Curling My Fifth Set Of Crochet Braids

"If you follow me on Facebook you will know that I completed the final step of the style I had planned for this set of crochet braids.  On the 25th November I curled the straight Kanekalon hair using perm rods and boiling hot water - I was so scared I would end up giving myself third degree burns!"

Despite my fears it was a really simple process and didn't take too long at all - infact I actually reset the curls again the following week.  These are the steps I followed, along with a few photos:



1.  First I stated out by sectioning the hair into 6 parts.  I then detangled each section using a wide tooth comb then loosely braided each section to prevent it tangling.

Crochet braids sectioned after detangling.

2.  Next I took each section and gave it a quick blast with the hair dryer on high heat.  The reason for blowdrying the hair again was due to the fact that I added more strand of synthetic hair a couple of days after straightening the hair the week before, I wanted to add a little more texture back into the style.  The bits of hair which were not blowdried worked well at blending the knots but were causing a bit of a problem with tangling around the previously blow dried hair.

3.  Next I got my perming rods out!  I have had these rods since my first set of crochet braids but I never got around to using them as I took the style down after a couple of weeks.  I used the smaller rods (yellow) at the nape and the larger (black) rods pretty much everywhere else.  I curled the hair onto the rods in a sprial fashion so as to create a corkscrew effect.  At the front, I curled the hair so that the curl started at eye level.

With a thick towel draped across my shoulder, I tipped my head to the side and dipped the rods (two at a time) into a bowl of boiling hot water from the kettle, mixed with a squirt of cheapie conditioner and left them in the water for a short while.  I thought the safest way to do this was to place the bowl in the bathroom sink as the sink has a flat surface which means the bowl would rest steady and not tip over and scald me with the water.  After 10 seconds had passed with the rodded hair in the water, I removed the hair from the bowl, grabbed the thick towel and then grabbed the soaking wet hot hair and rods to squeeze out the excess water.  I then seperated the curls straight away.

I carried out this process on one side of my hair first before completing the following side.  I then left the hair to air dry.

I instantly loved the results! 

As the hair continued to dry I started to panic thinking I had not curled the hair enough as the front section was pretty straight.  So  ran upstairs with my fast self and put more curls in the front section and at the top this time curling pretty much all the way to the top of the extension hair so the curl started closer to the scalp.  When I had finished I didn't like this effect as much as I liked the earlier attempt but was ready for my bed and couldn't be bothered to mess with it any further.  I pulled my hair up into a pineapple and went to bed.  I was going to blow dry some of the curls out of the front section the following morning, however it wasn't necessary as the following morning as pineapple'ing had stretched the curl perfectly.  I then pinned back the front and went to work.

TOP LEFT:  Half the hair curled, seperated and ready to air dry.  TOP RIGHT:  A shot of the curls directly after two rods had been removed.  BOTTOM LEFT:  Curling all complete and airdrying.  BOTTOM RIGHT:  My hair in a pineapple ready for bed.

I wore my hair pinned back like this for work all week.

I wore my hair pinned back all week as the style (when down) was too big for work!  By the following Saturday I wanted to reset my hair as I was going out.  I set about detangling and blowdrying sections before rerodding the front and sides. This time I only curled up to eye level.  I dipped in hot water with conditioner and then left the hair to cool down for a while before removing the rods. It took me about 30 minutes.  I didn't unravel the hair.  I left it in Shirley Temple'esque curls for a further hour before seperating the curls. The front section was still a bit wet but this gave me the best result ever as the curls where chunkier and fuller than before. I didn't think it was possible to love this style more but but 'Oh Yes I Do!!!!'.

TOP LEFT:  This is what the crochet braids look like first thing in the morning (although I do have make up and earrings on in these pictures!  TOP RIGHT:  Moisturising my edges after taking off my scarf.  I always moisturise my edges daily.  MIDDLE LEFT & RIGHT:  This is how my hair looks when I remove the pony tail holder which has kept it in a pineapple during the night.  BOTTOM RIGHT:  I tip my head upside down for a second and shake my fingers through the ends of the hair briefly (less than 10 seconds).

This is the end result, I love these big curls.  You can see the knots in the second picture.

I have loved having this style, however I am itching (literally) to take this down.  I dry shampoo'd my hair yesterday using the ORS Herbal Cleanse Dry Shampoo.

This product did a good job in cleaning my scalp and I will use it again, but I really want to take this synthetic hair out and give my hair a good cowash and deep condition.  In hindsight I should have soaked the kanekalon hair in vinegar and water.

I will be taking the style down this weekend (maybe even during this week) and wearing it in a bun for a week or two.  I will relax my hair before Christmas which means I better get a wriggle on and order some Affirm Fiberguard as following my recent post, I have decided to continue using lye relaxer and say goodbye the no lye which I have left over.

Note:  If anyone fancies trying a tub or more of Affirm Fiber Guard Sensitive Scalp Relaxer (no lye), I have 6 tubs for sale which will probably find themselves on eBay!

Ciao 4 Now