French Twist: I've been doing it backwards

[Riot Crrl]

I have had a strange mental block about the French twist for my entire life. I just figured it out. I was trying to stuff the ends in the smooth side. Doh!

Yeah, it helps if I don't do that. Now that I've remedied that, I have a couple fine tuning questions I hope you all can help with.

Sometimes it's hard to get all the ends in. Even when attempting to stuff them in the correct side. Any tricks for that? I do loosen the twist before I try to, which helps, but sometimes they just won't all just get or stay in there.

And how do you not get a weird little donut at the top?

[manderly]

Sometimes I complete the roll then stuff, other times I roll, fold the ends, then continue to roll and stuff any escapees.

There's no rule that says you have to stuff at the end. Maybe that would help you?

[Bucatini]

Oooh I have subscribed to this thread because I also can't get my ends all tucked in AND I get the "donut" as you called it. Even when my hair was shorter I couldn't do a french twist but I like the way it looks. No matter how many video's I watch it still ends up as a peacock.

[Riot Crrl]

Sometimes I complete the roll then stuff, other times I roll, fold the ends, then continue to roll and stuff any escapees.

There's no rule that says you have to stuff at the end. Maybe that would help you?


I tried to double it over first and then roll it up, but that made my own version of a turd bun!

The best so far is to twist then loosen it a little, stuff, then twist it up tight. But that is doing nothing to alleviate the donut.

[manderly]

No, only fold over the ends when you have like half a roll left before you hit your head. Don't do it before you start rolling. :)

It's about the same as loosening the roll to tuck your ends, you're just doing it in a different order.

[Garnett]

I'm a confused little kitty right now.

[mamachanse]

I could definitely use a link to a French twist video. My attempts don't even look like a turd bun. They aren't worthy of a name.

[Cichelle]

Man, do I have trouble with the french twist. Wish I could help ya. Mine either come out really good or simply awful and messy. Usually the latter. I wish I could get it right consistently. The tucking usually does me in.

[Riot Crrl]

I could definitely use a link to a French twist video. My attempts don't even look like a turd bun. They aren't worthy of a name.

This is the one I found today that made me realize my major error, lol. It is short and sweet. Many are overcomplicated and involve teasing, spray and 98354 pins. Maybe there's a problem with my attention span, but this one was finally simple enough to make me go, "duh." http://youtube.com/watch?v=eDEJlJco_Y0

[frizzinator]

I use Lisa Janey's instructions, and I practice a lot. It still comes out different every time.

Hold your hair as if you were making a ponytail in the crown area. This is the top of the french twist. Twist twice.

Wrap the tail around your other hand, then stuff this roll into the opening. If I wrap the tail completely around my hand, then no ends fall out.

[Riot Crrl]

I use Lisa Janey's instructions, and I practice a lot. It still comes out different every time.

Hold your hair as if you were making a ponytail in the crown area. This is the top of the french twist. Twist twice.

Wrap the tail around your other hand, then stuff this roll into the opening. If I wrap the tail completely around my hand, then no ends fall out.

OK, I just tried that. I had been twisting it a lot more. The problem I had with doing it the way you suggested was that the less twisting did not seem to leave much in the way of a "pocket" for stuffing ends into. So even more of a donut popped out at the top.

[Morag]

I usually twist all my hair from the ponytail position, coil it, and then flip the coil under. It doesn't always come out looking exactly like a traditional roll, but it nearly always looks good.

[getoffmyskittle]

Funny, I just made my first successful French Twist today.

Here's my blog entry about it (with a photo and how I got rid of the "poof" at the top that a lot of people get): http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/blog.php?b=15318

And here's how I learned to make it, many thanks to Hypnotica!: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=8474 (note: this style is a little different, but the technique to make the FT is the same)

[mamachanse]

What is the maximum length of hair you can achieve this with? I seem to have too much hair to fit in my pocket. Maybe it is because I have super thin hair?

[Riot Crrl]

Skitts, I think the shoving it downward as the last step is helping with the donut. However, it's making the twist all curvy at the bottom. Last time I tried, it was almost like a top donut and a bottom donut. Is that a figure 8? I've never been able to make that either, LOL!

mamachanse: Cinnamon Hair has a link in her sig of a way to do it for very long hair. IIRC it involves folding it up a lot.

[manderly]

Ok, I just did a french twist while sitting here so I could give correct directions.


Collect hair at NAPE.
Twist hair to ends.
Fold hair up against head, ends facing up.
Using your free hand, fold the ends back down as much as necessary, using the hand holding the twist as a guide to bend.
Stuff all that goodness into the twist.
Mush any fluff down if necessary.
Attach ficcare/pins/whatever.


Coincidentally, the one and only hair compliment I had at my last job was when I did a french twist that had a huge wavy thing going on at the top. I decided to keep it like that and put a couple of hairpins in it to hold it. Everyone was telling me how awesome my hair was (I kind of thought it was goofy) :shurg:

[manderly]

The first video on this site is another method:
http://www.bijoux-manoel.com/conseils-coiffure-2/pose-des-grandes-epingles-7.html

[Riot Crrl]

Ok, I just did a french twist while sitting here so I could give correct directions.


Collect hair at NAPE.
Twist hair to ends.
Fold hair up against head, ends facing up.
Using your free hand, fold the ends back down as much as necessary, using the hand holding the twist as a guide to bend.
Stuff all that goodness into the twist.
Mush any fluff down if necessary.
Attach ficcare/pins/whatever.


Coincidentally, the one and only hair compliment I had at my last job was when I did a french twist that had a huge wavy thing going on at the top. I decided to keep it like that and put a couple of hairpins in it to hold it. Everyone was telling me how awesome my hair was (I kind of thought it was goofy) :shurg:


That's pretty much what I was doing! Maybe it is just a practice thing.

[darl_in1]

I can't access it at work to get the link, but I seem to remember that there's a good video instruction on the Flexi 8 (http://www.flexi8.com/flex/instructions.html) site. Just click on the French Twist option.

[lora410]

I sadly get the donut as well and I just loop it on the top. I think the only alternative would be doing a log roll which I can't get to work for me.

[getoffmyskittle]

Skitts, I think the shoving it downward as the last step is helping with the donut. However, it's making the twist all curvy at the bottom. Last time I tried, it was almost like a top donut and a bottom donut. Is that a figure 8? I've never been able to make that either, LOL!

mamachanse: Cinnamon Hair has a link in her sig of a way to do it for very long hair. IIRC it involves folding it up a lot.

Oh, the poof and the donut are not the same! I do it Hypnotica-style and twist the donut down into the fold. Then, I push the whole thing down to get rid of the crown-poof that I get. :lol:

[susiemw]

The first video on this site is another method:
http://www.bijoux-manoel.com/conseils-coiffure-2/pose-des-grandes-epingles-7.html

I am in LOVE with that first french hair stick!

thanks for posting this... now I finally know how to use
a french hair twist stick that I got on the swap board!

Susan

[NurseMama]

The first video on this site is another method:
http://www.bijoux-manoel.com/conseils-coiffure-2/pose-des-grandes-epingles-7.html


I love this hair stick, but did you notice the poofy top? it still looks messy. I would love to be able to have that perfect smooth sophisticated french twist. I always get the poofy top as well.

[ReadingRenee]

my favorite way to do the french twist is the one ficcare has on their website.

http://www.ficcare.com/videos.aspx

The end result is a bit more casual but I feel like it makes the donut actually work for you instead of against you. Its always snug, holds beautifully and gets me compliments all day long.

[frizzinator]

I am in LOVE with that first french hair stick!

thanks for posting this... now I finally know how to use
a french hair twist stick that I got on the swap board!

Susan

This is also called a flip stick. I even use 2 pronged forks, such as wavelength pins, in this same way to hold a french twist.

[frizzinator]

What is the maximum length of hair you can achieve this with? I seem to have too much hair to fit in my pocket. Maybe it is because I have super thin hair?


I also have thin hair, similar to yours. If you look at my photo album, you'll see several examples of the french twist.


I think the word "pocket" is a misnomer, but I cannot think of a better word, except maybe the word "seam".


The pocket is created when you twist the ponytail, so perhaps it could be better described as rolling your hair into the "seam" created by twisting the ponytail.


I start the ponytail up high in the crown area, and roll the length around my free hand. When I have rolled it up to where the twist is being held with my other hand, the hair bundle is "rolled" into the "seam" under the twist. This method uses gravity, in that the bundle is "hanging down" into the seam. Folks with shorter hair have to use the other method of twisting the hair up and then pushing the tail into the seam. I basically am spreading and flattening the twist in order to cover the bundle of hair that was wrapped around my hand.


Specifically, I'm manipulating the twist (and the hairs on the scalp side of the twist) to expand and cover the bundle of hair created when I wrapped the length around my spare hand.

[danacc]

I have inconsistent results (read: almost always lousy) with the French twist, too. I think at least part of the problem is length. And my hair is not long enough to achieve a log roll, yet.

With longer hair, I find the method on the Ficcare site--which is similar to what Hypnotica does--to be much easier than the classic French twist where you "make a ponytail and twist". I can solve the donut by making it smaller and leaving it visible or making it larger so that it stays put if I tuck it under. My problem is usually the dreaded poof. I'm going to try starting the French twist a little high so I can push it down. Thanks for the suggestion, getoffmyskittle.