Natural Hair | The Good & Bad on Havana Twists

Hello Beauties!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I tried something new with my hair.  I had havana twists installed.  This must be the year of new things for me because just like my last protective style, this style was completely different for me.  I have seen so many fabulous naturalistas rocking havana and marley twists and I wanted to give them a try for myself.  Now that I am approaching the one month mark since having them installed, I wanted to share my thoughts on this style so far.

Before I get down to the nitty gritty, I wanted to answer the question that I had myself before having havana twists installed.  

What are havana twists?  What is the difference between havana twists and marley twists? 

Havana twists are essentially two strand twist extensions using havana hair.  Marley twists are the same, but using marley hair instead.  The main difference between these styles are the hair used.  They also come in a variety of sizes.  It's your choice to how small or large you would like them to be.  To me, I feel like they all look like a varying form of senegalese twists.

The Good

• Havana twists are extremely easy to install and with the help of YouTube, many people can install them themselves.
• In many cases, they are very natural looking.
• They can easily be manipulated into other styles.
• Depending on how they are installed, there is not much tension to your edges.

My Personal Good

• The havana twists were installed in less than six hours, which was great compared to most braiding styles.
• The hair we used was extremely easy to locate and affordable.  
• I paid $30 for six packs of hair.  I ended up needing seven packs.  See package here.
• They are surprisingly lightweight.
• I can easily pull my hair into updos and in general, it saves me so much time.

The Bad

• If you want to use actual havana hair, most of the time, it can only be purchased online.
• Since the hair used is typically not human hair, if you have a sensitive scalp, it may not react well to synthetic hair.
• If you have curlier versus kinky hair, your own hair may unravel from the twists causing the twists not to last as long as typical braids.

My Personal Bad

• My scalp has not reacted very well to havana twists.  Not long after having them installed, my scalp became dry and flaky.  It is an everyday battle with my scalp.
• My 3C/4A hair has already started to come out of the twists.  They will most likely have to be removed in a week or two.

Suggestions

If you decide to give havana or marley twists a try, I would highly suggest you deep condition your hair and scalp before having them installed.  This practice is good before any protective style.  Also, if you have a sensitive scalp and you are not sure how your hair will react to the synthetic hair, you can soak the hair before installation.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I like havana twists, but they are not my favorite protective style.  Due to the complications I have had with my scalp and the fact they are already coming out, I don't think I have gotten the length of time from this style that I truly wanted.  You live and learn!

Have you worn havana twists?  Are you rocking a protective style this summer?

God bless & stay fabellis,