I’m so proud of me!

Today I installed my first crochet braids ever! I was wondering how crochet braid styles would work on a woman over 40. But, I think I’m rocking it and that’s all that matters.

A woman over 40 can rock whatever style she chooses and do it with hot sauce!
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First. This is not a tutorial. There are millions out there on YouTube.
I couldn’t do one any better. This is more about my
experiences and a few “what not to do” suggestions.

I got Kanekolan Hair.  The brand is called “Like Hair”. I paid about $2.49 per bag at my local beauty supply store.

The picture is weird to me. Why have a white girl with braids on the bag?

I dunno.

Anyway, back to the process.

I was surprised how easy it was to do the style!

Now, it was a bit time-consuming, but the process of installing the hair  was very simple. In fact, one my friends has been doing her hair this way for months and I’ve really liked this style on her. I had to try it myself.

So today I purchased:

• 4 bags of hair (I know that sounds weird),
• a crochet needle for hair (not yarn) and
• some cold wave rods

The most difficult part of the process was actually prepping my own hair. What I’ve learned is that for this style hair I’d crocheted or looped, through Corn Rows.

Corn rows are a big part of this process.

Well, my corn rows suck. I can french braid, but I cannot corn row to save my life.

Also, my braid pattern itself is a bit weak. Next time, I’ll study a bit more closely how other people layout their corn rows to create an optimal braid pattern.

My advice to you: before you install crochets, you have to have a decent braid pattern.

Another thing to remember is that coarse hair doesn’t require very knots. I leaned that from YouTube vlogger “teeday6” (check out the video here: http://youtu.be/Fxv_LosHwG4).

In the video,she featured her little girl actually doing her own crochet installation. I figured if that cutie pie could do her own crochets, surely I could too. Her daughter, “Lady Bug” said so cutely “mom said I don’t need to pass though but once because the hair is coarse”.

So, I did one knot.

Well, once I completed installation, I trimmed and trimmed. It still seemed like too much hair in the back: I’ll use less in the nape next time.

My advice to you: alternate how much hair you loop though each braided section. Less in the front, more at the crown and much less in the back is what I’ll do next time.

Once I looked at my completed style, I decided I didn’t like it all. Can you say BORING-SAUCE?

Actually, it just looked too much like my natural hair flat-ironed, so I decided to get some textures going.

I grabbed those Cold Wave Rods (or perm rods as we called them in the 80s) and commenced to some serious experimenting.

First, I used my microwave to boil some hot water in a mug.  Stay with me.

While the microwave was doing it’s thing, I put huge braids in various sections of my head. Then, I wrapped every one of the braids around a roller.

After that, I dipped each in hot water. No. Let me rephrase that. I CAREFULLY dipped each one and quickly squeezed the water from each braid with the thickest bathroom towel I own. This is a tricky process.

My advice to you: don’t burn yourself.  Watch several videos to see how this is done.

The dipping gave the hair a course, kinky texture I like. It looks quite a bit like my natural hair; but, not exactly.

I typically wear my natural hair curly or flat-ironed. When I feel like neither, I slap on a snazzy wig and go. This style is going to be a great option for any one of my future moods.

Also, I can end this blog post without giving an EXTREMELY honorable mention to Vlogger,  Breanna Rudder.  Her YouTube channel is like a hairstyle class.  Click to view Breanna Rudder’s Youtube channel and be enlightened!

By the way, this is my natural hair. So you can consider this a “Before” picture.  

Check my Facebook page to watch the evolution of this style.  Be sure to “like”. Click here?

Let me know, how do you like it?  Tell me the truth with your advice.  I can handle it.  

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