The Braid Binge

Greetings dear readers! How are you doing today?

While waiting for my husband to come home from work last night, I walked down into the Youtube wormhole of hair tutorials. I specifically was binge watching Afro hair tutorials concerning cornrows and Ghana braids, a modified form of cornrows where braiding hair extensions are gradually added in to create fuller braids. In the past, I've attempted to do cornrows on myself with little success, however this recent binge has given me the motivation to try attempting them again.

Me wearing Senegalese twists with yarn, 2014

Given the highly charged politics that characterize modern American race relations, why is a white woman like me walking into a potential minefield and running the risk of being tarred with the "cultural appropriation" brush for wearing a hairstyle more commonly seen among people of color? Well, for one, braids as a hairstyle have been around forever, existing in one form or another in cultures around the world. Also, more practically, it's beginning to get hot here in Arizona. A previous experiment in protective styling led to the discovery that when my hair is sectioned out in parts for twists and braids, I feel cooler because more of my scalp is exposed to the air and it allows the sweat to evaporate from my head faster. Finally, braids are conducive to deep conditioning because they hold the products in. I could use an extra conditioning boost.

My desire to attempt cornrows again also brings up a question which I have not been able to adequately answer. I'm familiar with Ghana braids and would like to try making them, but my question is whether yarn can be substituted for the braiding hair that's typically used. I'm also curious as to whether flat twists can be boosted with yarn like Ghana braids, but as twists. Despite searching all over Youtube for a tutorial utilizing yarn instead of braiding hair, I was unsuccessful. This is an experiment I'm looking forward to trying out. My results will look either amazing, acceptable, or atrocious. I may even make a video of it.

Hair goals. Pic found here

It should be noted that I very seldom wear my hair in any styles other than my ponytail. As cool as I think cornrows are, I rarely wear them because cultural appropriation accusations aside, they take forever to install and I don't feel that my hair is the right texture for the style. Caucasian hair, like mine, is smooth and straight so it's not optimal for holding together in a twist or braid without rubber bands. Also, cornrows by nature are a hairstyle that requires alot of pulling so it could result in hair loss. Given that my hair is naturally weak, I baby the hell out of it with lots of conditioning, no chemical dyes, no tight hairstyles, twice-weekly washes, no heat styling and minimal trims. It's paid off, and my hair is much stronger now. It's safe for me to change up my style for a little bit now.

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Bold Hair Day

I took a break for a few days to take care of something I'd been meaning to do for a while: my hair.

Yarn twists

Since my hair tends to get dry and brittle, I've experimented on and off with protective hair styling, like twists and braids, as a means of preserving and encouraging growth. While typically reserved for People of Color, my experience with protective styling is that for Caucasian hair like mine, protective styling is something that's more work than it's worth. While it's bound up in twists and braids, I certainly don't have to waste time or energy combing my hair and keeping it clean is pretty minimal too, the amount of labor involved in the installation is hard to justify the benefits. It's also kind of hard to do stuff like yarn twists with Caucasian hair because our hair tends to have alot of slippage, so the yarn doesn't hold its place well.

Occasionally, I get the itch to do something with my hair, especially now that the weather has become pretty hot and dry at the end of summer. So, out came the yarn.

Black yarn for the base color, hot pink yarn for the highlights. Both skeins were the size of that pink one before I undertook this little project. Yarn extension hairdos require alot of yarn

And then I'm reminded why I rarely do these sorts of hairdos. With the yarn extension twists I did this time, it took me two days to install them, partly because my natural hair is pretty long (it comes just above waist level) and my extensions have to be longer to compensate, and partly cuz no matter how fast I try and be, I always wind up working slow.

Unfortunately, my arms aren't long enough to show the true scale, but I can sit on the ends of my extensions if I wanted to

The good thing is, these will last about 6-8 weeks. I also put a special leave-in conditioner made from coconut oil in each twist, and finished the job off with an olive oil spray to seal in the conditioning for extra moisture. It does feel a little heavy on my head, but not so much as to restrict movement of my head and neck muscles. I did get a tension headache from having to do these twists though, so for anyone out there wanting to attempt these, do so at your own risk. But, for a little while at least, my hair is out of my face and my scalp is more exposed for better aeration.

Also, to any People of Color who might come across this blog, please do not take offense to the sight of me, a White woman, wearing a typically Black hairdo. I did this more for practical reasons than style reasons, and do not wish to disrespect anyone. Unlike Kylie Jenner and her cornrows, I do not appreciate, or wish to engage in, cultural appropriation of any sort.