Installing My Sister's Crochet Braids {Inspiring My Own}

My little sister and I (hey Mariya!) are almost equally hair obsessed. She was the first person I told about all my initial hair care research and even started her hair journey/lifestyle with me. Definitely one of my biggest supporters. Anyway, it is nothing for us to spend too much time on YouTube together figuring out what to do next with our hair, even when we're hundreds of miles apart. So, after watching many videos about crochet braids, we decided to give it a try. 

It just so happened she had recently removed some Marley Twists, so after cutting that hair in half, we were ready to go. In one of the videos we watched, the woman used a hair pin to crochet the hair onto her head. Seemed easy enough since we didn't have a crochet hook. The braiding pattern was simple - 12 straight back in the front combined into 6 straight down in the back. Here's the style's progression in pictures:

She loved it! And so did I. It was actually a pretty easy process, even with a dinky hair pin. However, it was pretty time consuming - two movies and a TV show. I definitely think a crochet hook would have cut down on the time some. But hey, you gotta use what you got, right? We both thought it was worth it though, for a style that could easily last a month or so. It looked very similar to her natural afro and a number of people thought it was hers. That's always a win in my book. 

I mentioned in my previous wash day post that I started protective styling week by week for the sake of my nape. I saw SO much progress with my nape from wearing my box braids I was impressed! It made me want to make more of a commitment to protective styling. Even though I don't particularly like longer-term protective styles {because I like to play in my hair too much}, I think it will be worth doing so for a couple months if I can make some more great progress with the state of my nape.

The week by week styles were working pretty well: I didn't have to worry about styling  throughout the week, spraying to moisturize & seal was a breeze, no hair worries during workouts, great wash days... pretty well indeed. Still I wanted to reach for something a little more long term - and by more long time I mean like 3-4 weeks! Ha! I'm certain 4 weeks is my max for a style at this point.

So, after putting crochet braids in my sister's hair, I figured I could try it out on myself. And if wearing it for a few weeks works well for me and my hair, I'll do it again. Then I'll have met my goal of protective styling for a few months. 

8 comments crochet braids, protective styles

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