Hey guys!
Twice on the blog, I have said that crochet braiding is super easy. To prove it, here’s this picture tutorial showing you how.
It was a bit of a battle making this sha so I hope you get it 🙂 Camera quality, lighting and the fact that I was trying to capture working with black extensions and a black bobby pin on dark hair but I think I succeeded. I did 3 different shoots for this on 3 different days, and this was the best day, so I hope it’s a good enough illustration.
These photos were taken by my brother. 🙂
ALL I USED:
Extensions- 2 packs of Noble Afro Kinky (or was it Afro Twist?) Braid. Same ones you can use to do kinky twists.
Big bobby pin. <- you can use a small pin, but it’s stressful.
PREPARATION
On clean well conditioned hair, do your cornrows. I got just 5 or 6 cornrows. If you’re wondering why, it’s because kinky extensions are bulky, and for this reason, making 12, 13 cornrows is a waste of time.
2 packs of hair got me this fullness and the hair came already separated in strands, and I worked with about 50 something in total. I was able to crochet 10 strands onto each cornrow.
Get your hair braided in the pattern that you think would best interpret the look you’re going for. Do you want a leave-out? Closed side parting? Centre parting? Let that be your guide. You can also flat twist if you like.
Ready? Let’s Go! 🙂
1. Pick up your bobby pin.
2. Slide your bobby pin under your braid, with the head first.
Yep, like so.
3. Take one end of your braiding hair and pass it through the head of the bobby pin like you’re threading a needle. Before you thread, you may need to smooth it a little to make it easy to pass through. Rub or roll the ends between your palms or two fingers.
By the time you’re done, the hair should be equal on both sides of the pin.
4. Done? Now slide the pin back out, just the way it came.
5. Slide it out just enough to have a loop that your finger can go through. Now remove the bobby pin, take the rest of the hair through the loop and pull. This secures it around your braid. Don’t pull too tight!!
6. Done! You did it, honeybee!
Now, repeat the process- distributing hair at your discretion, until you’re through.
Twice, it took me 2 hours to do the crochet braiding (excluding the time spent on cornrows which shouldn’t take so long). 2 hours isn’t bad at all, is it? And I’ve noticed I work faster with my hair when I’m watching TV or talking or doing anything but actively concentrating. You don’t need to have a mirror in front of you for this. You could try it my way, and just run on hair cruise control LOL.
The next time I post about crochet braids, we’ll talk styling- and cover any other things you’d like to know. If you have any questions, put them in the comments so I’d answer them in that post. No question is too silly lol feel free 🙂
I hope this illustration is good enough? If it’s still not clear to you, click here to be transported to the Jouelzy tutorial on YouTube!
Love,
AB,
xx
nice
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thank you 🙂
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Nice..
thank you for the illustration.
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Yaaaay. This looks quite easy. Can’t wait to try mine ^_^
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😀
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I’ve had my crochet braids for almost two weeks and I’m wondering if it’s OK for me to cowash while it’s still on my head? How can I prevent massive breakage during takedown? And how long is long enough to have my extensions in?… People stare at me gobsmacked cos it’s huge and they’re not familiar with the style.
PS: your blog has really helped my hair journey :*
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Thanks Lissa! I’m happy to help 🙂
Yes it’s okay to cowash with this style. Just try to focus your co-wash on your cornrows, no point wasting conditioner on synthetic hair. I think 3-4 weeks is ideal for protective styling. To prevent breakage, try to be as gentle as possible with unraveling the crochet braids and if you aren’t using the hair again, just cut it off so it’d be easier to pull out from under your cornrows. Make sure you fortify your hair after by deep conditioning.
LOL people stare at me too!! My mother says I look like her step grandmother in her days of being a native doctor before she met Jesus. LOL I hope that’s not what others are thinking when they see me or you!!
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Gee…it’s not just me. The way people stare at me these days since I have had the hair on is just….crazy. ”Like, how did she do that? Is it weave or not?” Today, I was a t a slot store and two female attendants were arguing weather it was sewn in or glued or braided. I was in total awe.
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Crochet braids can last the same amount of time you normally keep box braids or any other type of braids. Crochet is much gentler on your scalp and hair itself than actual box braids so 6 – 8 weeks can work as well 🙂 I remember seeing on the fingercomber.com website (using real Havana hair – which is much nicer than marley hair) the girl kept her crochet braids for 10 weeks and did 10 co-washes and it still looked great!
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I really love the look of your crochet braids. I split my stands into so many small ones that I lost the authentic look of the marley hair 😦 I am def gonna try again splitting either once or not at all so I can achieve something similar to yours. Great pic-torial hun x
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Thanks bebs! 🙂
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Funny..cus I’m doing crotchet braids atm!!! Myself!!! Can’t Wait to see the outcome!! This tutorial is purfect!!
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Thanks girl! x
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Thanks for doing this! I have been wanting to learn to install crochet braids. Still kind of lost on steps 4-5 though. I may have to try it to figure it out.
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Yayyy… Thanks!
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You’re welcome 😀
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I still don’t get it.
Sigh.
ebunoluwole.com
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😦
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Nice! The finished look is all the prodding I need to try this with kinky extensions. I shall update my to-do list
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I love yours! Mine didn’t turn out quite as well,but I’ve only been natural for eight months now (big-chopped to near-nothing in December, 2013). Still wearing the braids though (a week old). And I’ll definitely do this over and again. My scalp is already thanking me. I’m using castor and olive oils every other three days so far, for my edges. Let’s see if my hair will thank me as well.
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I hope so! Castor oil has never disappointed me 🙂 and practice makes perfect x
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And I’ve been getting stared at too!! It doesn’t help that I’m quite tall as well. Big woman, big hair!
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I really want to try this … with all my life. But I can’t even braid corn rows
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Lol me too. Ask a friend or family member, or go to a professional. And it doesn’t matter how neat they are. Just as long as they’re tight enough not to come undone. Flat twisting is also an option (if you can do this)
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Still have like a TWA and I try to practice but I give up quickly and just wash and go. lol But I am determined to master it. Just need time lol
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awesome. Please how do u uninstall them braids? looks like it will take some effort.
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nope. No wahala with taking them down.
You know, the installing process is you knotting the braiding hair around your cornrow. So take down is simply undoing the knot. Doing this carefully, you’d be done in less than an hour.
If you’re not interested in re-using the hair, just cut it off close to the base, and it’d be easier for you to undo the knots.
I’ll show how in the next post about Crochet Braids! 🙂
x
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Nice, I might just try this soon. My only concern at the moment is the parting. Won’t the corn-rows show?
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Nice tutorial dear…helpful!!!will try it and see if it works for me
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I hope so! 🙂
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Very beautiful kinky yaki hair, could we share your article on our website, please?
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Yes you can share, but please link back 🙂
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ok, no problem, we will give the article link and hope to see more your good share ^_^
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lovely. It looks easy to me. Thanks for the tip. I think I would try it out soon
http://leeznijis.blogspot.com
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This is simply awesome! I still don’t get the knotting technique!
You Rock joor.
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Thanks Zika! x
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Ayeeeeee! This looks fun. I was thinking of what to do for my hair this weekend (just took out some nasty weaves *shudder*) and my girl sends me this link. I’m not a fan of big hair, but this is my month of trying new things. Thanks mucho!
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Never knew it was done this way! I’ve always wondered. Thanks for the pic-torial. Love your blog… keep it up.
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Thank you Efua! 🙂
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Pingback: Crotchet Braids On Natural Hair. | The Life of Bey.
Hope the braids don’t come off easily especially while oiling it. Since no needle or thread is used.
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no, they don’t. You’re tying the hair in a knot around your cornrow, so it’s even more difficult to remove when done right.
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this is nice
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Very nice !
I found a supplier of crochet latch hooks on OLX.
http://lagos-island-east.olx.com.ng/crochet-needle-iid-732879424
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Hayy thanks for the tip! 😀
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Just did the crotchet braids on my hair using your tutorial. Thanks! It totally worked and I love the results. My only challenge now is how to style such big hair.
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Yay I’m happy the tutorial worked!! Lol if it’s too big for you, you can always pull some out. Or you can do fat marley size twists sometimes and just arrange them. 🙂
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Great tutorial. Now i can try attempting it maself. Wish I could see how the front turned out. How does the parting cover in front? Does the corn row show?
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This is so helpful and looks easy. Thanks for the tutorial, I’ll try it out this weekend and post results…*fingerscrossed*
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Whoop whoop!!
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I wish I had come across this post before I tried these. I didn’t have quite as much success, but yours look fab!
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Thanks Tiff! 🙂
When you have the time, you could try again?
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Yeah, I might consider it again this summer.
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God bless u for sharing these tips!
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Reblogged this on mikalasiko and commented:
Looking forward to this DIY
I can’t wait still gathering some courage but I know I will do it eventually.
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Pingback: Crotchet Braids On Natural Hair. | The Kinky-Coily Blog of A Nigerian Natural.
Pingback: Learn To Style Your Natural Hair | Dis Naija Gal
Every time I try to crochet braid my hair, the bobby pin won’t go underneath my braids. It gets suck. How can I prevent this? Thanks!
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insert the head of the pin under the braid very close to your scalp. Hope that helps
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Thanks a lot for sharing, you are such an angel, am so doing this nextweek, but with a twist, I would roll the hair with rod set and put it in hot water to get curls. This style would save me money, cos I can do it on my own, no saloon. Very good protective styling for me. Am so following this blog and book marking it
http://www.ethniques.blogspot.com
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Love your tutorial, I am doing crochet on my 9 yo daughters hair. I don’t want hers to be quite so full like I see on adult woman. Any suggestions on how I can achieve a natural look w/no gaps but just not as full? Thank you.
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Thank you a million! Been looking for simplified pictorials for days now! With this I will finally try it on my sisters hairs.
Thank you again. Keep up the good work 👍👏😃
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Reblogged this on campconfidential.
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thank you for the illustration, I have always wanted to try this style, but have held back because I wasn’t sure how to go about it, I just did a big chop I will be doing this style as part of my hair experiment. I hope to get it correct in the first trial. thanks
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thank you for the illustration, I have always wanted to try this style, but have held back because I wasn’t sure how to go about it, I just did a big chop I will be doing this style as part of my hair experiment. I hope to get it correct in the first trial. thank you dear
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So i eventually made my DIY crochet braids using the illustration above. i used two packs of Darling Zoey and a bobby pin. Made seven cornrows and in an hour, i was through. I am soooooooooooooooooo happy.
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Used this for my very own DIY crochet braids style. I also featured you as inspiration for the style. I’d love if you could check out my blog. https://thekschronicles.wordpress.com
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Pingback: Crochet Braids Round 2 | TheKSChronicles
Thanks a lot this was really helpful
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😀
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You made it seem so easy. I think I’d try it.
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