Trial and Error with DiDi’s Crochet hair

There is something about me and bus stops.

My milkshake didn’t bring my boy to the yard, Kelis! (you lied to meeee!!!!) It was at a bus stop where I met my fiance and at another bus stop where years later I met one of my closest friends (no, literally, she is my neighbor!) and biggest supporters as well.

Having a good neighbor who becomes a friend has it’s advantages. In Didi’s case: having an on-call hair braider in case of emergencies. I tell her that she takes advantage of me but truthfully, having her in close proximity has been a great way for me to satisfy my braiding urge many times. Plus she feeds me! I have probably tried more hairstyles on her than anyone else and even though she is my “tester” for several styles, when she is not playing human dolly and makes personal requests, she asks for a crochet hairstyle. Every time I try something new or challenge myself with hairstyles or experiment with brands we end up in a good laugh. Our conversation about her crochet experiences went like this:

I can’t keep track anymore, remind me which hair have we used to crochet? Thus far, Marley hair and Freetress hair. The Marley hair reggae brand, was pretty good for my first big hair production. It did not feel as hard as other brands and it was easy to  manage. I left it in for about 2 weeks, but it could have stayed a lot longer. We also tried Freetress water wave, that was super manageable which I was stuck on for a while. I like the curly look, and it didn’t get tangled. As it got older, the better it looked.  I kept that hair in for about a month.

The soft curls of Freetress hair made it easy for DiDi to love this hair.

Yes! You loved that Freetress hair. But I feel like there was more brands we tried…We also tried the Model Model Marly hair brand and by far it was the worse one for me! At first it looked fine but the hair itself was really hard, very hard to manage. That was also when you did the pre-curl method but the curls dropped the next day. That was the only time I cut my hair after you installed it. The next day I cut it shorter trying to save it but by day 3, I had to take it out because it looked like an old wig. Not cool!

Even with these perfect curls, Model Model hair was too dry and looked old quickly.

So with that said, what would be your advice to someone looking to try Marley hair? The brand of hair makes a big difference in the type of styles you want to do with Marley hair. It really is trial and error because we didn’t know! Because we used Marley hair for some twists and I really liked that style but I guess some brands are better for crochet styles and some for twist styles.

Some Marley hair is better for twists than crochet styles. These Marley twists were a winner! 

We switched things up often like with this braided Mohawk into twist style.

In spite of the horrible Model Model brand experience, what do you think overall about your crochet hair? Yea that was pretty bad…I can laugh now but it wasn’t funny then lol But oh no, I love my crochet experience. Like I tell you it’s trial and error, trial and error. Crochet is still the best way to protect my hair while transitioning from a perm. I love being team big hair don’t care.

Do you realize if we didn’t meet at the bus stop you wouldn’t have this crochet style? *cough cough* Haha! I know right! Everything happens for a reason. I didn’t know about this hair at all. I remember when we first tried it and I looked in the mirror I thought wow this is a LOT of hair. I wasn’t sure if I liked but I did want to find a style to grow out my perm. By the next morning I knew we were onto something. I’m glad I picked you up at the bus stop lol It was so random but now I get hairstyles and you get Pikliz and Griot. We both winning.

When things go south, literally: Jane’s crochet hair

My girl Jane is a style chameleon. She experiments with fashion and changes her hair often so it was no surprise when she told me she wanted to have some fun with big crochet hair.

Before she travelled down south to Florida, I installed her Marley hair thinking my girl is going to blow me up with pictures and tell me how wonderful the hair was and tag me in 150 social media pics hashtagging things like #boutthatcrochetlife #myHairisPOPPING #MsHairandHumordiditagain! #YASSSSS and I would be smiling at home like aaah like yes, yes, I know! But….that didn’t happen. You take the good you take the bad you take them both and there you have the facts of crochet life. Luckily, when you are a stylish person like her, you figure out how to make things work for you, even when things don’t….well, work for you. This is what she had to say:

The hair we used was Noir. I used colored hair and it was completely dried out. How do I know you ask? Because my sister had the same exact hair when I was in Florida as well and hers was soft. Not too soft but not dried. As far as curling it, it curled nicely, but because of Florida’s humidity the curls ended up frizzy. I used rod rollers then dipped them in boiling water for two seconds and I found that the smaller the rollers the better the curls. However, I also realized the technique you used by stretching the hair caused it to mat up quickly. :o( Overall, I got great feedback from other people saying how they loved my hair but I was only able to have it out for 2 days then I put a hat over it because it started getting on my nerves. The style was cool. It just didn’t last. Will I ever use that hair again? Yes. But only in black.  

 #Oops 

Ok ok so clearly the hashtags and pictures never came. When I thought back to my own steps to see what I did differently I couldn’t pin point where things could have went wrong. No, I didn’t curl the hair after I installed it because time was of the essence and that whole dipping in boiling water after can get dangerous. I also didn’t pre curl the hair but, she didn’t ask for that and it wasn’t the look she wanted. As far as the ends….hmmm…well I did what I have done for Guildia, Veronique and Chanda by pulling the ends to make them uneven (as with braiding hair to make them tapered) thinking it would give more length and ultimately the big hair look she wanted. However, I guess it turned out her plane ride to Florida wasn’t the only thing that went South. *doh*

Will I continue to stretch the ends, probably. Was it the humidity that changed the outcome of the curls and contribute to the dryness? Or was it the fact that the Noir hair was colored? I am not sure. What I do know is there are lessons to learn in honest feedback and even though I don’t always get it right, no matter what I am still on the road to take my #passiontoprofit.

Crochet hair in Dubai? Chanda shares her story

When Chanda hit me up to do her hair before she went on vacation in Dubai she only told me one requirement: “I just want it off my neck. Dubai is way too hot.” She played with the idea of Senegalese twists after seeing my work on another friend but I told her those thangs get heavy! I offered crochet as a style that would be quicker to install and much more light weight. She took my advice and definitely did not regret it.

After mishaps with another install I did for my friend Veronique, I tried a pre-curl method for Chanda so I would not have to worry about hot water and burning her scalp at all. (Sorry Vee. I loo oo ove you! Hold it down!) The results were by far one of my favorite installs thus far.

Chanda got used to her new look pretty quickly.

What made you change your mind about the twists and choosing to do the crochet? I was curious about crochet but, at first, I was doubtful on how it would look on me.

Pre curling was the way to go.

How was it having that hair in Dubai of all places? They loved it! Everyone wanted to touch it and thought it was mine. It was good vacation hair. That hair was giving me LIFE!

Dubai is hot…but Chanda was HOTTER!

You were very busy sightseeing and on the beach, did the hair hold up? It worked out well and the style lasted. It was low maintenance but I did re curl it with heat.

The mane attraction.

What type of hair did we use and how long did you keep it? Janet Collection Noir hair and it has been two weeks. I plan to keep it in for a month.

The best part about this hairstyle? The fact that it is low maintenance once it is set, it looks like my natural hair and I received many compliments.

Cons? None to date.

Crochet experience in a nutshell: I love it. It’s me all the way!

Transition with Crochet hair: Veronique’s story

Ever know someone with little to no patience with their hair? *raising hand* Meet my beautiful friend Veronique. She has a love hate relationship with her hair. She has permed her hair most of her life, then tried to return to natural but got frustrated, permed again and is now thinking she should in fact return to natural. I may not understand what she goes through but when she asked me what could she do to her hair while she waited for her perm to grow out, I did recommend crochet hairstyling.

I am no professional but when Veronique said she didn’t want braids and didn’t want to cut the perm out, my humble suggestion was to use crochet as a transition style so that she could avoid a big chop but still feel good about her decision to return natural. I helped her avoid going into shock and installed crochet hair for her with Freetress brand hair at first. Ultimately she “graduated to Marley hair. This was her feedback about her crochet experience.

Vee was so excited with her new growth but equally excited to put Freetress hair back in.

What type of hair have we used on you? We experimented with Freetress (various curl patterns) and now Jamaican twist marley hair.

How long do you leave in the crochet style? At least 3 weeks but no more than 4. I oush the limits with Freetress hair though. As it gets older the shine dulls out but the hair still looks good.

You used the Freetress brand very often what did you love about that hair?  I loved the curl pattern options and not having to worry about re-curling. It always looked fresh and in the morning I just got up and got out the door because all I had to do was shake and go.

Vee loved the ease of being able to shake and GO with Freetress!

I personally didn’t like installing Freetress hair because it was slippery, but was there anything you didn’t like about Freetress hair? I realize what you meant after a while because I didn’t like worrying about if the knot was going to come out and they did get loose in the back quickly.

What about maintenance? I oiled my scalp once a week with Haitian castor oil.

Your most recent install was with Jamaica Marley hair, what has been the difference for you? With Marley hair, the greatest thing about it is using hair a courser and closer to my texture got me excited for my own hair growth and mentally gearing me up to embrace my natural texture. I don’t have to worry about it slipping out. Freetress hair is pretty but not close to my natural hair texture. BUT the biggest con with Marley was dipping in hot water for a curl pattern. It wasn’t as easy or safe as some youtuber’s made it seem but luckily we discovered together that pre curling is the way to go. My scalp is very grateful! lol Also, the hair tends to look dry quickly.

Crochet experience in a nutshell: I am addicted! I love crochet. I will keep doing this for a while. Best of all, my hair is growing! i can’t wait to see my new growth and give my hair a treatment but I am definitely going to put a crochet style back in.

Veronique and I celebrating her “big hair” and her birthday. I installed Jamaica twist marley hair with a pop of color. Team Scorpio!