Box Braids for Girls + iheartcurls Review

By: Aisha of Braid With Me

The Style

Anisa has been sporting a new protective style lately... Box Braids!!! Box braids are one of my favorite protective styles because they are so versatile. You can wear them up or down, curly or straight. You can also style them or just let them be.  With the proper care and moisture, box braids can last for a very long time! 

I curled Anisa's box braids using Curlformers after a couple of days of having them in. Although her hair didn't curl the way that I hoped it would, I was still very pleased with the results. 

iheartcurls

I recently received these beautiful headbands and the gorgeous flower from Twisted Marie of iheartcurls. Iheartcurls offers fold over elastic headbands and hair ties that are both durable and affordable! The following description is available on her Etsy page:

This listing is for two FOE headbands with a silk flower and interchangeable snaps. These two bands are interchangeable the Velcro snap makes it easy to wear the flower on either band or wear it without the velcro snap. They are comfortable and can stretch easily while still maintaining their shape. Stretchy, soft material will not leave any dents or cause any headaches. Can be used to pull back hair without snagging or pulling too tight. Can be hand washed and laid flat to air dry. The ends are heat sealed to prevent fraying.

I received the Petals Package:

 Detachable flower with velcro attachment

 Fold over elastic headband with removable velcro attachment

The Review

Twisted Marie has created a wonderful product that does exactly what it claims. Anisa never complained about the headband being too tight. Nor did she have a problem with it slipping out of place. The orchid is absolutely beautiful! It never fell off and the velcro attachments did not pull or snag on her hair. 

I would definitely recommend these products!! They are durable, affordable, and oh so cute!! If you want to learn more about iheartcurls, head on over to her Etsy shop and let her know that I sent you!! 

 

Criss Cross Cornrowed Headband & Box Braids

Guest post by Aisha of Braid With Me

Let me start by saying that I apologize for our absence. Education is very important to us and that has been our main focus. I hope that you can understand.

Now back to this style!!! For the September Hair Carnival, I was paired with the very talented onceuponacurl.blogspot.com. According to her blog, "Once Upon a Curl strives to provide affordable and Quality hair care products to children and parents of all colors. Our main goal is to reach those who otherwise have no access to products they like and need to take care of and maintain curly types of hair." In addition to offering products, she loves to style natural hair! Please visit her blog and Facebook fan page for more info on this wonderful blogger.

For this style, I decided to combine her love for freestyle cornrows and my love for protective styles such as box braids. I also decided to copy fellow blogger charlottesavenue.blogspot.com love for braided headbands. If you haven't checked out her blog, you are missing out!! She covers natural hair, parenting and everything in between!

I started with clean, detangled, moisturized hair that had been banded for a couple of days.

Next, I began adding medium box braids starting at the nape area and working my way up. I was unable to finish the style on this particular day, so I added two twisted ponytails in the front section and secured them with ouchless bands.

The following day, I began adding freestyle cornrows in the front section in preparation for the braided headband. Although it is not visible in this photo due to the bow, the two overlapping cornrows lead into three cornrows.

The Results!!!

Do you find inspiration from others? Please share your thoughts!!

Stayed tuned for the update!!

Another Cute Mini Braid Style

Our guest blogger, Aisha, sent me pictures of this cute mini braid style she did a few weeks ago before heading out on vacation. She always does the cutest mini/box braid styles! She has been using carol's daughter lite hair milk on her braids. She has also been spraying them with a water/conditioner mixture.

Mini Braid Update: Day 31

The protective styling Facebook challenge is over but A's mini braids are still going strong. They have been in for 31 days now. I took out some of the braids on top and added some cornrows on day 21/26. I have been trying to keep it as simple as possible. Moisturize with Bee Mine Lucious Moisturizer, wash when needed or after swimming and added a good holding product. In these pictures here I used the bit of Kinky Curly Curling Custard and put her braids in pigtails. There are a few braids that are quite tangled in the back and I blame this completely on her father not putting her hair up when she swam over the weekend. I was tempted to go ahead and take them down this weekend but I think they still have a lot of life so I'm going to take out and re-braid the 3 tangled sections in the back and continue with my plan of leaving them in as long as possible.

We went to the creek and splash pad yesterday, here's a few pictures.













Is everyone enjoying their Summer? How is your child's hair currently styled and how has it been holding up through all the Summer activities?

Creative Mini Braid Styles

Guest Blogger Aisha and her beautiful daughter Anisa are back at it again! Anisa has been rockin' mini braids for a couple of weeks now, check out how her mother Aisha has been styling them!

A heart:




"I made 6 cornrows on each side and secured into a ponytail using an ouchless band. I rolled her braids using satin covered rollers but since the rollers weren't in long her hair didn't curl. She only wore the rollers during the day and not over night. I still loved how it turned out."




Mohawk:


By the way, she has a grand total of 239 braids.

Cornrows & Mini Braids + Lil Man's Cornrows

I decided to switch up the top of A's mini braids after 21/26 days of being in. I didn't take out too many, about the first 2-3 rows of mini braids in the front. It still took about an hour to take them down. The take down was pretty easy, I didn't wet the braids and add conditioner as I normally would because I was on a time crunch and I prefer cornrowing dry hair. As you can see, the cornrows at the top are really basic I started in the very middle and parted at an angle the entire time. The cornrows took about 30 minutes.

I braided Lil Man's hair as well. As you can see, I just did some basic straight back cornrows. It took about 30 minutes as well.

Mini Braids & Eco Styler Gel

We're on day 20/25 of A's mini braids, I mentioned how frizzy they were in the last post so since I'm out of Kinky Curly Curling Custard (which I prefer) I decided to try Eco Styler gel on her braids to hold the frizz down. I spritzed her braids with water then added a generous amount of Eco Styler Gel to the ends of her braids. The ends of her braids have unraveled quite a bit, I mostly blame this on her swimming every day but I believe her trim is also partly to blame. I added a bit of Eco Styler Gel to the top of her braids as well since her roots are so frizzy. Her hair is still damp in these pictures but the Eco Styler did a pretty good job at making her braids look decent. I hope to take the top of her braids out soon so I can restyle. Possibly cornrows on the top instead? Stay tuned!

Mini Braids: 19/24 Day Update

A's mini braids have been in 19/24 days now. As you may know from the previous post, I did these braids over the course of week so there's no specific date. I started them on May 15th and it is now June 7th. I think they have held up pretty well considering she has been swimming every day since we set the pool up, which was shortly after her braids were in. They are quite frizzy, especially the top, but she has been having a blast in the water so who's complaining?

Before she gets in the pool, I rinse her braids with water and apply a generous amount of Bee Mine Deja's Hair Milk. I then place the braids in 1-2 buns. After she's done swimming I rinse her hair well once again and I shampoo with Kinky Curly Come Clean shampoo. I picked up some bottles of Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (old ingredients) so I have mostly been using that. After washing I usually apply Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer (makes her hair feel amazing) but I have been experimenting with a few different things. One day I tried Curly Q's Custard, another day I used Kinky Curly Curling Custard alone, defined the ends of her braids quite nicely.







I haven't been styling her hair much. There's really no need since she's just going to get it wet but I did do a super quick style today. I took the top section of her braids and placed 3 large cornrows going to the side.





A couple of random pictures above. As previously stated, her braids are quite frizzy on the top (not visible in the pictures) so I think I may take the top down and restyle later on this week.

You can view more updates on our Facebook Page. Be sure to check out all the other amazing protective styles done by our readers! :)

Mini Braids

So, I decided to do mini braids for our One Month Protective Styling Facebook Challenge. Now, I know these will last 1 month but I'm hoping for 6 weeks, possibly even 8? We shall see!

Last weekend I washed and detangled A's hair. I left Blended Cutie's Tug Me Knot conditioner in for 15-20 minutes before detangling for a little deep conditioning. After I detangled and rinsed her hair I applied Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and banded it in about 9 sections. Her hair wasn't very stretched out when I started styling it on Sunday (May 15th) but I went for it anyway. I didn't finish until Friday, May 20th. I wasn't really on a time limit, I just braided a few rows every day here and there. I think I did about 3 hours on Saturday and the other days ranges from 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I didn't even touch her hair on Thursday. We were both happy to be finished on Friday. After I finished braiding I wet her hair and added some Curly Q's Custard to her ends. I think the braids at the crown of her head are bigger than the rest because I started to get tired. I parted her hair the same exact way I did her mini twists, at an angle the entire time. There are 2 small cornrows in the front on each side across her hairline. The only products I applied to each section as I braided was unrefined shea butter and virgin coconut oil. I don't have an exact time on how long this took but if I had to guess it would be between 10-15 hours over the course of 6 days (took one day off, so 5, really). Lots of DVD's, snacks, patience and silliness were involved. We both love the results and it feels nice to know we won't have to do much to her hair for a month or two.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!





Pics from yesterday:

195 Mini Braids

I posted a picture on Facebook of A's unfinished braids and asked you all to guess how many would be there when I was done. The answer is 195. Although I feel like I braided 1000, lol. We're heading out right now so I will post more pictures and info as soon as I get back! :)