Crochet Braids

So I finished crochet braiding my hair yesterday. I can't cornrow my own hair, so I asked my friend to do it for me and then I did the crocheting myself. I was lazy and took 50 million breaks so I did them over 2 days. But if you are about your business, most say they can complete them in about 3 to 4 hours. I plan to leave them in for about 6 weeks. Luv my braids! So I used a brand called Model Model Glance in the "Circle Curl" braiding hair:

This hair cost me about $5/pack at a local BSS in Harlem. My Nyc ladies know about 125th St where there are BSS' everywhere, so take your pick. I can't remember the name of the store that I went to. Only that it was one of the many on 125th St.

I used a loooooooot of hair: 2 and a half packs of hair. Yikes! I have serious Diana Ross hair going on:

But it's all good. I like how they turned out with this hair.

So what ARE crochet braids, some of you ask? They are kinda like a weave in a way. All your hair is cornrowed straight back and instead of sewing tracks to the cornrows like a weave, you use a crochet hook to pull individual pieces of hair through the cornrows. To finish them, you can either tie them in a (double) knot or braid it down a little and use some nail glue to keep them from coming undone. Understand?

What You'll Need:
- Know how to cornrow or know someone that can do it for you
- Crochet hook - can get them at craft stores where the pile rug kits are
- 2 to 3 packs of hair - safe to have more hair so you don't run out
- Nail glue - this is to keep the ends from unraveling/coming loose

My Notes:
* Crochet braids look best with curly or wavy hair b/c they take up space so you can't see the cornrows (I would imagine with straight hair, you would have to use a lot though)

* I actually have some reg synthetic braiding hair braided w/ my cornrows so they they will last longer.

* Try to insert the hair along the rows like you would lay bricks so that you are filling spaces. Does that sound right? You don't want them to all be in the same place along each cornrow, or you will have spaces.

They're so ridiculously easy to do and very affordable. The crochet hook cost me a major $2. Like I said before, the hair cost me $5/pack. I used 2.5 packs of hair. I have serious big hair so many of you may prefer to use less. And the nail glue was a whopping $2 and you can get that from your local drugstore. So the total cost for this 6-8 week hairstyle: about $20. $20! It doesn't get much better than that. This is def a recession style hairstyle.

You can soooo do them yourself. Or because they're so easy, see if you can get a friend or family member to help so you can speed up the time. (That's what I should have done. LOL.) I created a short vid demonstrating how I do mine which I will put up soon. My comp is being difficult with uploading it so please have patience with me. Happy Monday!

Comments

Anonymous said…
OMG thanks i was so lookign for something nice and easy like this! great great tutorial ur the best!!
Anonymous said…
so is there a specific type of hair crochet hair? Or can you just use any type of wavy hair?
Marie said…
What a interesting protective style! Can't wait to try it soon!