Low-manipulation Styles

"To reduce breakage and reach greater lengths, black hair should be handled minimally" (Davis-Sivasothy, 2011).


Low manipulation hairstyles are styles that keep you from having to comb your hair too often. Some low-manipulation styles can also be considered protective styles. The difference between protective hairstyles and low-manipulation hair styles is that 1) protective hair styles keep the ends out of sight. Low-manipulation hair styles may expose the ends but are still beneficial because they dramatically cut down day-to-day manipulation, which decreases opportunities for hair breakage, and 2) some protective styles only last a day. The best low-manipulation styles last several days or even months!

Common low-manipulation styles:

  • braids
  • braid outs
  • twists
  • twist outs
  • flat twists
  • fro-hawks
  • Bantu knots
  • cornrows
  • roller sets
  • spiral sets
  • buns
  • up dos

Low-manipulation Styling Ideas:

Here are a few low-manipulation styles I have come up with so far. Remember, I have only been transitioning for a few months now, so there aren't tons, but I will post more as I come up with them. NOTE: these styles are also great because they were all achieved without using heat.
  • Box Braids (These are the same braids as the ones below, I just redid the front smaller and I cut them shorter and burned the ends.):


  • Box Braids (I did these pretty big because I don't have patience =-) and because the bigger the sections are, the easier they are on the hair):


  • Twisted Pin-Curls (done on wet hair):
  •  Twist out (using pieces of silk) with a bump:
  •   Twist out (using pieces of silk) without a bump:
  •  Curl set (using Curl Formers):
  •  Side Twists into a bun (using 100% Kankelon Braiding Hair) (also a protective style):
*Comment any requests for tutorials, and I will get right on it!

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