Beads, Braids and Beyond: natural hair styles

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Natural Flower Girl Updo with Cornrows and Twists

Another updo! I know you're probably sick of them at this point but we have been loving them! Miss A thinks she's Princess Tiana! (hmm, possible Halloween costume?) I know how hard it is to find natural flower girl hair styles or special occasion hairstyles done on curly hair so I'm going to try my best to showcase styles fit for the occasion.

Let's begin with instructions, shall we?

Miss A's hair was already moisturized and stretched from her previous bantu knot-out. I parted a half moon shape on the top middle section of her hair and tied it off. I started by parting a curved section near her left ear for the first cornrow. I added a little Bee Mine Curly Butter to the section and braided. If you don't know how to cornrow you can do a simple two strand flat twist or check out our Cornrowing for Beginners post. I used a rubberband to secure the cornrow once I got to the end and left the remaining hair out. I only wrapped the rubberband about 3 times, just enough to secure the cornrow but not tight enough to cause breakage.

I continued beginning my parts at the nape of her neck, slightly curving each part and cornrowing until I reached the other side.

I banded all of the loose hair into three separate banded sections and had her sleep with a sleeping cap overnight. Not sure what banding is? No problem, check out our Banding F.A.Q. post.

The next morning I removed the banded and created three large two strand twists with the top section of loose hair. I played with the twists for a few minutes to see how I wanted the updo to look. I wrapped the left twist around to the right side and secured with a bobby pin then I wrapped the right twist to the left side and secured. I decided to do a twisted cinnabun with the last twist. As you can see I made it sit on her forehead a bit. A little bit of an old school feel.

To bring the entire flower girl look together I had her put on an old dress and placed a single flower clip bought from Claire's on the side of her updo. See below for more pictures!

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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Braided & Protected - Protective Hair Style on Child's Natural Hair

By Aisha of Braid with Me

We're back with a new protective style! Before I started Anisa's hair, I knew that I wanted her to have a nice, protective up do. The one thing that I didn't know was how I wanted it to look.

This style was done over the course of two nights. Due to our hectic schedules, I am only able to devote time to hair at night. As a result, Anisa tends to get sleepy during the styling process and I'm not able to finish.

During the first night, I braided sections 1 and 2. I also added the small cornrow in the front that hangs down. The remainder of her hair was placed in a simple bun for school. I used Oyin Handmade Hair Dew and Sugar Berries Pomade while braiding her hair. I will continue to use these products to moisturize her hair while she has this style. I will also use Oyin Handmade Juices and Berries for added moisture.

The next night, I continued to braid the rest of her hair. Sections 3 and 4 were braided as if I was making two off centered mohawks. The remaining hair in each section was gathered into two large cornrows going in opposite directions.