Crochet Braids - My New Love!

Crochet Braids using  a Curly Weave with the weft cut off.

I've always been an unapologetic braid lover :) but I haven't been able to experiment with different kinds and colors of hair as my texture will show through whatever I use. So when I first heard of crochet braiding, I was first intrigued then absolutely ecstatic!

The beauty of crochet braids is that you can use pretty much whatever type of hair you want to and for ladies like me with natural hair, you don't need to worry about your hair showing through, making your braids look like a hot mess 2 weeks into having your braids in.

As the hair is woven all round (like you would before installing a weave) the hair is hidden away and so you can use pretty much any color combination or hair texture you desire.

The first customer we had wanted something curly but couldn't find braiding hair in the texture she wanted so ended up buying a weave. We cut the weft across and used the hair - the challenge of course was the length was immediately halved because of the way the hair is crocheted through and tied at the base. 

Bobby Pin used

For this install, we used a bobby pin as opposed to a crochet needle (our order of needles hadn't come in yet!) But the pins are just as effective in my opinion and you eliminate any possibility of hair getting pulled which could happen when using a crochet needle and the hair gets stuck in the hook.

Braided Updo with Crochet braids in the crown

There are so many ways to add this to your styling option - for instance we had a customer who wanted a braided updo - she wanted curls in the crown of her hair and was thinking of fixing a curly weave on top while corn rowing the back. I thought it would look tacky as we'd need to hide the tracks so I suggested crocheting the hair into the crown and voila! It worked and turned out oh so pretty!

The extensions she used 

Of course by this time I was gagging to get my crochet braid game on! As usual my immediate challenge was finding the time to get it done as the salon gets busy. Sooooo I decided that what the heck! I'd do it myself at home ( I love doing my hair anyway) 

Once I decided that, there was no stopping me but boy! I had no idea what I was setting myself up for lol! I wanted some color in my hair so decided to use color 33 in the Janet Collection Marley Hair - First error. 

I just assumed that the color 33 in Janet would be the same as the color 33 we have in Expression.

Next I decided to do it when I got home one evening after work - Second error. I was completely underestimating how tired I would be after working all day.

Braided it to the back and just added the end of each one to the next.

So I got home, prepped my hair (which I'd washed 2 days earlier) by moisturizing with S Curl's moisturizer and sealing with the KL's Whipped Shea Butter. Then corn rowed my hair and started. When I opened the pack of hair, I thought the color looked brighter than it 'should' but I was determined so went for it anyway.

Crochet Needle

 Got my needle and started crocheting the hair.

First few ones intalled

 By the time I got a quarter of the way, it was 10pm, I looked like I had taken Mofasa's mane, dunked it into cherry tinted dye and transferred it on my head! I stared in the mirror for a good 5 minutes - turning my head in different directions but no matter what I tried to tell myself I knew  it had to come off! Ah! The pain! I was ticked off at myself.

It was soooooooo bright!!!

Anyway, I've decided that I will just jejely respect myself and use color 4 or mix the color 33 with something much darker. Plus I could just have the girls get there a little earlier and we'll get it done before the salon gets too busy. I can't shout lol. 

Thing is right now I need to put this hair away as its been out for about 3 weeks and I'm tired of manipulating it.Seeing as today is my day off, I'm toying with the idea of just going to get a full weave install at my old salon......

My 'fro last night! Needs to be put away into another protective style

Hmmmmmm. Let's see what the day brings lolll!

xoxo