DIY Braiders Please HELP!!!!!

[cutiebe2]

I'm in the process of braiding my hair now and its not going well

the main problem i'm having is catching the hair. I want the braid to be tight (not too tight of course) but when I braid I have a good 1/5 inch space between the braid and my scalp......any tips for me???

also what is the best finger position. I am using Braids By Breslin method but its so much harder to do on you own hair. I want these braids to look good! uggg

TIA

 

[Nonie]

I think everyone starts off like you are doing. I practiced on dolls and my baby sister before I ever did it on myself, so by the time I got to my own head, I was a bit more adroit at braiding close to the scalp.

I think I may have tried to explain before how *I* do it, but not sure how clear or helpful my post was. It's easier to demonstrate than explain. Let me see if I can find one of my wordy attempts to break this down. (BTW, I don't know if there are many who braid like me w/o first wrapping the extension hair around their own. I simply just hold it against my own and braid the two together. I don't know if that makes it more complicated for you or easier. If harder, then ignore whatever else I post in this thread.) BRB....

 

[Nonie]

WARNING: Might be just easier for you to come to DC and let me show you. (The explanation just about put me to sleep. ) It's in the link at the bottom, but you might want to see my "tutorial" first at this link if you really want to bother yourself with learning how not to wrap the extension hair around the base of yours first:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=14031

How I do my braids to make them firm but not tight: http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=122779&page=7

 

[missnappylady]

I think everyone starts off like you are doing. I practiced on dolls and my baby sister before I ever did it on myself, so by the time I got to my own head, I was a bit more adroit at braiding close to the scalp.

I think I may have tried to explain before how *I* do it, but not sure how clear or helpful my post was. It's easier to demonstrate than explain. Let me see if I can find one of my wordy attempts to break this down. (BTW, I don't know if there are many who braid like me w/o first wrapping the extension hair around their own. I simply just hold it against my own and braid the two together. I don't know if that makes it more complicated for you or easier. If harder, then ignore whatever else I post in this thread.) BRB....

This is exactly what I do too. I don't wrap either, I don't like the way it looks and it never feels secure enough.

 

[cutiebe2]

I think this is the method im using...i dunno im confused

 

[SweetlyBlessed]

Robin W. has a clip on her site http://www.growafrohairlong.com/videoplaits.html . That's where I learned from and tooting my own horn, they are close to the scalp and secure. If I feel that it's too far from the scalp, I just slide the braid up and then continue to braid til it's done.

Be Blessed!

 

[cutiebe2]

okay I see your link, im going to read them over and hope I understand lolz

thanks

 

[love2praz]

Robin W. has a clip on her site http://www.growafrohairlong.com/videoplaits.html . That's where I learned from and tooting my own horn, they are close to the scalp and secure. If I feel that it's too far from the scalp, I just slide the braid up and then continue to braid til it's done.

Be Blessed!

That is how I learned to do mine as well. I can't say this enough--practice makes perfect!

 

[cutiebe2]

now the braids are tighter. I starting holding the hair with my middle and thumb finger istead of my index and thumb finger and it helped.


now my next problem. The braids to not look smooth and even. Then are twisting all over the place Since its the back of my head to can braid down for a while then I need to switch the position to braiding down and over my neck...does this make sense????

how do you get a braid that doesn't look like it has knots in the middle?

 

[cutiebe2]

That is how I learned to do mine as well. I can't say this enough--practice makes perfect!

I think this is the video I saw last year. Its good but I like the more complicated way better. I copied the African braiders at the store I used to go to and their method is the same Beslin teaches.

I get more slippage with Robin method

 

[LongHairDreams]

try this by lyndaespratley
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Nuz1fEJkWQ&feature=related (regular braiding)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvqhnDCAtU8&feature=related (kinky braids)

 

[SweetlyBlessed]

Fine then! Go be complicated! Sike naw, the only time my braids every get twisted is because I was doing them too tight. Relax your fingers and don't apply so much tension maybe...

:: shrugs ::

 

[clever]

try this by lyndaespratley
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Nuz1fEJkWQ&feature=related (regular braiding)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvqhnDCAtU8&feature=related (kinky braids)

I watched both of these but I STILL can't keep the hair from sliding down as I braid

 

[LongHairDreams]

I watched both of these but I STILL can't keep the hair from sliding down as I braid

Hmmmm...Do you have a lot of product in your hair?

 

[clever]

Hmmmm...Do you have a lot of product in your hair?

Nope- it was freshly washed with leave in.Maybe I should blow dry it first my natural hair is kind of slippery anyway.Or maybe I can add some product to make it stay put?

I managed to do a few on my manikin head but not on mine

 

[Nonie]

Nope- it was freshly washed with leave in.Maybe I should blow dry it first my natural hair is kind of slippery anyway.Or maybe I can add some product to make it stay put?

I managed to do a few on my manikin head but not on mine

The straighter your hair is, the harder it is to keep the hair from sliding, so if you blow-dry, you'll just make the feat tougher.

I think you're all being so hard on yourselves. The knack of doing this didn't come to us overnight. We failed a few times and then as someone said, practice made perfect.

The other reason I don't encourage anyone to get their hair straight before braiding is if you have natural hair, when you do wash your hair, the shrunken hair will make the braid look so frizzy. So better to braid the hair in the state it's usually "at rest" in. Then there won't be too huge a change when you wash.