Style Notes

This is my girl's hair style this weekend.

And because I love to show her off, here's a photo where you can see her face too.

This style was inspired by a recent post by Katie at Keep Me Curly. It's only the second time I've tried a full-head cornrow style. Here's a photo of the first one I did, about three months ago.

So, some notes for myself...it took multiple sessions over two days to complete this. The first day was an evening wash and detangle in the tub, followed by trying to part and section her hair. I am always surprised by how long it takes to part my girl's hair. The girl does not keep her head still for a moment! She slept with her hair sectioned in puffs and bantu knots and went to 'school' like that the next day.

When I got home from work I was all set to plunk the girl in her high chair with some PlayDoh in front of the TV for our first cornrowing session. But first, I got out the hair stuff and let her have a turn with mom and dad's hair. She LOVED it. Her favorite was the spray bottle. This is one of the things she often protests, too, so I'm glad she got a chance to exact revenge on us with it. :) It was obviously very satisfying for her!

Because she'd had the puffs and bantu knots for 24 hours, her hair was no longer nicely detangled. But there really was no time to go through all that again, so we didn't. It made a big difference in how the braids turned out. They were bulky and a little messy. After braiding two cornrows we had to take a break! I guess I am just super slow and that plus tangled unstretched hair made for a more difficult time than I had anticipated.

When we started the next session just after dinner I decided to do the remaining four sections in flat twists instead. There are pros and cons to flat twists vs cornrows. They look just as pretty (IMO), are easier and quicker to put in, and because I am only handling two 'strands' of hair instead of three, I can tolerate her moving her head around a bit more. However, flat twists are definitely not as durable. She has now had them in for almost two days, but I've had to take them out and retwist them multiple times. They usually look great for about 10 minutes until she rubs her head on something. Here's a shot from the next morning. I've touched up the twists, but not the two cornrows in the center. You can really tell.

In the end we've got a cute style that took a lot of time to put in, that requires at least daily major touch ups. So I think I will continue to do these types of styles just every once in a while, as the mood strikes and when the time is right. And perhaps flat twists instead of cornrows are a smart choice while my girl is still so little, squirmy and (understandably) impatient.

Ciao!

Jenny