anyone know how to do crochet (interlock) braids

[Guest]

Hello to all,
I am a new member to this site and I look forward to sharing information with you all. I wanted to ask is there anyone here who knows how to do crochet braids or knows of a website link that shows you how to do this. I want to try to put them in myself. <font color="brown"> </font color>

 

[MSCHICHI]

I haven't had these in or done them in a while, but it is relatively easy, although a bit tedious. It can also be damaging if you aren't careful, as you have to push the hair through your braids (cornrows).

Cornrow your hair, or have it cornrowed for you. I developed a pattern that worked really well for me and my friends and cuts down on bulkiness, but I can't cornrow well, so I had to explain it to a braider and have them cornrow my hair, and then I would put the braids in myself.

I had my hair cornrowed into 20-22 cornrows(depending on the size of your head) going back. When those cornrows were braided back as far as the crown (maybe 3-4 inches back?) I had my braider merge every 2 braids into one. So you start off with 20-22 cornrows, then they are merged into 10-11 cornrows. This is done to have more fullness in the front and cut down on the bulkiness in the back, and to keep your parts from showing.

As far as putting in the hair, you can use 3 different tools. Early on, my friends and I used a bobby pin to push the hair through the braid. We would put the hair in the pin and put it through, round in first. This was very time-consuming(it took a few times to get it through), painful(you keep poking your scalp), and probably caused some breakage. Then I moved up to a crochet needle and looped it through. This was still painful, and it still often took a couple tries to get it through. Then they started coming out with a latch-hook tool, which is the easiest. You push a lever and clip the hair in the loop, which holds it tightly in place. You push the tool through the braid, and unhook the hair. You should be able to get a latch-hook tool at any Black hair shop, or on the internet.

Don't put the strands too close together or too far apart. If you have it braided in the way I described though, it is hard to make it bulky anyway.

In any event, once you get the hair through, make sure it is doubled up. The braid strand should be pushed through the braid as a loop. Take the loose ends from the other side, and put them through the loop. Then take those ends and tie them one time.

There is one last thing to know. Being that your hair is cornrowed down to the ends, you have to do something with those single braids. This is also a great technique for dealing with those ends when you have cornrow and sew braids. I deal with them first. This is kind of hard to explain so bear with me. In between your cornrows, there will be a little gap, or space. Take the end of each braid and pull it up and put it in the gap on the side. Secure it in the gap by taking the strands of braids and looping it around both the cornrow, and the loose end on the side of it together. Do this all the way down. To fill out the bottom, I even put a strand or so in the loop at the bottom of the braid that is formed when you have to pull the loose end up. If this is confusing, just ask me and I will try to explain further.

HTH /images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Growingitlong]

for those interested in this.

 

[gn1g]

MSCHICHI you did a good job at explaining.

I love crochet braids. The only thing I do differently is braid my hair diagnolia so that I have a somewhat of a point at the front of my head the hair will fall and cover all the other braids. so it looks like /// \\\
and then I make s's in the back. you can't tell it is crochet at all.