Kayla’s hair is kind of a weird length. It’s about 4 inches when it’s completely stretched out. I’m not very good at styling 4 inch long hair. I can’t really braid it yet. She has so much new growth that the braids only look good for about 1/2 a day, so it really isn’t worth the work. Her hair is too long for puffs. I finally have figured out products to put in her hair to make it look fantastic unstyled, but that only lasts from bath to first nap and/or bedtime. She doesn’t look good with fro anymore, either, it’s just too long. Too long for some styles, too short for others and I have no clue how to do anything in between. So….I decided to try yarn braids. About 4 weeks ago, I put in Kayla’s first batch. For my first try, I think they turned out pretty cute. She LOVED them. Every morning when I took off her sleep cap her first words were, “Pretty hair, mama, pretty hair.” (Yes, she says more than 1 word at a time now!!!). It was super easy to maintain and looked cute even after 3 weeks. I took them out and put new ones in just because I was bored. She got tons of compliments (so did I on a job well done) and after my initial hand pain went away, it was the three easiest weeks of hair styling we’ve ever had. Her first batch had 2/3 brown yarn and 1/3 deep purple. The second batch had teal instead of purple. I don’t think she can have this style all the time because I’ll get bored with it, but we’ll definitely come back to it while we wait for her hair to hit about 6 inches in length.
She also got a new tutu and had some fun wearing it around the house for a day along with her pretty hair.
For those wondering HOW to do yarn braids, I just googled some videos. Here is one of the sites I checked out. http://www.afroniquelyyou.com/2011/09/protective-styling-yarn-braids/
I took Kayla to the store to find the right yarn color(s) for her hair. Her hair is more brown than black, so we went with the darkest brown I could find.
I cut all the yarn, put the three strands together for all the braids, washed and heavily conditioned her hair and then got to work. I put all of her hair in with one strand of brown yarn, but I think I would do it different next time and divide her hair into two clumps and put one with each of the brown pieces. Too many of the braids in her second batch slipped far from the scalp too quickly and I think dividing up her hair would help.
I started with the top–where people can see the parts more–and finished with the bottom and back. I used lots of clips to hold back the hair I wasn’t using and did one side at a time and then tried to mirror the parts on the other side. I did smaller parts on the top and sides than I did in the back to save myself some time. Half before nap, half after. My hands really did hurt, BAD, the first time I did these. Stop to stretch out your fingers.
I tied off the ends, cut closely to the knot and then burned the end just a bit with a lighter and rolled it in my finger. In three weeks, only one had to be retied and burned.
I kept the first batch pretty short. The second batch was more shoulder length and could be braided into a larger braid during mealtime to keep the braids out of the food. I like both lengths!
I couldn’t find any good information on upkeep, just warnings that I should know what upkeep would involve before I put them in. Well, I decided I’d just figure it out on my own and it was super easy for us. I would wet them twice a week during regular bath/shower time and then once a week I would wash them (takes LOTS of shampoo) and condition them–especially the roots.
Once the hair starts to grow out a bit, the beauty of these is that you can just pull them back in a headband and no one will notice. I also pinned back one side with a flower clip and put a hat on her a couple of times. Most people thought it was her real hair until I pointed out that it was yarn and that her hair was only about 1/2 that long.
To get them out, I cut off the part that had no real hair in it and then unbraided the rest. It didn’t take that long. Maybe 5 hours to put them all in and 30 minutes to get them all out. 5 hours seems like a long time, but when you consider that you don’t have to worry about hair for another 3-4 weeks after that, it’s worth it!
If you want to try them and have any questions, just ask. I’m no expert, but I’m happy to share my experience with any mama wanting to try these.
And, in case you’re wondering how I deal with makeup if I can’t handle hair…I don’t. I’ve never worn it and don’t have any plans to start.
