How To Braid African American Hair With Extensions
For many, learning to braid African American hair can exist a challenge. Merely it is a skill worth having if you want to be able to manage your own pilus hands.
There are many hairstylists who tin can complect your pilus. Just for the purposes of ease and saving on costs, we've put together this guide. So, you lot can learn to do it yourself in your own mode.
Determine What Kind Of Braiding You Want
The first affair to practice before you braid African American hair is to decide what kind of braiding yous want to do.
There are numerous means you tin can braid your pilus. Some involve just your natural hair and others involve using extensions.
Hither are a few hairstyle ideas you can get for.
Corn Rows
Cornrows are a nifty style to go for if you want to braid African American hair without using extensions.
Corn rows can exist done in a variety of means. Typically, what all cornrows have in mutual is that the style a apartment one where each braid is firmly attached to your scalp up until the very tips of your hair.
Aside from this, y'all can vary cornrows by adding patterns to how yous practise them. For instance, yous can exercise them in a zig-zag mode or a crisscross style.
Twists
Twists are another great way to braid African American hair without extensions. They are a trivial different from cornrows in that they are but firmly anchored to your scalp at the very peak of each braid and the rest of information technology just hangs loose.
They besides typically can be washed by intertwining two sections of pilus equally opposed to three, which is how you do cornrows.
This blazon of style is very quick and easy to achieve if you lot desire a hassle-free look.
Box Braids
This hairstyle is i of the most common ones for African American hair that involves extensions.
Box braids are more difficult to achieve than cornrows or twists. Merely they are definitely a good protective hairstyle.
If y'all do box braids well, they tin last you a practiced number of weeks. And in one case yous get the hang of how to practice them, they are very easy to practise when you need to do them.
The other great matter most box braids is that you can style them in such a versatile style. You tin can wear them down, wear them in an updo, or whatever other creative way you want.
Crotchet Braids
Crotchet braids are another type of braiding that involves extensions. These braids are a piddling complex than regular cornrows, twists or box braids. Merely they are definitely a peachy wait.
Crotchet braids are likewise quite versatile. In that location are and so many variations of them that y'all can attempt and which nosotros recommend looking into.
And now that you have a few ideas of what kind of braids you tin can do, we can get into the basic and general instructions of how to braid your hair.
Wash Your Hair
Get-go things showtime, earlier yous complect African American hair, you demand to go through the cleansing process.
Washing your pilus is important earlier you lot braid it because information technology gives your hair some moisture. Wet earlier styling is key considering it protects your hair from potential impairment.
When your hair is dry and lacks moisture, it tin can get actually breakable. And brittle pilus is much more than susceptible to breakage.
This is because when you endeavor to manner it, especially in the combing process, you lot can tug and pull at information technology. This causes information technology strain that leads to it breaking.
In order to avoid all of this, it is best to give your hair a good wash before you braid information technology.
Sulfates Or No Sulfates?
When it comes to shampoo, one common question that arises is whether or non to use one that contains sulfates.
Shampoos that contain sulfates are usually a good thought if you want to thoroughly cleanse your hair.
Sulfates are the substance that cause information technology soap upwards. And they specifically target all unwanted substances in your hair to leave it as clean equally possible.
The downside to sulfates nonetheless is that they can strip your pilus of all nutrients and vitamins since they are and then potent and then effective at removing external substances from your pilus.
Another potential effect of sulfates is that they tin can remove natural oils from your hair. This is non ideal since natural oils work as a moisturizer for your pilus and they besides protect your pilus from breakage and damage.
How To Go About Washing Your Hair
The best way to ensure yous are washing your hair in a healthy way is to use a sulfates-free shampoo.
This style, when you shampoo your hair, you lot tin can ensure it retains all the vitamins and natural oils in it and tin stay hydrated and nourished.
Better yet, you should invest in a type of shampoo that contains some of the key ingredients for hair growth and protection.
When information technology comes to vitamins, vitamin Eastward and vitamin B are some of the most mutual ones to look into.
Vitamin E is especially adept at preventing pilus loss and encouraging hair resilience.
B vitamins, too known as biotin, encourage hair thickening. They besides encourage hair growth.
Both of these are good considering they ensure your hair is getting the heave information technology needs to withstand all of the styling yous are going to exercise.
Condition Your Pilus
Another way to ensure your hair is well protected before you braid African American hair is to status it after you shampoo it.
Conditioner is such an important office of haircare. This is because conditioner works to strengthen your hair and to ease styling.
Most hair conditioners are designed to thicken your hair, reduce frizz and brand information technology softer and smoother.
This makes information technology easier to style in different ways. For instance, combing your hair becomes much easier without too much tugging that can cause your pilus strain and breakage.
Hair conditioners come in many forms. One of the most mutual ones are liquid formulas which yous can apply after shampooing.
Should You Use Get out-In Conditioner?
One form of liquid conditioner is leave-in conditioner. Get out in conditioner is dandy for a number of reasons.
The main reason leave-in conditioner is not bad is that it sits in your hair long enough to absorb all the nutrients in the formula.
Considering you don't immediately rinse out the conditioner, your hair has all the time in the globe to have in vitamins, oils and other ingredients.
On the flip side, leave-in conditioner may not be ideal if yous are trying to avoid getting too many substances in your hair. Especially if you overuse information technology.
Considering you leave the conditioner in your hair until the next wash, excess product tin can really accumulate in your hair and may actually lead to dirt build-up.
In the case of preparing for braiding, information technology might be best so not to opt for a leave-in conditioner. But conditioner is of import nevertheless.
Looking into a conditioner you can apply mail service-launder and rinse out adequately quickly is probably best.
And after y'all have washed and conditioned your pilus, you need to dry it.
Dry out Your Hair
When information technology comes to drying your pilus post-wash, using low heat is probably all-time. This is considering excessive heat can really be damaging to African American hair.
When yous utilise excessive rut to your hair, it gets dry and brittle. Information technology also tin thin out a bit. Dry out, thin hair is much more susceptible to breakage.
So, applying excessive rut to your hair after washing and conditioning would actually be undoing those previous efforts.
In order to avert this damage, it'southward all-time to dry your hair with absurd air.
Air drying your pilus would usually be proficient. But since you plan on braiding it, air drying would not be ideal in this case.
Air drying protects your hair from damage, but it also leaves your hair very coiled and can lead to shrinkage, which hinders how well you can braid your hair with ease.
Then, the side by side best motility is to use cool air to dry your hair using a blow dryer.
Gather The Right Tools
One other footstep you need to make sure yous take care of as y'all blow dry out your hair is that yous have the correct styling tools. Not but for blow drying and combing your hair, but for the braiding procedure afterwards.
There are a few kinds of pilus styling tools you need past your side to make sure this whole process goes by smoothly.
The following are some examples of them.
The Correct Comb
When it comes to choosing the correct rummage to braid African American hair, y'all want to make sure y'all pick an choice that protects your pilus and does not damage it.
One type of rummage to avoid is a fine-toothed comb. This one is one that a lot of people may typically opt for.
The reason why many would for a fine-toothed comb is that it can be really thorough. Fine-toothed combs really get upwards confronting every hair strand and eliminate knots and kinks.
The major downside to these kinds of combs though is that they cause a lot of friction to your hair.
A fine-tooth comb volition rub up so oftentimes confronting your pilus strands. This will outcome in your potentially thinning out really rapidly and breaking, which y'all would want to avoid.
Instead of this type of comb, it'southward a skillful idea to get a comb with a lot of gaps between the teeth.
You should too opt for a comb with a rattail. This will be useful for parting your pilus after for the braiding.
Styling Products
You're not going to exist able to complect African American hair completely without the assistance of styling products.
Styling products give your hair wet that it needs to stay resilient to damage while also making it much more than flexible to work with.
Some of the main styling products that you need include moisturizer and styling gels.
Wet is good for keeping your hair resistant to breakage while you lot are braiding. And the styling gels assistance to get your hair to smoothen downward and remain in the particular style you want.
Fastening Tools
The other kind of tool you need to braid African American hair some kind of fastening. For instance, rubber bands for fastening the ends of your braids.
If yous accept mastered the art of securing your braids so that they don't unravel, this may not be necessary.
Near professional person hairstylist don't need to do this when they braid your hair. But for beginners, rubber bands tin can exist quite handy until y'all have had more practice with securing your braids.
Once yous have gathered a few of these tools, you can begin to manner your hair for braiding.
Rummage And Detangle Your Hair
Firstly, you need to make sure you rummage and detangle your hair. This is essential before y'all put any braids in your pilus.
The reason for this is that your hair needs to be in the optimum land for extensions or other strands to grip it easily and interweave.
Combing your hair stretches it out. It removes the ridges formed by hair crimper upwards.
This allows it to straighten more, so that information technology is flatter and it's more easily accessible to braid.
Detangling your hair is important considering information technology eliminates obstacles in your hair. Knots can go far difficult to complect your hair because they deed as barriers betwixt the section of hair above and beneath them.
Making sure that knots are removed before you try to braid your hair is therefore really important to ensuring that y'all don't run across problems later.
How To Detangle Correctly
Knowing that detangling is important to the procedure of braiding African American hair, information technology is also important to know how to do information technology without damaging your hair.
At that place are a few tips yous can follow to make sure you detangle your pilus in a way that preserves your hair health.
Ane of the all-time means to ensure that your pilus is being detangled safely is to employ your fingers to remove knots.
It's a mutual misconception that people accept that the only effective way to remove knots from your pilus is to use a comb and aggressively tug at your hair.
This can actually cause strain to your hair and pb to a lot of unwanted impairment.
Instead of doing this, it'due south best to gently run your fingers through your hair, department by section.
This will allow you to locate knots. And when you have located knots, you can attempt to undo them with your fingers before running a comb through them more thoroughly to brand sure your pilus has been detangled.
This process may experience a little wearisome but it is guaranteed to protect your hair.
Some other way to detangle your hair safely is to use some kind of detangling product. Detangling products come in numerous forms.
The easiest one to use is spray-in detangler. All you take to do is spray it on sections of your hair as y'all go and it makes it easier to work through that role of your hair with your fingers or with a comb.
And then you can protect your hair from strain.
Prepare Your Extensions
This step is only necessary for you to braid African American hair if y'all are going for a style that doesn't simply involve your natural hair.
This stride depends on the kind of extensions you want to use on your pilus. How you ready them for braiding can vary depending on the kind.
But in order to help y'all sympathise how to get about preparing your braids, here are few tips for some popular extension types and how to get them ready.
Xpression Constructed Extensions
This complect type is very popular with those who desire to do styles similar box braids or extension twists.
Xpression extensions are really quite like shooting fish in a barrel to prepare. You lot just have to know beforehand what you lot want to achieve with them.
When you open up the braid packet, you will want to lift the braids with intendance, making sure you minimize them tangling upward.
Then the next pace is cutting the braids if you don't intend for them to exist every bit long as the extensions.
This is easy to do. All you lot accept to do is fold upwardly the braids evenly to create the length you want and then cut them.
Once yous have done this, so you accept to pull the braids. This allows them to stretch out more and become a little softer and more hair-like so you tin really use them to braid.
Office And Department Your Hair For Braiding
When you take prepared your extensions and gathered all your tools, and so yous are ready to braid African American hair.
The start thing to do in the bodily braiding process is to part and section your hair.
Depending on what kind of braids you are going to do, your parts will look different.
What Kind Of Parts Tin can Yous Do?
With cornrows, you will likely have to do a eye office from your brow down to the back of your caput.
And then you will accept to do various other sections of the ii halves yous've created for each row yous are going to complect.
For box braids you would have to practice something slightly unlike.
Y'all would offset off with your middle part. Only and then you would have to do several other box parts to stand for with each braid, which are a bit more than circuitous than the cornrow ones.
Regardless of what kind of part you need to do, in that location are some things that yous will accept to be consistent about. For instance, using the right tools.
As mentioned earlier, earlier and combing and detangling footstep, you would need to have a comb that has a rattail end because it gives ease of parting and detangling.
For sectioning your hair, this blazon of rummage is also very necessary. Because it allows you to create clear, precise separations between sections of hair, so you accept singled-out braids.
Another thing you will want to make sure yous go right regardless of what kind of parting yous are doing is the size of your parts relative to your braids.
The parts y'all make for your braids should always be smaller than the actual complect you intend to make.
What this means is that when y'all part your hair, leave enough hair in each section that you can grab onto information technology for braiding.
But non and so much that the pilus cannot be properly tucked into extensions or interwoven with other sections of hair without making a braid that is besides thick.
The temptation as a beginner tin exist to make actually wide parts with large sections of hair. Because this would mean having to do fewer braids and spend less time on the whole procedure.
Only it is never wise to do this if you intend for your braids to concluding long and not have to exist redone presently afterwards.
Utilize Moisturizer
At present that you take created the sections which you need in order to braid your hair, you lot need to fix your pilus for the braiding. Using hair moisturizer is very important for this.
Moisturizer is very important in the pilus braiding procedure because y'all are going to be gripping at your hair and tugging at information technology in order to braid information technology.
If your hair is dry information technology will be brittle and too unmalleable for this process. Which means it tin can easily pause equally you are trying to braid it.
In order to avoid this, hither are few tips for moisturizing your hair during the braiding procedure.
Start At The Root
The root of your pilus is where a lot of the strain goes when you complect African American hair. This is why a lot of the times when braids fall out, they fall out with hair from the root.
When this happens, it is because the root of the hair that the complect is attached information technology would have been carrying a lot of the weight of the braid and it eventually leads to breakage.
This is why it's important to apply wet get-go and foremost to this part of your pilus as y'all braid.
Using hair lotion, a spray in moisturizer or some kind of moisturizing butter are all viable options.
Hair lotions are very reliable and easy to apply and so are hair butters. Spray in moisturizers are especially user-friendly considering yous just spritz the moisturizer in as you become and it makes process of braiding quick.
Regardless of the kind of moisturizer you choose though, there is one thing y'all should make sure you go out of it, and that is the right ingredients to keep your hair hydrated and nourished.
Looking for moisturizers with ingredients such as coconut oil/butter, shea butter, olive oil and other natural ingredients is a good idea.
Be Generous
When applying moisturizer, you shouldn't concur back too much. You may exist tempted to do this for fright of making your hair too damp.
But the benefits of adding a lot of moisturizer as you braid are that you ensure your pilus is protected from breakage.
You don't have to be extremely excessive with the product. But just make sure that when you use information technology, it leaves your hair feeling slick and piece of cake to maneuver.
Begin Braiding
Now that your hair is hydrated, you are fix to braid African American pilus.
The technique volition vary depending on the way you want to achieve. For the purposes of making it more clear, here are a few tips on how to do some of the common styles.
Box Braids
To braid box braids, you start at the base of your scalp and piece of work your way down to the tip of your pilus.
With box braids, since you are going to exist adding extensions, you lot demand to have taken the strands of extensions that you want to use before you grab onto the hair at your scalp.
With box braids, y'all will need to take two separate $.25 of pilus and cross them halfway, and then take hold of the hair on your scalp and begin to interweave them.
This process tin can exist hard to get correct the first few tries. Simply once yous get the hang of it, it is actually like shooting fish in a barrel to practise.
Cornrows
With cornrows, the process is a little easier in the sense that you lot do not accept to attach any extensions to your pilus.
Just what makes cornrows a petty more complex than box braids is that every bit y'all complect them, y'all have to go on adding $.25 of hair to proceed the complect attached to your scalp.
Yous begin at your scalp with three divide bits of pilus. You volition want to brand sure you don't use too much hair at the beginning every bit your complect will eventually thicken the more yous add pilus.
Once you get the hang of this, it will also get easier.
Crotchet Braids
When it comes to this type of braids, you will have to do a piddling flake of extra attempt to braid them.
This is because crotchet braids require yous, first and foremost, to do some cornrows.
Considering you lot are going to be calculation extensions that y'all are not going to interweave with your natural hair, crotchet braids require you to lay your hair downwards flat and neatly.
This is to arrive easier to attach the extensions to your hair. And cornrows allow for this ease.
Equally you braid your cornrows for crotchet braids, yous will want to do i thing differently.
You will want to braid them not but in directly lines from the brow downwardly to your scalp. Instead, some of them need to be braided from ear to ear, or in a similar pattern.
This is considering this prevents your hair from bunching up at the nape of your neck, which might brand the overall result look beefy in that area of your head later you've added the extensions.
Utilise Some Edge Control
Another important step to take as you complect African American or after you lot do some of your braids is to apply edge control.
Edge control is necessary considering as yous complect your hair, you're non going to be able to complect your edges. In fact, you shouldn't attempt to.
Your edges are actually susceptible to breakage. Because they are small-scale sections of hair that cannot fully bear the weight and tension of a whole braid being attached to them.
This is where edge control comes in. Because yous cannot use your edges to braid your hair, you need to exercise something to them besides just leaving them out so that they are neat.
Border command slicks down your edges to achieve this await. Border control is a practiced idea for almost every braid type.
For some complect types, however, edge command may not be necessary. For instance, with crotchet braids.
Why Not Use Edge Control For Crotchet Braids?
Crotchet braids are pretty unique in how they are done compared to other braid types. The lack of necessity of some products like edge control when doing them is 1 of those things that makes them unique.
Crotchet braids require you to braid your pilus in rows first before you apply the extensions. In essence, braiding your natural pilus is just an intermediate step.
At the end of you doing this hairstyle, your natural hair will be tucked away under the extensions, including its edges.
This is why edge command isn't that important with crotchet braids.
Because in the process of braiding the cornrows, yous would have used nigh all your pilus in the braids. And the bits of hair leftover won't be visible over the extensions.
Some may however want to use border control afterwards. Only for the purposes of existence thorough and ensuring their look comes together as neatly every bit possible.
Merely all in all, information technology does not make much of a deviation.
And in fact, in this case, information technology might fifty-fifty exist healthy for your pilus to skip the edge command. Particularly if you take used a lot of other hair products in excess.
For example, the moisturizers, conditioners and styling gels.
Once you have assessed whether or not it is necessary to add edge command to the braids you are doing and taken the advisable measure, you tin can move on to the final pace.
Seal Your Ends
The last (and arguably virtually of import step) when it comes to learning to braid African American hair is at the very end. This is the step where you have to seal your braids.
Sealing your braids is very important. When you don't seal your braids, they can go frayed at the ends.
This would not exist practiced because the hair strands of your braids would exist exposed to constant friction and other potentially harmful elements.
The results of this exposure could be hair damage, breakage and split ends.
African American hair is very easily susceptible to this phenomenon. Specially if yous practice not moisturize information technology regularly.
Frayed ends could mean a lot of long-term damage to the health of your pilus which would accept a while and a lot of endeavour to disengage.
Some other downside to developing these frayed ends is that they get out your braids looking united nations-neat. They leave your hair with awkward, stray strands only sticking out at the ends of your braids.
And frayed ends likewise make it much easier for your braids to unravel. Because there is nothing holding the hair at the cease together, information technology can easily separate and start to unbraid itself.
Or, at the very least, your braids begin to loosen upwardly in terms of their interwoven pattern. This would gravely affect the look of whatever hairstyle you were going for.
In order to avoid all of this, it is important to know exactly how you can become about sealing the ends of your braids.
There are a number ways you can do this safely equally a beginner.
Sealing With Hot Water
This style of sealing your braids is a pretty pop one. This method only really works for styles that use constructed extensions though.
How this works is that when the strands of constructed extensions are exposed to the heat, they become thin and more closely stuck together.
This makes it harder for the braids to get undone because the ends go so compactly sealed.
The best style to do this method of sealing is to heat upwards some water to roughly boiling point. And so pour the water in a container like a pocket-size bucket or jug.
You lot will then want to part your braids into a few sections. Maybe most four sections will do.
And you lot volition desire to put each section of braids into the bucket of water for about xxx seconds to a infinitesimal at most.
You don't have to dip the whole length of each braid in the water. Just the tips of the braids will suffice.
And in one case the department of braids has had its fourth dimension in the water, yous will want to dab information technology with a towel to remove the backlog dripping water and so permit the section airdry as you echo the process with your other sections.
Sealing With Slipknots
This blazon of seal is i that works for braids with hair extensions besides. It can accept a bit of practise, nonetheless, to master this style of sealing your braids.
This style of sealing basically involves creating a knot at the end of each braid. The trick though is that you aim to make the knot equally modest and invisible every bit possible.
This is where it tin get a little scrap catchy to achieve. Considering in society to brand these tiny knots, you lot need to apply very little pilus.
To make a slipknot, you need every bit little as six strands of pilus. And you basically have to take these strands from the ends of the braid y'all would have done.
And once you accept these strands, you have to wrap them effectually your finger and create a loop that the whole braid should pass through in order to create the knot.
This style of sealing may exist a piddling elaborate, but it is definitely a great one for you lot to main if you want to create a really presentable look with your braids.
The only downside to this method is that if you lot don't do it well, information technology might mean having to do a lot of detangling work the next time you want to take your braids out.
Sealing With Condom Bands
This manner of sealing your braids is really expert for anyone who is really new to braiding and doesn't have the skill or patience of making any kind of elaborate seal.
This method is as well really good for braids that only involve your natural pilus and no extensions. Because this seal will not manipulate your pilus as well much in a way that can tangle information technology or cause information technology damage.
All you lot have to do to seal your pilus this style is to accept a picayune rubber band and tie off your complect at the bespeak where you want it to end.And when you have repeated this process for all your braids, your hairstyle is consummate.
How To Braid African American Hair For Beginners, Conclusion
Braiding African American is a great skill to learn. And it needs to be done with some care.
But every bit a beginner, as long every bit you follow the right steps, it can really exist a actually enjoyable process.
If yous employ the correct tools and products, you can attain a variety of really great hairstyles. And you volition have so much more freedom and versatility over how you can vesture your pilus.
How To Braid African American Hair With Extensions,
Source: https://www.thatsister.com/how-to-braid-african-american-hair/
Posted by: moorewhoween.blogspot.com
0 Response to "How To Braid African American Hair With Extensions"
Post a Comment