If you know me, you know that two strand twists are my favourite protective style. I’ve worn them throughout my healthy hair journey and find them to be beneficial for the retention and health of my natural hair. Since learning about three strand twists I’d been keen to try them on my natural 4c hair, but was intimidated by the idea of twisting with that many strands. However, once I got the hang of creating them I immediately fell in love with their beauty.
Three strand twists tend not to be as popular as their two-strand counterpart. This may be because they’re slightly more time consuming to install. However, they can add another dimension to your twisted or twist out styles.
Benefits of Three Strand Twists on 4c Hair
Three strand twists aren’t difficult to create and they look great on natural hair. Like two strand twists, they serve as a beautiful protective style and they offer all of the same benefits. You can moisturize these twists and they have the ability to retain much of that moisture for a long time.
Comparatively speaking, when twisting with the same tension, these twists create a tighter twist than two strand twists. For this reason, these twists provide the possibility for twisted styles to be worn longer.
How to Three Strand Twist
Just like braiding, three strand twists require you to start with three sections of hair. When creating three strand twists, the objective is to always move the “first” section of hair to the third position. If you know how to braid, this can be a bit tricky to remember because you’ll instinctively want to move the end strands to the middle position.
As with two strand twists, before you start twisting you can create an anchor by braiding the hair. This technique is especially helpful if you’re planning on wearing a twist-out and want the roots of your hair to be defined.
Depending on whether you’re left- or right-handed, you’ll either move from left to right or from right to left. The direction that you start in doesn’t matter, but the key is to be consistent in terms of the direction that you’re working in. Keep following this method until you reach the end of the strand. That’s it!
When I reach the end of a section, I like to combine two of the three sections and finish with a two strand twist. I find that this makes it easier to unravel the twist when I’m ready to take it out.
Have you ever tried three strand twists? Do you prefer this method to two strand twisting?
