I Finally Got Crochet Braids!

 

I almost chickened out but I finally got what I’ve been longing for. As a result, I am not frustrated with my natural hair anymore. I do not desire a perm or a tapered cut anymore and I don’t desire to shave off all my hair. I have been delivered and healed from my hair frustrations. #PraiseHim I showed my sister in law {who is a hairstylist} the crochet tutorial by The Chic Naturalista.I love her YouTube channel. It’s  a channel for everyone and not just naturals. She does so much with her natural  hair and she has great style. She’s dope! See her video tutorial below.

My sister in law pretty much followed her steps with the exception of some differences I’ve listed below.

1. My sister in law used  this hair below “Equal Jamaican Twist Braid” but it really doesn’t matter what brand it is. It cost me $5.99 a pack and we used three packs of color 1B.
2. The Chic Natural brought the end of the hair through the circle three times, my sis only brought it through once { marker 1:26 is what I am referring to}.
3. Instead of doing Bantu knots and dipping them in hot water in order to curl the hair, my sis used perm rods but she still dipped them in a cup of very hot water. I felt like Faizon Love in Friday with these perm rods in my hair.Side note: If you want tighter curls, stick with the slim gray rods  I am rocking in the front. Also the white ones below are good too. My sis ended up using the grey and white ones for the back and re-dipping my hair in hot water because the back curls were too loose {with the pink rods}!

Those are the only differences that I can think of right now. After my sister installed the three packs of hair, she then blow dried the hair as straight as she could. Be very careful with the heat. The heat was too high and some of the Marley hair {which is synthetic hair} got burnt. As The Chic Natural mentioned in her video {starting at marker 3:08} , she used a creamy moisturizer. My sister used ORS Olive Oil moisturizer {pictured below}  and she mixed it in a small bowl with water. I think any creamy moisturizer/leave in conditioner along with water will do. The ORS really made this rough hair soft. My hair was mad shiny though..lol

My hair wasn’t blow-dried as straight as I wanted because my head was still tender from the cornrows underneath. You can see in the pictures below that that the top of the Marley hair is super straight and the bottom isn’t. My sis tried but I wouldn’t let her. I needed the one cornrows to loosen up. They weren’t even that tight but there was too much tension when she tried to blow dry the hair bone straight.

I wore the hair straight like this to work for two days. A lot of my co-workers thought it was my hair. Some appeared relieved when I told them it was not. They didn’t want your girl to be great. #Sideeye

Side note: I just love this Zara necklace. I had to bring it back out for the fall.

However, the curls fooled everyone. People really thought it was my hair.

So my sis dipped the hair in hot water with the perm rods. She then took the perm rods out and I let my wet hair air dry. I prefer the curls over the straight hair. The curls look and feel more natural to me. The straight hair is too coarse, dry and it sheds like crazy. The Chic Natural said in her video that she rocked her curls for three weeks and only had to re-dip her hair in hot water once. My curls have def dropped but they still look good. They look even more natural the older they get. I pulled them back and up with two headbands for Zumba Tues night.

I was in Zumba class for two hours sweating but my curls were fine. I was glad because I wasn’t willing to skip Zumba because of my hair. I did that for weeks when my hair was pressed. #NoShame but I didn’t want to do that again. #HealthOverHair  I don’t want my hair running my fitness life. I like my  crochet braids and I want to leave them in for 3-4 weeks. Yesterday marked a week since I first did them. I am hoping to rock with them throughout the winter but we shall see. I will let my sis re-dip them when the curls are dead but for now I think I’m ok. She said we could re-dip them next week and instead of using perm rods to curl them, we will use thread. I’ll write a blog post  on that process.

Just Wanted To Mention:

Not only was I inspired by The Chic Natural to get crochet braids but I was also inspired by my fellow bloggers below.

Prissyville

She has locs but she is rocking crochet braids. Even after reading her post on how it was done on her locs, I still don’t believe it!! Lol I do but I am still very surprised and amazed! Prissy we need a video tutorial of how your stylist Rojonell did this pretty please ??:-) Click here for Prissy’s full post about her crochet braids.

My Fro & I: A South African Natural Hair Blog

I was really inspired by Aisha’s crochet braids. She has two posts dedicated to them. Here {initial post} and here {review of hair & FAQ}. I like how she cornrowed the side, quite unique.

I will keep you all posted on my crochet braids. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below. My sis is a hairstylist based in Bowie, MD. If you want her to do your crochet braids, let me know and I will email you her contact info.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day 🙂

~Amma Mama