Posts Tagged ‘braids’

“The hair is real – it’s the head that’s a fake.”
~ Steve Allen

Hair extensions hit the American public in a big way when Bo Derek wore them in the movie “10.” Hair extensions were added to Derek’s own hair in order to lengthen the braids. The look was so attractive that women everywhere copied it.

Since that period, hair extensions have continued to live on in different forms. Long, curly shags. Short bobs. Ponytails. The “looks” , today, are endless. However, no matter what form they take, the wearer, has to ask herself one question. How do I take care of them?

Taking care of hair extensions isn’t difficult if you know what to do. Below are a few pointers, you’ll want to follow.

Keep your hair extensions clean.

> Whether your hair extensions are synthetic or human, it’s important to keep them clean. Clean extensions will decrease the amount of tangling you experience with them. Also, it will provide the optimum conditions for styling. So what do you use? A gentle shampoo and conditioner. While using your fingers, work the shampoo through your hair with a little bit of water. Then rinse gently with minimal water and pat dry with a soft towel.

Style your hair extensions with minimal heat and soft instruments.

> Brushes with rough bristles and too much heat can tear up your extensions. Therefore, treat them like you’d treat soft baby hair. Use wide combs, super soft brushes and low heat for styling. It’ll maximize the length of time you’re able to use your extensions and save you money.

Protect your hair extensions while exercising.

> Hair extensions are always wonderful until it’s time to exercise. Sweat, dirt, chlorine, and other outdoor elements are enemies to hair extensions. They dry them out, make them look dull, and cause hair breakage. So, it’s important to wear a cap or wrap your hair up in order to protect it. Then, exercise as normal.

Wrap your hair before you go to bed.

> In order to prevent snags and tangles, wrap your hair up before you go to bed. Also, make sure your hair is dry. This process will add to the life and beauty of your hair extensions and keep you from making an emergency call to your stylist.

Use a leave-in Conditioner on your hair extensions.

> Use a leave-in conditioner on your hair extensions to combat dryness. It’ll also help with any tangles. Try to get one that is designed for hair extensions. Ask your hairstylist for direction on which conditioner to use.

Avoid perming, relaxing or coloring your hair extension.

> Any type of chemical process that will change the condition of your hair extensions should be left up to a hair stylist. They have the training and tools to handle chemical treatments on hair extensions properly. You don’t. So stay clear of them.

“The hair is real – it’s the head that’s a fake.”
~ Steve Allen

Hair extensions hit the American public in a big way when Bo Derek wore them in the movie “10.” Hair extensions were added to Derek’s own hair in order to lengthen the braids. The look was so attractive that women everywhere copied it.

Since that period, hair extensions have continued to live on in different forms. Long, curly shags. Short bobs. Ponytails. The “looks” , today, are endless. However, no matter what form they take, the wearer, has to ask herself one question. How do I take care of them?

Taking care of hair extensions isn’t difficult if you know what to do. Below are a few pointers, you’ll want to follow.

Keep your hair extensions clean.

> Whether your hair extensions are synthetic or human, it’s important to keep them clean. Clean extensions will decrease the amount of tangling you experience with them. Also, it will provide the optimum conditions for styling. So what do you use? A gentle shampoo and conditioner. While using your fingers, work the shampoo through your hair with a little bit of water. Then rinse gently with minimal water and pat dry with a soft towel.

Style your hair extensions with minimal heat and soft instruments.

> Brushes with rough bristles and too much heat can tear up your extensions. Therefore, treat them like you’d treat soft baby hair. Use wide combs, super soft brushes and low heat for styling. It’ll maximize the length of time you’re able to use your extensions and save you money.

Protect your hair extensions while exercising.

> Hair extensions are always wonderful until it’s time to exercise. Sweat, dirt, chlorine, and other outdoor elements are enemies to hair extensions. They dry them out, make them look dull, and cause hair breakage. So, it’s important to wear a cap or wrap your hair up in order to protect it. Then, exercise as normal.

Wrap your hair before you go to bed.

> In order to prevent snags and tangles, wrap your hair up before you go to bed. Also, make sure your hair is dry. This process will add to the life and beauty of your hair extensions and keep you from making an emergency call to your stylist.

Use a leave-in Conditioner on your hair extensions.

> Use a leave-in conditioner on your hair extensions to combat dryness. It’ll also help with any tangles. Try to get one that is designed for hair extensions. Ask your hairstylist for direction on which conditioner to use.

Avoid perming, relaxing or coloring your hair extension.

> Any type of chemical process that will change the condition of your hair extensions should be left up to a hair stylist. They have the training and tools to handle chemical treatments on hair extensions properly. You don’t. So stay clear of them.

“The hair is real – it’s the head that’s a fake.”
~ Steve Allen

Hair extensions hit the American public in a big way when Bo Derek wore them in the movie “10.” Hair extensions were added to Derek’s own hair in order to lengthen the braids. The look was so attractive that women everywhere copied it.

Since that period, hair extensions have continued to live on in different forms. Long, curly shags. Short bobs. Ponytails. The “looks” , today, are endless. However, no matter what form they take, the wearer, has to ask herself one question. How do I take care of them?

Taking care of hair extensions isn’t difficult if you know what to do. Below are a few pointers, you’ll want to follow.

Keep your hair extensions clean.

> Whether your hair extensions are synthetic or human, it’s important to keep them clean. Clean extensions will decrease the amount of tangling you experience with them. Also, it will provide the optimum conditions for styling. So what do you use? A gentle shampoo and conditioner. While using your fingers, work the shampoo through your hair with a little bit of water. Then rinse gently with minimal water and pat dry with a soft towel.

Style your hair extensions with minimal heat and soft instruments.

> Brushes with rough bristles and too much heat can tear up your extensions. Therefore, treat them like you’d treat soft baby hair. Use wide combs, super soft brushes and low heat for styling. It’ll maximize the length of time you’re able to use your extensions and save you money.

Protect your hair extensions while exercising.

> Hair extensions are always wonderful until it’s time to exercise. Sweat, dirt, chlorine, and other outdoor elements are enemies to hair extensions. They dry them out, make them look dull, and cause hair breakage. So, it’s important to wear a cap or wrap your hair up in order to protect it. Then, exercise as normal.

Wrap your hair before you go to bed.

> In order to prevent snags and tangles, wrap your hair up before you go to bed. Also, make sure your hair is dry. This process will add to the life and beauty of your hair extensions and keep you from making an emergency call to your stylist.

Use a leave-in Conditioner on your hair extensions.

> Use a leave-in conditioner on your hair extensions to combat dryness. It’ll also help with any tangles. Try to get one that is designed for hair extensions. Ask your hairstylist for direction on which conditioner to use.

Avoid perming, relaxing or coloring your hair extension.

> Any type of chemical process that will change the condition of your hair extensions should be left up to a hair stylist. They have the training and tools to handle chemical treatments on hair extensions properly. You don’t. So stay clear of them.

“The hair is real – it’s the head that’s a fake.”
~ Steve Allen

Hair extensions hit the American public in a big way when Bo Derek wore them in the movie “10.” Hair extensions were added to Derek’s own hair in order to lengthen the braids. The look was so attractive that women everywhere copied it.

Since that period, hair extensions have continued to live on in different forms. Long, curly shags. Short bobs. Ponytails. The “looks” , today, are endless. However, no matter what form they take, the wearer, has to ask herself one question. How do I take care of them?

Taking care of hair extensions isn’t difficult if you know what to do. Below are a few pointers, you’ll want to follow.

Keep your hair extensions clean.

> Whether your hair extensions are synthetic or human, it’s important to keep them clean. Clean extensions will decrease the amount of tangling you experience with them. Also, it will provide the optimum conditions for styling. So what do you use? A gentle shampoo and conditioner. While using your fingers, work the shampoo through your hair with a little bit of water. Then rinse gently with minimal water and pat dry with a soft towel.

Style your hair extensions with minimal heat and soft instruments.

> Brushes with rough bristles and too much heat can tear up your extensions. Therefore, treat them like you’d treat soft baby hair. Use wide combs, super soft brushes and low heat for styling. It’ll maximize the length of time you’re able to use your extensions and save you money.

Protect your hair extensions while exercising.

> Hair extensions are always wonderful until it’s time to exercise. Sweat, dirt, chlorine, and other outdoor elements are enemies to hair extensions. They dry them out, make them look dull, and cause hair breakage. So, it’s important to wear a cap or wrap your hair up in order to protect it. Then, exercise as normal.

Wrap your hair before you go to bed.

> In order to prevent snags and tangles, wrap your hair up before you go to bed. Also, make sure your hair is dry. This process will add to the life and beauty of your hair extensions and keep you from making an emergency call to your stylist.

Use a leave-in Conditioner on your hair extensions.

> Use a leave-in conditioner on your hair extensions to combat dryness. It’ll also help with any tangles. Try to get one that is designed for hair extensions. Ask your hairstylist for direction on which conditioner to use.

Avoid perming, relaxing or coloring your hair extension.

> Any type of chemical process that will change the condition of your hair extensions should be left up to a hair stylist. They have the training and tools to handle chemical treatments on hair extensions properly. You don’t. So stay clear of them.

You can learn how to braid hair. I recently learned to braid hair myself and I must say, I found it to be a much simpler task than I’d once imagined. I braided my own hair in a matter of ten minutes. It looked pretty good too. If I may say so myself!

Remember as children when you used to run around a maypole twisting in and out from eah other? It was fun right? Little did you know back then that this would be something that could help you later with your attempts to braid hair. Braiding hair is equivalent to twisting a maypole. For those of you who have never done one that may be hard to understand. For you I’ll say you must wrap the hair around itself.

First, one would divide the hair into three sections according to the direction that one wants the braid to travel. Braids may be attached to the head which is called cornrows. The simplest braids are not attached to the head though. For those, after dividing the hair into sections, one would wrap the hair around itself.

The method would be to open two of the separated strands for the third to be wrapped through it. Then, the next two separated strands would include the piece of hair you had just wrapped, and so on. So basically the format is over to under, bringing the hair from the separated strands at the sides. (These strands should be in each of your hands if you’re doing it right.)

Cornrows -
Cornrows are the type of braids that are attached to one’s head. A common misconception is that these are hard to do, but that’s far from true.

The only difference from braiding cornrows and box braids is that one must part the hair in rows. (Hence the name)

After the hair is parted into rows one can resume the over under technique. However, they must attach more hair to the braid each time they wrap the hair. This is to ensure that the braid remains attached to the head.

Don’t get discouraged and give up. You’re probably doing it right and just need a bit of perfection. I had to practice for weeks before I made a perfect braid, so you understand that for some people this does take practice. Braiding is fun and relaxing.

Follow these steps and you’ll be well on your way impressing your friends and family with your new found skill.

Good Luck!