Hi Naturels!

Here’s an updated style since my very first DIY crochet braids.  I’ve decided to venture away from my signature look (the water wave) and try other bulk hair/crochet styles.   I’m thinking of making this into a DIY Crochet Braids series.  It would be great to see just how many styles I can experiment with using crochet braids, since it’s such an awesome protective style when you don’t want to do much to your hair for a couple of weeks.

That being said, it will be a while before my next crochet braids post.  Some of you have asked me to post some styles for transitioning hair that don’t require completely covering it up with wigs or weave.   So I’m currently working on that series, which hopefully will be out soon!

In this post, I’m featuring four weeks of crochet braids using Freetress Bohemian bulk hair.

This time around, I cornrowed my hair without extensions and it turned out objectively better than my first attempt.  :-D.   Besides, my natural hair is pretty strong and doesn’t really need the extra fortification.

I also used a different cornrow pattern inspired by Breanna Rutter of HowToBlackHair.  I cornrowed about 12 rows in the front and combined every two so that I only ended up with 6 cornrows in the back.  At the bottom, I cornrowed all the ends into each other, leaving only one tail, which could be neatly tucked and tacked away.

I hope you can see where the cornrows combine–the pics were a little over exposed :-/

I used Freetress Bohemian 22 inch bulk hair (about 5 packs cut in half) for this style.  What I like about the bohemian bulk is that since the strands are just thin and coily enough, splitting is rendered unnecessary.  You may find a few strands which need the split, but for the most part, you can really just take the strands as is.   It also looks closer to my natural texture than the water wave.  The water wave ends up looking like I’m sporting a bomb twistout or bantu knotout.  The bohemian bulk looks closer to a wash and go, in my opinion.

This hair could’ve easily lasted me for 6, maybe 8 weeks, but that was just too long for me to go without seeing my real hair.  I’ve decided that I will not wear crochet braids (or any other protective style, for that matter) for longer than four weeks (except maybe single braids–which I hardly ever have installed).  Plus, I feel like I really need to be able to get in there and clarify my hair at least once a month.  That’s just difficult to do if my hair is in cornrows (though this hair holds up well on wash days).

Follow the progression of this crochet style below.

Week 1:

I’m having an “I whip my hair back and forth” moment in the middle there 🙂

I gave myself a tapered cut, which gave the hair a fuller look.  I also was sure to follow my regular maintenance routine to keep the synthetic hair lustrous and its curl pattern in tact.  The only change I made this time was a reduction in the amount of body lotion I used on the synthetic hair.  Since this style required a lot less splitting than the water wave style, there wasn’t as much frizz or fraying to deal with, which resulted in the strands needing less moisturizing.

Week 2:

The hair begins to fall a little as the weeks go on.  Usually, a quick trim back into the shape you want restores the look of full hair.

Week 3:

By week 3, you can start to see my new growth is beginning to show.  At this point, feel free to add in extra strands.  It still looked natural enough so I left it alone, filling it in with new strands in only areas that I felt needed the help.

Week 4:

Since it was the last week that I planned on keeping the hair in, I didn’t really want to add any strands to the new growth.  So, I used a headband instead, which blended my natural texture and the synthetic hair very well for a slightly different style.

As you can see, I could probably have gotten away with the headband look for another week or two and been just fine–you can’t even tell I have cornrows at all.  However, as I mentioned above, four weeks is long enough for me to go without seeing my actual hair.  Fill free, though, to utilize the tips and tricks to make the hair last for a full 6 – 8 week (i.e., adding additional strands to the front) if you so desire.  My hair just likes to come out and play.  🙂

I hope this was helpful.  As usual, let me know if you have any questions or if there’s something you’d like to see me cover.

Peace, Love, and Live Life Full,

P.A.