Your Hair Color

Hair color is a very important consideration in choosing weave in hair. Often times, we don’t REALLY know what our hair color is. That is, when we are outside, our hair color may look much lighter than it is when we are indoors, or at night, or after we have just washed our hair.

Additionally, new growth can cause us some problems when choosing a good match to our weave in hair, particularly if our hair is colored/processed. It is for this reason that I generally recommend cutting a small patch of your own hair to take with you to the beauty supply store. This way, you will not need to hold the weaving hair next to your own and look in the mirror in an attempt to determine the best match. That is a very faulty way to try to make a good match to your own hair.

Using the patch method I spoke of earlier, you can make a more objective comparison between your hair and the weave in hair. If while you are at the beauty supply store, you get to weave in hair sample that are very close to one another, and you are torn between which one to buy, you might ask if you may take both of them out into the sunlight to make a better comparison. I, personally, prefer purchasing both packs of hair if they are a very close match.

Choosing Your Weaving Hair

When doing a weaving hair, it is important to purchase weaving hair that is as close to your own grade of hair as possible. “Grade of hair” simply means your hair type. This means, is your hair thick, thin, kinky, straight, curly, etc. That is, you must ask yourself, “what is my hair like after I have washed and blow dried it?”. Your “grade of hair” will be determined by that answer. If after you have washed and air dried your hair, when you touch your hair and it is straight? If so, then the grade of your hair is considered to be “straight”. If after you have washed and air dried your hair, your hair feels curly, then your grade of hair is “curly”. If after you have washed and air dried your hair, your hair is kinky, then the grade of your hair is considered to be “kinky”.

Knowing this information is very important when it comes to picking weave in hair that is a good match of you.

Practicing Your Cornrow

If you are cornrowing your hair yourself, and you are a beginner, you will want to practice on a doll’s hair first. Practice dolls can be found in any toy store. Or, if you would like a professional practice doll, you can go to a beauty supply store and ask for a “practice head”. You may use the search function under this article to locate a beauty supply store near you by entering “beauty supplies and (enter your city here)”. Once you have found a beauty supply store that is close to you, visit it with a swatch of the type of hair that you will be cornrowing. If the hair that you will be cornrowing is kinky then the practice doll’s hair will need to be kinky

Weave Instructions

The foundation: determining the size of the braid.

The size of the cornrows depends on the style. I always recommend that the size of the cornrow is less than half an inch in width. Also it is very important to make the cornrow as flat as possible. Do you know why? Hair weaving, like most art work, only looks as good as its foundation. For a hair weave to look realistic and smooth, it is important to make the cornrow as flat and as close to the scalp as possible.

The Difference Between Cornrowing Hair and Braiding

When we see a delightfully intricate hair design, we are often fascinated. Most likely the design has taken hours to complete. But, as an onlooker, it is difficult for us to determine where the design begins and ends. To us, it often simply looks like a very beautifully crafted work of art. As a stylist, one of the questions that I get the most is, “What is the difference between cornrowing hair and braiding hair?”

Do you know the difference between cornrowing and braiding? If not, don’t sweat it. Because most people do not know the difference between cornrowing hair and braiding hair.

Basically, the difference is a slight one in that cornrowing IS braiding (often called plaiting), but a braid is not always a cornrow. Lol. Don’t worry if I have confused you, let me clear this up…cornrowing is braiding the hair close to the scalp in a continuous design…like a row of corn. Get it?!

When someone says, “I’m going to get individual braids”, generally the hair is sectioned into less than 1 inch sections and braided away from the scalp. So the braider would section the hair starting at the scalp, then continue the braid away from the head.

Long & Strong Hair

Having long and strong hair is an achievable goal.

There are many different regimes and processes that you can undertake in order to achieve this goal. But, one regime is most important...loving the hair that God gave you. Whether you have a partial hair weave, hair extensions or a lacefront wig, one must take care of one's own hair, also. Be careful not to damage your hair. Let it breathe sometimes. Get frequent hair shampoos and massages. Better yet! Massage your own scalp while sitting in traffic or watching TV.

Perhaps most importantly to having long & strong hair is eating right and exercising. Besides feeling good, exercising helps increase the blood circulation to the scalp.

Don't forget to condition your hair! We always lotion our skin after a shower, right? Well, why would we forget to "lotion" our scalps after washing our hair? We shouldn't. Conditioning your hair is a great way to prepare for a weave.

And, it make your hair feel oh so good!

Children and Hair Weaves and Chemical Processes

As stylist, I am often asked the question, “What is the appropriate age to begin relaxing my daughter’s hair?” My answer is always the same, “It depends on the child and her hair.” Unfortunately, I have known children who have gotten chemical relaxers as young as two years of age. As a stylist, I would never recommend such a thing. A child’s skin is very delicate. Moreover the head is a very sensitive region. The younger a child is, the more likely her “head cap” is still open. One must be very careful not to injure a child.

In determining which relaxer to use, the stylist must always perform a skin test on the subject. A skin test will determine if the subject is sensitive or allergic to the chemical. A skin test is performed by taking a very small amount of the chemical, less than a smidgen, and rubbing it on the inside of the forearm and leaving it there for 24 hours. If any redness at all occurs that you must not use the product on the subject.

There are some relaxers that are especially for new growth only. Luster PCJ Smooth Roots relaxer is one such product. It is the only children’s relaxer kit that is especially designed to touch up new growth. When her growth gets about ½ inches to ¾ inches long, it’s time she gets a touch-up. A touch-up, when done at the right time can reduce hair breakage. The Smooth Roots product straightens and conditions new growth with a triple-action conditioner and it works no matter what relaxer you have used in the past.