My Crochet Braids: 1st Attempt

 “As I mentioned in my recent wash day post, I decided to install some crochet braids”

After weeks and weeks of research I took the plunge and threw caution to the wind and went for the straight crochet braids using the dreaded X-Pression hair . I say dreaded as you may recall I had an awful experience installing this hair when I installed my holiday cornrows for my holiday to Barbados last year. I brought 2 packs of colour 2 and one of colour 33.

After watching this tutorial ;

I was sold on using the straight hair.  I am totally in love with how natural the curls look, especially once they have fluffed out after a couple of weeks. 

I started off with my braid pattern. Now, we all know that my cornrow skills are not exactly skills at this moment in time but me being me, I decided to be all kinds of ambitious!!! Not content with attempting a ‘simple’ all going backwards cornrow pattern I decided to:

- Braid the back going from side to side.

- Add extension hair to the braid at my nape to enable it to stay put for longer.

- Have some leave out hair on the sides and slightly off centre for a parting and to cover the crochet knots.

This is a picture of the braid pattern half way through. I think I may have others on my camera but I don’t have it with me at the moment.

Braid Pattern

Anyway, despite my over ambitious self, the braiding went okay and took me less than an hour to do.

Next the synthetic hair. I cut the hair into three sections as cutting it in two would have been too long. I wanted the hair to be at BSL and I didn’t want to have to spend time cutting the hair after installing it. With this in mind, I followed this great tutorial on creating feather tips on kanekalon braiding hair

I never ever knew you could do this and it worked great!!! I ended up using about 1 and a half packs in total. The hair was much much easier to manage this time around. I think that is due to my excellent use of the paddle brush, just kidding, I just think this hair is easier to handle when you are dealing with less of it.

Next I began to crochet small amounts of hair into the braids, starting at the nape. After installing one I was please when the BF came upstairs to see how I was getting on and asked if I needed some help, I jumped at the chance. He installed the hair onto my nape for me by pushing the crochet needle under the braid, looping the hair through it, closing the latch and then pulling it back from under the braid. Honestly, that was so lovely of him cos the back was really fiddly, especially as I had never done this before. I am sure he thinks I am crazy (not to mention obsessed) the s*** that I do to my hair. I wonder if he thinks all black girls go through this drama just to get their hair done!!!

Adding the hair was a right pain, I was tired by the time I had done, three rows in the back and at this stage I was contemplating taking the whole lot out and starting again with different hair because the knots kept slipping out. I decided to take a break and sleep on it before rushing out in a mad panic to buy more hair. The next morning, and after a little more research, I decided to improve on my double loop knotting technique by taking two thin strands of hair from either side of the crochets section and then tie those together. This worked a treat, it was much more secure, also adding less hair to the section made for a more secure knot. I continued on with adding the hair. I’m not gonna lie, it took hours, I am not sure how many but a fair few. Next time I will separate all the hair I need or at least have 30 sections laid out at a time. I was working with having 8-10 sections and that made it quicker but I still had to stop really often and set up more sections of hair. This time was also extended due to incorporating two colours. I never seem to make things easy for myself!!!

Anyway, I finished by 3pm (I was supposed to be at my mums by this time eating mutton and rice for Sunday dinner!) so I fixed myself and my hair up and went to my mums. I really wasn’t happy with my hair at this stage and had plans to take it back out by the end of this week. This wasn’t helped by my little brother saying I looked like a crazy cave woman. It was very full. My mum and my sister liked it though so I didn’t feel like a complete looser…!

This morning I decided to add a little Treseme Heat Protectant to the hair and lightly blow dry it on medium, using my paddle brush. I LOVE the results!!! I think I will be keeping the hair in for 3-4 weeks all being well. I will then take them out and put a new set in using water wave or tango curl hair.

Crochet Braids - Front 14.02.12



Crochet Braids - Back 14.02.12



Only a few pics are posted as I am uploading them from my phone.

Ciao 4 Now