I'm Doing My Hair At Home And Don't Know Where To Start. A Thread:

I'm going to try and be as thorough as I can. I will also include options for those who struggle doing their own hair to make things easier for them. Cause if I'm the queen of anything, it's cheating a hair style

So first things first let's talk about braids. Now box braiding/cornrowing your own hair is probably the hardest thing to do on yourself if you're inexperienced. Everything in this section can be applied to twists too. Here's some tips and tricks to make things easier on yourself

First things first get a good comb and gel. I always use a rat tail with a metal end because it helps gets a cleaner part. A good gel also assists with that and helps with grip. Don't use something water based because it'll be slippery and hard to hold. Here's a few suggestions

Throughout this thread you will learn that a crochet hook is your best friend. The main issue people run into is attaching the hair into their head. Easiest way to get around that is the anchor braid method. Here's a video explaining it:

There's also tons of crochet box braid options that you can use the same method for. Make anchor braid and loop the crochet braid underneath it. After securing it you can just weave your hair through the braid! I've down both as I was learning and they all look natural

Best pre made crochet braid and twist brands are freetress and que. Janet collections has some great options as well but I feel like their hair is hit or miss depending on the style. Here's some crochet styles I've done, don't roast these old pictures

Now if you are determined to braid the extensions into your hair the natural way, I suggest beautycanbraid YouTube channel. She has tons of videos in depth videos and some slowed down that can help with technique

Now onto hair. Getting the right braiding hair will make or break your style because not all kanekalon is made the same! Its important to pick what's good for you and not what everyone else uses because different brands require different skill levels

If you are a beginner, keep away from Xpressions! It is the holy grail braiding hair amongst braiders and I love it but if you dont know what you're doing you will waste more hair than you use. They have prestretched hair that is perfectly fine

Alot of brands have started providing prestretched options. This is where Janet Collection comes through because I really like their prestretched. If the braiding hair you see is plasticky or super fluffy, don't get it. It's not a good quality and wont last

Adding onto that: alot of fashion colored hair ends up being plasticky in texture so be careful when looking. Their consistency is muuuch different from normal braiding hair. I always get mine from hair4thelow and even amazon, but I read the reviews and pictures first

Fashion color braiding hair requires much more finessing than regular hair. Keep your braids small to medium or it will bunch up and look clunky. It also helps with flyaways which there will be a ton of no matter how much you snip so be mindful of the color you're picking

I'll touch on crochet braids briefly. There's ways to get around it if you can't cornrow. You can flat twist or even do the braidless method. But loose crochet hair is alot of maintenance so keep that in mind when deciding

And don't trust the pictures on those damn packages, it never looks like that. Hop on youtube so you can see what it really looks like

Alot of criticism crochet styles get is the cornrow look in the front and there ways to make it look more natural in the front with a loose hair style. And if you're doing braids, twists, or locs styles there are ways to individuals for all of them

I hope I covered everything . But feel free to ask any questions cause I have done any and every style to my hair. It helped me up my braiding skills to where I can tuck my crochet hook away