Now I’m going to take you all on journey through almost all of my crochet braid hairstyles. In my experience crochet braids didn’t really become popular until I was in high school, mostly because I wasn’t exposed to anyone who wore them. Up until my sophomore year in high school, everyone I knew wore braids, twists, or weaves and my mom wouldn’t let me have one for the longest so I had to improvise.
There are tons and tons and TONS of videos on Youtube that explain in great detail, how to actually install crochet braids so I wont go too far into that. Basically you start with conrows and pull the extension hair through the braid, then you do a few loops and pull it taught against the scalp. I recently discovered that not all people do it that way but for beginners purpose, that’s how I did mine.
I really wanted weave because at the time it seemed so versatile, and I wanted long luscious hair that would stay straight, unlike my natural hair. Keep in mind that this is before I really came to love my natural hair, so these protective styles were for hiding as well.. Everyone black girl at school I knew had weave, whether it be long and straight or long and curly they had it and I wanted it! I had to figure a way around it so when I saw a Tumblr post about straight crochet braids I became obsessed. I went to the hair store, bought about 10 packs of jumbo extra long straight kanekalon hair and went to town!
As you can see I went a bit overboard and ended up looking like Cousin Itt. I had my sister install every single pack of hair and it was the biggest hair fail I’ve had to date. I wanted the blown out look and that’s exactly what I got, and more..a whole lot more. The next day at school I had girls coming at me left and right asking what kind of hair it was and touching it so see if it was read and how it got in there. Not to mention my non black friends who were astounded by the amount of weekend hair growth I had experienced lol.
<—– How I looked walking around.
After that we shortened the hair quite a lot and I wore it for about two months but it was an atrocious sight compared to the beautiful work I do now. However I did get some cute pictures out of my epic fail.
Next we have my crochet twists which I became a little two fond of and now I can’t stand them. This was my go-to style for about two years, of course other styles in between but I
always went back to these. They are by far the easiest and least time consuming of all crochet’s in my opinion and that is because you don’t have to take the time to pull and separate the hair. They come pre-twisted and are very full and fluffy. You can also by them in your desired length and size. As of now, I’ve only seen crochet senegalese twists, which are less coarse than marley twists but I am sure they’re on the horizon. Anyway. crochet twists became a favorite of mine because they gave me a sort of chunky 90’s box braid look, but with twists instead. If you are not the perfect braider, these are perfect for that jumbo long look. If you don’t like a lot of hair try a smaller size.
I know this is a lot of info but I am a strong believer in crochet braids being the absolute best protective styling, especially if you don’t enjoy wigs and weaves. There should be little to no tension on your own hair unless you are constantly yanking at it, plus they can be versatile and blend well with different textures of African American texture hair..without the insane cost you’d pay if you were buying kinky bundles. I’m not knocking weaves, but if you want to be cute on a budget, crochet braids are where it’s at.
Following my interest in the longer hair I did these using the Freetress Gogo Curl hair. They weren’t my favorite because the hair just kept slipping loose and I had to continuously tighten them at the root. They looked really big and shiny in the beginning too but the longer I wore them, the more natural the shine became. Another con with these was that the hair in the back became very knotty and i had to pull, yank and cut multiple hunks of the hair out but the overall look was nice.
My method of installing crochet braids has never changed so really it’s all about the different hair you want, and the looks you want to achieve. In the beginning I was all about length and now I find myself gravitating towards volume. Big hair be having you like
in the mirror.
The first time I did the big hair, I had the nerve to do it big and bright red too! Well mostly black but there were highlights which I still don’t know if I like them or not. Everyone else seemed to though so I guess that’s nice. This was my first attempt at curling marley hair with hot water, and it was the best job my sister and I have done. I have tried to replicate and failed miserably…
I kinda hated these when we first finished I was like, “Chels what were you thinking?” I still don’t know what I was thinking, but the bounce that those curls had, GURLLLLLL you couldn’t tell me anything. I’ve never enjoyed walking around so much in my life. These didn’t give me any trouble, and I even got to pull them up into a puff like up-do when I felt like it.
This next style is almost identical to the one I just showed you but this one is like my favorite EVER. I used pre-curled Jamaican Bounce hair, I forget the brand but if you search it, you’ll see. It was so so so soft and bouncy and full. This was the first hair I ever wore in a middle part and I felt fantastic. I usually don’t do middle parts but this hair honestly looked its best that way.
See its super cute, and I glowed lol. This hair gave me so much life, even strangers in DC liked this hair as much as I did.
Anyway, I hope this post gave some insight to crochet braid styles if you didn’t already have some. It’s probably my favorite way to style my hair, although I do get tired of it from time to time my hair grows the fastest when cornrowed and tucked away neatly from the harshness of the environment, and my own fingers. Don’t be afraid to try the big hair guys seriously, its life changing, confidence boosting, and fly too.
Love,
Chelsi