Hair Braiding
Hair Weaving



Hair Braiding:
Africans wore braids to indicate their tribes. Braiding has become popular and has demanded respect over the years. In the 1960s, African American women began to wear various hairstyles. These women experimented with Afro puffs, cornrow plaits, and the Jherri curl style. Braid styles often indicated whether a woman was married, single, divorced, or widowed. Women of diverse backgrounds, careers, and age ranges wear braids. Braids are natural and are performed on natural virgin hair or chemically treated hair. If you are allowing chemicals (color, relaxer, or soft curl) to grow out, you can wear braids. You can also wear braids while allowing haircuts to grow out.

When you choose braided styles, you must consult with the braiding professional. The professional should do a hair and scalp analysis on you. You must also realize that certain braid styles can take from 1 to 24 hours. The time depends largely on the style and the size of the braids. Mini-micro braids and micro braids are tiny and can take the longest time to complete. Several braid salons have decided to use more than one braid professionals per client to expedite the process.

While receiving the braid service, you should never be in pain. If you are in pain, you should let the braid professional know immediately. Pain experienced after braiding can be alleviated by misting the scalp with water or applying a warm, light oil to the scalp. These substances loosen braids that are too tight. If the pain persists, you should remove the braids. Braids that are too tight damage the hair shaft and hair follicles.

If braids are worn for long periods, you must shampoo as often as possible, perfectly weekly or bi-weekly, or cleanse the scalp by placing the appropriate astringent on a cotton ball and applying the cotton ball to the scalp. If home maintenance is a problem for you, you should return to the braid professional or to the braid salon and have the appropriate staff cleanse the hair and scalp. Professionals know how to serve you without disrupting you style.

Popular braid styles are as following:

• Box braids - These individual braids have square-based partings on the scalp area.
• Conrows - These braids lie flat on the scalp. They can be long or short and can be inverted or extroverted.
• Fishtails - These braids are extended long and their ends are braided in a fishtail pattern.
• Goddess braids - These large braids are worn in avant garde styles.
• Mini-micro braids - These braids are almost invisible. They are so small that they are rarely seen from a distance. They are usually done with human hair to make natural hair look styled in different styles without the "braided look".
• Micro-braids - These small braids, usually done with human hair, offer versatility in styling. The hair can be straight, wet-n-wavy, roller set, or any other style you desire.
• Block braids - These braids are braided in a bricklayer pattern throughout the head. They can be styled in various styles. They are usually braided all the way to the end of the hair. They are either burned on the ends or dipped in extremely hot water.

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Hair Weaving:
Weaving is a technique of attaching commercial hair to a natural hair to give a look of healthiness and fullness. Hair weaving is also used to cover bald spots or thin spots throughout a head. Weaving is discussed openly in African-American community. You don't necessarily suffer from baldness, bad hair, or some sort of hair loss.

Weaving has become very popular. In fact, hair weaving is one of the main services rendered in salons today, and the service has proven lucrative. Weave services can be costly, because some take a long time to complete. Because of the time factor, several salons only serve their clients who desire weaves.

When trying a weave for the first time, you must research the advantages and disadvantages of hair weaving. You should explore all the techniques of weaving to decide which are most suitable. Hair weaving has become the second choice after wigs to be a good thing when it comes to hair. Someone receives hair weaves for such special occasions as poems, weddings, formals, and plays. In the fashion world, models wear hair weaves to achieve identical hairstyles on the runways.

Hair weaving may be exciting, because with it you could have any look. Below are some popular weaving techniques:

• Hair bonding
• Fusion
• Sewing
• Infusion
• Quick weave
• Notch weaving (interlocking)
• Netting (also referred to as a form of interlocking)
• Rubber-band Technique
• Invisible tracks

These techniques may be referred to by other names in different geographical areas. The procedures themselves may vary based on location or current trends.







Excerpted from "The World of Wigs, Weaves, & Extensions" written by Toni Love