All women have that inner desire to look beautiful when they face the crowd, or going out of the house. Vanity is a requirement especially when attending parties or social events. You can catch the attention of the crowd through wearing perfectly donned makeup and stylish outfit, but the most important part of your appearance is your hair with crochet braid. Here you can explore 104 different types of crochet braids.
How you style your hair will make or break your whole attire, no matter how expensive your clothes are, or how authentic your jewelries are, or how masterfully you have put on your makeup. Your crowning glory will stand out wherever you go. And your hair will definitely add beauty to your looks. Or it can potentially ruin your whole appearance.
Well, you can certainly make sure that you will achieve the celebrity look you are aiming for. You can do so through the use of crochet braids.
What is a crochet braid styles?
Crochet braids styles are also popular as latch hook braids. It is a unique method to crochet synthetic hair extensions to your natural hair. This style is closely the same to weaving, and is mostly associates with how Africans style their hair. Crochet braiding is typically regarded as natural hair protection, and is an aid to hair growth. Crochet braids can be styled as curly, straight, braided, or twisted.
Materials needed to do crochet braids
In order for you to successfully create a crochet braids, you need to have a crochet needle, or a latch tool, or even a bobby pin. You would also need a regular needle, an acrylic thread with the ideal black color, a pair of scissors, and a comb. And of course, you must have three to six packets of your preferred length, style, and color of braiding hair extension. If you prefer to grease your scalp prior to crocheting your braids, you would need moisturizer and sealant.
What are the reasons of wearing crochet braid?
Aside from the fact that crochet hair is a remarkable hairstyle, this method brings many benefits for you.
Protects natural hair
Firstly, you can keep your natural hair tucked away with the use of crochet braids. Your natural hair is free from environmental pollution and damage from the sun. On the other hand, using crochet braids ensures that you will have less hair pulled from your scalp from the process of installing and removing the braids. This is because crochet braids are designed to be more hair-friendly compared to typical box braids.
Low maintenance hairstyle
There is no need to constantly visit the hair salon to maintain the lushness of your hair. You can take care of your whole hair on your own properly.
Time efficient
You don’t have to spend the whole day waiting for a hair stylist to style your hair with your hair design preference. You can spend three to five hours crocheting your braids in the comforts of your own home. Consequently, this allows you to save a lot of time for travel to the hair salon, and waiting in line for your turn.
Inexpensive
The hair extensions are inexpensive, when you compare them to the cost of going to the hair salon, and paying for expensive services in order to achieve great looking hair.
Hides damaged hair
If your hair happens to have damage, then certainly crocheting braids into your cornrows hides your natural hair.
DIY
It is such a huge convenience to do crochet braiding because you can do it on your own. You don’t have to pay for a professional hair stylist to do the job that you can certainly do.
Zero commitment
If you are in a crossroad, thinking on the hairstyle that you want, crochet braid is most importantly the solution for you. You can try on different kinds of hair extensions in varying styles and lengths. But there is no long commitment on your part, because crochet braids can be taken off any time you want.
Long lifespan
Crochet braids have a lifespan of four to eight weeks. Of course how you take care of your crochet braid plays a huge part in the preservation of your hair extension and style.
How to install crochet braids?
Because you will install your crochet braids on your own, you need to learn the basics on how to go through the process of crochet braiding.
Preparation
Firstly, you need to have the time allocated to do your crochet braid. Free up at least three to five hours of your time to fully dedicate to your task. Second, make sure you have all the necessary items that you need for your DIY. Thirdly, make it a point to wash your hair thoroughly with shampoo and hydrating conditioner before you start the crochet braiding. In addition, dry your hair properly with a hair towel and a hair dryer.
Create your cornrows
Create simple cornrows throughout your head. But make sure that the cornrows are certainly tight and too thick. You can simply build your own cornrows starting from the front going to the back of your head. Remember that the more your cornrows are thick in size, the volume of your hair becomes smaller. But you can make your own design of your cornrows, depending on your taste and preference. What is important is you create durable and reliable base for your crochet braids.
Gather & sew cornrows
After you’re done creating your cornrows, gather all braids at the lower part of your head at the back. And then sew them together in order to prevent unfastening of the cornrows during the process of crochet braiding.
Start the installation
Start installing the hair extensions from the lower part of the back of your head. Insert the crochet needle at the bottom of one cornrow. And halfway through, add your preferred amount of crochet braid into the open latch.
After that, close the latch and pull the crochet needle back from underneath the cornrow with the hair extension. Pull until you are able to form a medium-sized hoop on one side, while on the other side of the cornrow, the rest of the remaining crocheting braid or tail is located.
And then insert the tail of the crochet braid into the loop, and pull the tails to tighten and secure the hair extension. For good measure, you can insert the tail twice into the loop.
Repeat the same process until you reach the front end of the first cornrow. And then do the same thing with the other cornrows.
Once you’re done with the crochet braids installation, cut or trim uneven or unwanted hair from your head. Or you can choose to shorten the crochet braid according to your desired length.
How to achieve invisible roots?
Most importantly, it is vital that your hair will not look like it has gone through crochet braiding. Your hair needs to look all natural, and there is a way you achieve that look. And that is to make sure that you have invisible roots.
When you start to process your crochet braid, you need to start from the bottom. And then measure two fingers length from the bottom 1st installed hair extension and the second. When you have reached the top of your head, cut the amount of synthetic hair and reduce the length of the space to one finger. Your crochet braid must have longer spaces from the bottom to the top, but smaller spaces between crochet braiding when you are reaching the top.
The spacing and amount of hair extension for application are most importantly required in order to achieve invisible roots. Just make sure that you tighten the pull of the crochet braids so there is no chance of unfastening.
How to take care of your natural hair
Though your natural hair is well protected from the environmental hazards that you can get, it is important to protect your natural hair still while wearing the crochet braids.
Spray bottle is handy
When you have crochet braids, you can find a new friend in a spray bottle. What you need to do is get a little shampoo or conditioner or moisturizer, and then dilute the solution into the spray bottle. After you have done so, spray a considerable amount of formula into your scalp. And then rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water. Make sure that there is no shampoo or conditioner or moisturizer left after rinsing.
Moisturize and seal
Your natural hair is at risk of drying when subjected to crochet braiding. It is important to make sure that you hydrate your hair at all times. Spray a water-based hair moisturizer into your scalp because this can keep your natural hair healthy. And, massage some oil into your visible scalp to seal the moisture. This can also trigger hair growth, which is quite beneficial especially when you are aiming for longer hair in a fast way.
Weekly dry shampooing
Your crochet braids can lead to product build-up which can result to itchiness to your scalp. And so you need to make it a point to cleanse your natural hair in a weekly basis. If not, you may need to prematurely remove your crochet bread because of itchy scalp. And that would be very unfortunate for you. Make sure to at least spray with diluted shampoo once a week. There is no need to actually rinse your hair if you are doing dry shampooing. With proper care for your hair, you can definitely reach the four to eight weeks lifespan of your crochet braids.
Take care of edges
The edges of your hair are very important part of your whole head. And so it is important to ensure that you give time to moisturize and oil your edges properly. Besides, when your edges unfastens and gets damaged, the disarray is quite visible. So you need to take very good care of your edges.
Use satin at night
It is vital that you protect your natural hair from any potential ruin, even if you are wearing crochet braid. To do this, you must wear a satin scarf to cover your whole hair. Because when you sleep, you may not notice how you move and sleep with your hair.
How to remove crochet braids
The best way that you can remove your crochet braid is to cut off the synthetic hair closer from the cornrow’s base. Just make sure that you cut the crochet braid just a little above from the base. But make sure that you take care of not cutting your natural hair while you this process. To make sure that unnecessary cutting of natural hair is prevented, use oil to smoothen the process.
You can choose to apply sunflower oil, olive oil, jojoba oil, or other kind of oil. Subsequently, allow the oil to saturate the depths of your hair before you start cutting. Let the oil soak for at least 30 minutes. After you cut off all the crochet braid, your cornrows can be easily entangled.
Do’s and Dont’s of crochet braids tips
DO make sure that you find a synthetic hair for your crochet braid that has the same texture or similarly close in texture to your natural hair. This is to make sure that your crochet braid will look more natural. Because when people see you with your new style of hair, they will not guess instantly that you are wearing fake hair. Keep it as natural as possible.
DON’T allow yourself to produce large parts of crochet hair that will obviously be distinctive amidst your natural hair. Divide the synthetic hair equally and as needed to keep the natural look alive. Try to avoid making an obvious distribution of your preferred crochet braid.
DO make the effort to follow a knotless method or invisible root technique. This will result in an illusion of natural hair. So your crochet hair will definitely look like they grew naturally from your own scalp.
DON’T forget to take proper care of your edges to make sure that you have silky mane of hair.
Four popular crochet braid design
As you finally decided to choose crochet braids to enhance the beauty of your hair, you need to be aware of the different types of crochet braids.
Faux Locs & visible rows
Faux Locs is the creation of additional synthetic dreadlocks hair into your natural hair. This is a great way to try the look you have craved for without fully committing to the style. Firstly, Faux & Locs can be processed by twisting your natural hair and subsequently adding ore hair extensions to the mix, resulting in more and more twists. Secondly, this hairstyle can be achieved by using a pre-twisted hair extension and install the hair extension to your natural hair through crochet braiding.
Yarn braided double buns
This crochet braid is made from actual yarn, and not from the real hair extension or synthetic hair. The yarn braid is quite obvious to be just that, a braid made from yarn, but many individuals like this style. Yarn braid is popular because they provide lightweight solution to hair extension, and users have the option to curtail lengths and add more length as desired. The most famous style for the yarn braids are double buns. And you should try it too to have a feel of what the craze is all about.
