CHANILA: Crochet and Florals

Now I get to share with you guys my latest discovery. Well to some it's not that a big deal but for me it is! I am on a quest to know how to plait,braid, weave in and everything that pertains to hair. I happened to see AfroSiri Salon (Wahu's salon) advertising on their page about doing crochet braids and I was curious cos I had never heard of them.Thank God for Youtube though! There are a myriad tutorials to choose from. That's where I came to know of Bantu Knots twistouts. I have since done better Bantu Knots twistouts.Here's a sample.

I remember when I did these and posted the pic people were asking which weave I was wearing.

According to Twana of www.crochetbraidsbytwana.com, they are a natural styling technique in which hair extensions are added to the client's cornrow base. The client's hair is first cornrowed, then a latch hook is used to add the hair extensions. There are no chemicals, no thread, no bonding glue whatsoever. It is a safe, natural way to add dimension and body for style. The crochet braids are removed by simply unbraiding the client's natural cornrows. The braids can last from 6 to 8 weeks. You can visit her website to see her own and her clients' crochet braids. Awesome work I tell you.

I only had to watch like one or two videos to know what to do.So I went on a quest to find the tool to do this. They call it a latch hook.

According to Wikipedia, the latch hook tool traces its origin to the invention of the latch needle. Invented in 1847, the latch needle was part of a knitting machine that wrapped yarn around the latch and pushed through a canvas before pulling it through and knotting the yarn to the canvas. In the 1920s, the tool was created by combining the hand hook with the latch.

I found this tool at Atul's shop on Biashara Street. You can also find it at Freeman's just a few steps from Atul's. With the tool sorted I went to Bestlady Cosmetics and bought two packets of Darling Romance braid. I wanted a curly headful and since I wasn't sure if one of the packs was enough I decided to buy two. You can put either straight or curly depending on the style you want to achieve. I went for this particular braid since I had always wanted to put it but my hair had always been too long for it to achieve the style. After that I headed to a salon and washed and cornrowed my hair (I was too tired to do it myself) and then went home to start the process. At first it was difficult because I didn't know that you had to close the latch so my hair would get tangled before tying the braid but I soon got the hang of it. I finished doing my hair at 3am and had left the salon at 4pm. Well I also had to cook in between but still it took me some time to finish. They say that it usually takes 2-3hrs if someone else is doing it for you and if you are doing it 3-4hrs. Needless to say I was exhausted when I went to bed but I am glad with the outcome. Here's my general observation of the crochet/latch method.

PROS
Very easy to install
Hair can breath and also easy application of hair oil
Cheap and accessible tool
No stressing of hair or closing the ‘part’ (I hate the visible weave weft)
Can be done on all types of hair
Can be done with kinky, straight or kinky hair extensions (read here even weaves! You just cut the weft)
I can hold the hair in a pony tail or different styles unlike the sewn weave which shows the weft

CONS
Closing the ends was a problem (I guess I have not mastered the technique well but I will)

I will do a more comprehensive observation list once I have removed them in terms of how long I will take to remove them and also how to remove them. I read it is easy to do so.

Since I didn't close the ends well and my scalp being the itchy type I do not think they will last 6-8 weeks. My next projects will be Patra braids and many more crochet braids but with different types of extensions. I will keep you posted with photos and links to videos you can use. So here are the pics of my outfit today plus the hair. Let me know what you think!

The top can fit! I bought this cute floral top but it was small for me but girl had ambition! Haha.

I bought the above gold court shoes in Kweza shoe store along Moi Avenue for Kshs:499. Such a bargain! They had a clearance sale I guess.

Remember the Gold earrings I had? Well one of them got lost in town and instead of throwing the other way I decided to turn it into a pendant. How cool is it! I love DIYs.