JJ Whips "Her" Hair

We are about to embark on some traveling, and I have been literally dreaming about a certain "holiday hair" style I wanted to try out. 

The inspiration is 100% from this rockin' style at Chocolate Hair / Vanilla Care . When I first saw this I literally gasped in awe, and the style has been on my to-do list since then.

I've never done yarn extensions, so I thought they might be cool to try. Plus, I absolutely love the versatility of this style that can be worn up, down, and anywhere in between. Finally, it is crazy hot and humid in Toronto, and even the "down" hair didn't look too uncomfortable because of the cornrows going up and the back of the head.

SO - I started out by washing Friday night, banding all day Saturday, and parting Saturday night. I parted out four vertical parts for cornrows at the back, and three vertical parts for cornrows on each side (total - 10 cornrows).  I made twelve small boxes for box braids at the top. 

just-washed length

Stretched hair parted into 10 verticle sections at the sides and 12 boxes at the top.
In two-strand twists for sleeping.

I started with the cornrows up, and braided the ends partway to hold them together. 

I swear the parts look better in real life...!??!

first 3 cornrows going up

Once that was done I was ready to add the yarn.

Whoops - no yarn!?!?!? How had I forgotten that crucial step?

Long story short: it was hot, it was humid, I was tired, Grandma P was over, but on her way out, and just happened to have a bunch of extension hair in her car.  She encouraged me to try it out. She gave me a ponytail called Biba free & easy collection Chic Short Pony. The colour was called F/FL - a black with some red highlights. There was a price tag on the package - 99 cents.

I wasn't mentally prepared to use extension hair but at the time it seemed easier than heading out into the humidity. 

So I used the extension hair - it was already a good length so I didn't cut it, I just folded it on half and tried my best to add it in where the braids started to come away from JJ's head. For some I folded the hair over JJ's hair to make a three strand braid, and then incorporated more of the extension hair into JJ's strand as I went. This was okay, but not easy. I also tried literally tying a knot around JJ's hair and then dividing the extension hair and JJ's hair into three strands. This worked a bit better. I really didn't know what I was doing and it was so hot I didn't even want to take a break to check You Tube for advice. 

Eventually it was done - 10+12= 22 braids in total , so it didn't take too long.

I wasn't sure how JJ would react. She LOVES it. She was very eager to go out of the house so she could dance around and have people see her "long hair".

It does look pretty good. 

But here comes the love-hate part.

LOVE - or at least, like quite a bit:

• I am pretty sure I won't need to touch her hair for 2-4 weeks (aside from changing up the style for variety).
• JJ Loves it (note capital L).
• I felt totally fine using elastic bands on the ends, and may consider some no-worry beads!
• Love the way the parts work for a ponytail, pigtails, an faux-hawk-look, etc etc etc and the hair of off of JJ's neck
• Still would really like to try this style with yarn, or when she has a little bit more length to do this style on only her hair

HATE - or at the very least, am concerned about:

• She is getting a ton of attention already - lots of positive feedback, which she loves. BUT - Is this sending a message that her "natural" hair is not as lovely as her hair with these extensions???
• That hair is NOT easy to work with - at least not for me - everywhere I look I find another stray strand around the house!
• I had a hard time making the braids as "even" as I wanted to - I think I could calculate "real" hair versus extension hair better next time (if there ever is a next time, that is....)
• Daddy D (aka Mr Natural) just shook his head, and said that this was okay as an experiment, but he does not want to see extensions on her again....

*******any thoughts?*********