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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Small Braids and Many Beads

Not long ago, we had an Unhappy Hair Day. JJ had worn her hair in small box braids for a few weeks, and the lengthy take-down time made us both grumpy. I swore I'd never do small braids again.

But - a couple of months have gone by, and I wanted to take the time to give JJ a style that would hold for a couple of weeks. Braids tend to last longer than twists for JJ, and I found a couple of ways to cut down on the total number of braids for easier take-down of the style. First of all, I made the braids a little bigger than last time. Secondly, instead of putting box braids over her whole head, I added some cornrows on one side. In total, there were 53 small braids, which seems like a much more manageable number.

JJ and I were browsing facebook photos and saw a picture of the beautiful Baby O from Intermittent Babbling - she had braids with lovely pink and purple beads and we totally copied the colour scheme. Our end result:

 

I am **hoping** that neither one of us has a temper tantrum when these braids come out. Besides the fact that there are fewer braids,  I recently picked up a comb that promised to cut braid take-down time in HALF. 


That is a big promise, and I am a skeptic, but the comb was only $1.99 so I took a risk. I'll let you know.....!

**DETAILS ABOUT ADDING THE BEADS***

Often I add snaps at the ends of JJ's braids to secure beads. But I find that snaps and daycare do not mix well. There's always a little pile of snaps and beads waiting for me at the end of the day when I pick her up. I've decided snaps are for weekends only. This time around I used the tried and true method of wrapping hair around the bottom bead and securing with an elastic.

See how the black bead has a slightly larger diameter hole than the purple bead? I used this to my advantage to camouflage the elastics I used to secure the beads.


I used 3-4 beads per braid, making sure to use a smaller purple (or pink) bead at the bottom, and a black bead next in line.


After stringing the beads onto the braid, I wrapped JJ's hair around the bottom bead, and secured with a matching pink or purple elastic (pre-soaked in coconut oil). I then pulled the wider black bead over top of the elastic. The elastic is just barely visible, and it looks relatively neat.


I am happy with way the beads look, and NOT A SINGLE ONE has fallen out in 4 very active days at kindergarten, daycare, home, and  sleep. JJ has been wearing a satin scarf at night:

JJ just started Kindergarten and loves to "read" while swinging her braids around!

11 comments:

  1. Great post, that's good to know because I really wanted to try snaps but if the come off I won't bother. Do you ever wrap the snaps on with a rubber band? And I love the pink/purple color scheme!

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  2. Very pretty style!! Love how you go into detail as well!!

    She's such a pretty baby girl!! :)

    Char~

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  3. Thanks ladies!!

    I should clarify - I actually really love to use snaps. But I think the issue is that JJ can take them out herself, and does so when she's at daycare- just for something to do. Maybe wrapping them up with elastics would work - never thought of it to be honest! Of course, I should probably get myself some Sidewinders right??

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  4. JJ is so cute swinging her beads back and forth. Love the colors of the beads and how you explained the use of bead instead of snaps.

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  5. Oh, this style is so cute! Love the beads...she is adorable :)

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  6. Aww JJ is so cute! I love the styles! And i feel ur pain....braid take down is not fun at all! My girls are actually wearing beads this week but tomorrow is the last day of beads I don't wanna damage their ends

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  7. Thanks everyone!! @ Tracey - JJ's beads are coming out tomorrow too - she'll miss their clickity-clacking but I wanna keep those ends as healthy as possible too!

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  8. This is so cute! I had the same issues with Baby O and snaps-I'd go to pick her up from daycare and there would be a pile of snaps for me to take home! Then I started worrying about the choking hazard of the younger kids, so we stopped using them during the week. I really like how you explained how to use a larger barreled pony bead for hiding rubber bands. Great post!

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  9. Beautiful style. I have been meaning to try the snaps also. The Princess loves beads but her hair is very thin and breaks easily, so I dont like banding the ends. I am going to lok for those wide holed beads tomorrow. :)

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