If you haven't noticed yet that braids have made a major comeback then I don't know where you have been!
To be honest braids have never really gone away in my opinion, they just took a back seat while everyone went crazy about weaves and Brazilian hair, lace wigs and mawhawks and all the wonderful things we women can do to our hair. What impresses me is that throughout time and fashion changes, somehow, somewhere, there has always be a girl who has had braids and not looked out of style.
Personally I have not braided my hair in over 5 years. I have constantly weaved it as my natural hair is a headache to maintain and I have been forever grateful to the person who invented weaves. (shout out...lol)
I watched with interest as the really tiny braids came back into fashion about two years ago. We call them "Masai braids" in Zambia because the native men of Kenya who are known as the Masai are the experts at doing it. About three Masai men braid your hair. YES, you heard right MEN! I hear it is a bit painful as they pull it in three different directions but they are so neat and normally this hairstyle would take two to three days but they do it in four hours. Brilliance!
I have not had the courage to do it, firstly because it is just a little bit pricey (but let me mention in the long run it's cost effective as you can keep it up to four months at the most) and secondly because my hair is very fragile and the last time I did small braids a lot of it fell out.
Anyway I have been obsessed with Solange Knowles for the longest time and I just love her unique style and especially love how she braids her hair so she was my major inspiration to try braids.
Not sure I can go that long but the size of the braids really had me thinking I could pull something like that off.
So before I show you what style I settled for I will show you a collection of some of my favourite braided looks. I am so in love with bigger box braids so this will be biased towards that. What do you think?
And finally a look at my hair! I settled for big twists, they are easy to do and look super cute but I must warn you because they are so big they come off pretty quick. This hairstyle has only lasted me two weeks so it's a bit of a luxury hairstyle, only do it if you want to look good for a short while like for a week away on holiday or for a special event. I would recommend you go for a smaller size if you want to keep the twists in your head for longer but the up side is, it's so affordable and for a week I promise you will be the absolute envy of everyone!
It feels great to have braids back in my head, plus they are so low maintenance! All you have to do is buy an oil based spray to keep your hair oiled and vibrant, no toners, and no fights with the blower in the morning and no bad hair days!
If this post inspires you to braid, let me know by sending me a link to your blog. Follow me on twitter @ghetogal, I love discovering all your fab blogs! Thank you for reading
