Your Next Braided Hairstyle

Braided hairstyles go back a  long way with African-American individuals. It has been going on for centuries. It’s not only good-looking but helps hair prosper in many ways. It includes added weave braided into your natural hair. At times some may braid their natural hair without any added extension. With the length of the added hair, you can go as long or as short as you’d like. To make it more fun you’re able to add color weaves, curls, beads, and more. These hairstyles allow you to keep your hair unbothered for a nice amount of time without having to retouch or do your hair every morning. It’s easy maintenance with great benefits. It provides hair growth and protects it from damage that may be caused by it being left out or not being protected in some way. It retains hair growth and stops the hair from breaking. Nowadays, we tend to find specific hairstyles that can satisfy our needs. Prices tend to be a bit higher depending on the style you get, as well as the braider themselves prices range from 100 to 200 dollars. Sometimes even higher. Many have begun learning to braid their hair themselves to save money. Time is also a big key to it. Many hours it takes to part through a whole head and braid individually, and the smaller the braids are the longer it takes. Small, medium, and large are the most common sizes; you can even do a mixture between those, such as a ‘smedium’. There are plenty of different styles and creativity for these protective braids. Many students here get braided styles, so here are their inputs. 

Goddess Braids: Sophomore Keyaisa Moore explained that her favorite protective style was goddess braids. She enjoys the extra curls that are left out of the hair, although she stated “The curls sometimes are hard to take care of, they easily get frizzy and tangled.” Goddess braids come in the size you’d like. They’re very similar to box braids, but goddess braids are usually longer and thicker with curled extensions added throughout the hair. I loved the look of the Goddess when I had them. They were a cute style I enjoyed. The downside was the left-out curls tended to fall out. 

Knotless Braids: Knotless braids have now been in trend. They include braids without knots, meaning the braid is started with no added extensions to give it a more natural look. Then you go farther along in the braid with an extension rather than beginning with it. It’s a more comfortable feel on the head and lasts longer than knotted braids. Junior Ashley Irungu exclaimed, “Medium knotless braids because they are cute, neat, and don’t cause a lot of tension on my hair.” Knotless braids give a neater look with the sleek start of the hair. The perk of it being knotless is that it won’t tug on the hair as much. Knotless is my go-to, they last me about a month and a half and they always last well. My favorite part is adding curls to the end and being able to do many styles. 

Faux Locs: Locs include a parted hairstyle with your hair first being twisted or braided and then proceeding to wrap additional hair around the twist. This hairstyle is longer lasting, while it lasts two to three months. Senior Valerie Jepkosgei stated, “Faux locs are my go-to, they’re long-lasting and you can easily style them.” I have not personally gotten faux loc, but I’ve heard that the process of taking them out is a pain. Here are tips. Create a mixture of conditioner and water in a spray bottle. Snip the end of the loc you’re removing. Gently unwrap the hair from around your hair. Spritz your hair with your mixture to soften your hair and prevent tangles.