has mid-waist length stretched hair, she has lots of shrinkage giving her about shoulder length hair, when twisted. Trying branding would help her acheive the length that she has when her hair is damp and finger stretched.

Now to test this theory....

Scunci Effortless beauty cloth head ties was used for the banding process.  I got this from Dollar General for $1 for a pack of 8 head ties.  I ended up buying 3 packs (24 head ties).

I did the monthly clarification with Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Fortifying Shampoo. I did a deep condition with 4 tbsps of Silk Elements Luxury Conditioner and 1.5 tbsp of Grapeseed oil. After DC, I detangled her hair and checked for any split ends.  Luckily, she didn't have any.. YEAH!.

After detangling her hair, I re-sectioned her hair into 4 parts and applied a mixture of Cantu Shea Leave in Conditioning repair cream  and coconut oil to each section. I did not towel-dry her hair, instead, I started tying one head tie every 1 inch.  A total of 4 head ties per section. (I should have stretched her hair more while doing this, but since this was my first time, I didn't.  I believe if I did this, I would get even more length)

By the time I was done doing this, I didn't even need to towel dry her hair.  The next morning, I removed a section of hair.  The hair had stretched some what, not as much as I would have like, but SO MUCH more than when I just hair dry or blow dry her hair.  I try not do blow dry her hair frequently because I know that causes breakage.  Another thing I like about this process is that she maintained her hair curl type (Type 4a) and texture.

Stretched hair after banding

Her hair curl type - 4a

 

Her hair was styled into twists using Shea Moisture Organic Curl Enhancing Smoothie Coconut & Hibiscus and sealed with my shea butter mix. Her hair can be worn with the twists all down, or gathered together to protect the ends.

                          

Observation:

1.  To achieve even more length, stretch damp hair before tying down with head ties
2.  Add more head bands to create more stretch.

2.  Attach each section to the end of the bottom section to create longer twists

3.  Section hair in more than 4 sections to reduce drying time.  Her hair was still a little damp this morning.

For more information about banding, click HERE