I have always loved the look of Senegalese Twists and braid extension styles, the problem is they take so long to install (up to 8 hours) and are just as annoying to remove. Doing Crochet Senegalese Twists achieves the same look in 3 hours or less making them a less tedious process. So instead of spending my whole day doing my hair or having someone else do it, I can have way more time on my hands. Also for some reason when synthetic hair is directly braided onto my hair it makes my scalp itch incessantly! Maybe because I am allergic to the akaline on the hair and my scalp doesn’t like it, who knows? Check out the quick and easy process below!
Read On!>>>
A look at what the installation process is like
Here are some tips I would like to share after doing my latest crochet Senegalese Twist install:
#1 You can braid your hair in its natural state or when it is blown out
I have found that if I don’t blow out my hair and I simply braid on damp hair the coarseness of my hair holds my braids together with more ease if that makes any sense! Whereas if my hair is blown out I definitely have to braid the ends more tightly than if it weren’t blown out and my kinks were holding everything together. However, for obvious reasons blown out hair is more easier to part and create more elaborate styles. If you decide you don’t want to blow your hair out, work on damp hair it is way easier to get through. Both ways have their pros and cons, either one you choose is fine.
#2 Moisturize your hair well before braiding your hair up
Since you will not have direct access to your hair for at least a month or more, make sure you throughly moisturize your hair. I used Shea Moisture’s Jamaican Black Castor Oil Renewal Lotion
and some Jamaican Black Castor Oil
to lock moisture into my hair, making sure to give my ends some extra love.
#3 You don’t have to do some elaborate braiding pattern
I usually do straight back cornrows for my crochet braids and the styles look just as great. This time around I did a different braiding pattern.
I did conrows going toward the left side of my head in the back and straight back cornrows in the front. I honestly didn’t get my hair as flat as I wanted using this pattern. Which means that I should have braided the ends even tighter or sewed the loose ends up. I actually hate sewing up my hair, because it increases the odds I might cut off my real hair accidentally, I am admittedly impatient at times! So for now on I am relying on the good old straight back 10 cornrows and tucking my hair away by tightly braiding all the ends together. It seriously does work just as fine!
For a more natural look you can always do the invisible roots method in the front.
#4 Pre-twisted braiding hair makes the process so much faster
When you use pre-twisted braiding hair all you have to do is use the latch hook tool
to insert the braid underneath your cornrow, knot the braid and proceed. Whereas if you twist the hair yourself you are looking at much lengthier process.
#5 The thinner the twists the more packs you will need, the thicker the twists the less you will need
8 is a good safe range for the amount of packs of hair you will need. If your twists are thicker like mine were you may only need 6 if they are on the thinner side you will use all 8. I went for 8 because I would rather have extra than have to stop in the middle of doing my hair to get more packs.
#6 Space your hair out properly
In the front you will want to space things closer together to hide your conrows, but avoid over doing it in the back. You don’t want your hair to be overly full so you can space things out a little further apart for the sections in the back of your head.
