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Braided weaves are a traditional hair extension method that covers all or most of the natural hair.
In order to complete this method you will need weaving hair.
A mesh weaving cap.
A traditional closure, or we'll create our own out of wefted hair.
Needle and thread.
And shears.
In order to begin, we're going to start with a cornrow base.
A lot of times these are called spiral weaves because a long spiral braid will be used.
We've decided to use straight back cornrows.
And with straight backs you'll need to make sure that all your braided tails are secured down.
It really doesn't matter the direction that your cornrows go as long as everything is molded and sculpted to the head.
So we're going to start by sewing our braided tails into the rest of our cornrows.
Be sure to secure your cornrows by anchoring them with a bit of thread or braiding hair in each row.
This will cause a spine to be created through each braid.
And that's gonna really help anchor them and secure them for a longer lasting style.
I'm gonna start by going through my thread.
And I want to make sure that these braids are nice and flat to the head.
So you'll notice I'm kinda pushing that into the groove next to the cornrow.
That's just to give it a little bit of an extra, flatter feel.
To secure a longer braid, I'm just going to fold the tails down.
Tucking the loose ends into the groove and then stitching up the braid.
The type of stitching that I'm using is actually keeping all that stitching right on top.
And that's gonna help when we go to cut this weave out when we are done with this style.
And it helps to make that thread much more visible.
Continue sewing until you have all of your tails secured to the scalp.
Now we're ready to apply our weave caps.
Weave caps are made out of a non-stretchy mesh material.
These help hold the entire style in place.
These are an optional step but not really if you want your weave to be very long lasting.
Once we have the weave cap in place.
We're just going to stitch this around the edges so it doesn't go anywhere.
We're just going to tack stitch our weave cap around the perimeter.
Into our cornrows.
You'll want to make sure that your
weave cap is a similar color to the hair that you'll be applying.
This will make sure that you don't see it through your wefts.
And also you'll want to make sure that your thread is a similar color.
We're using a lighter color weaving cap and a lighter color thread for demonstration purposes only.
Continue sewing till you've secured your entire perimeter.
Now we're ready to sew on our first piece of weft.
We've pre-cut a piece that reaches across the back to go in the lowest position position.
Since this weaving cap has a tag, I'm going to cut that so it's not in my way.
We're positioning this as low as we possibly can so we can maintain the most believable coverage.
This completes our first row.
We're gonna continue working in rows until we reach the crown.
Once you reach the crown, you'll need to determine the placement of your part.
Your part-line will determine how far you build in one side verses the other.
Our's is going to be fairly centralized so we're just going to build horseshoe shaped rows that are equal on both sides.
But if you were going to place it on one side then you'll want to put more straight rows and then horseshoe shaped rows closer to your part-line.
So we've done our fill and we're ready to start doing our detail work.
I've decided that my part is going to be located right about here.
That means that I will need to position fill work right across the front to help direct that flow off to one side.
So I'm going to start by establishing rows. Working my way towards my part-line.
So we have the tiniest of space left and we need to create our closure to fill in this hole.
So we're going to do that by taking our weft and winding it in on itself.
And we're going to sew that together and then we're going to apply that to this extra space.
So let's start sewing.
Starting it is the hardest part. But once you have that down it goes fairly quickly.
You don't want to sew this completely tight.
Because we will have to open it up once we get it stitched and flattened out some with our flat irons.
And that will help give it a more smooth transition from your wefted hair on your head to your closure piece.
But you do want to make it tight enough that your stitches are nice and solid.
Continue sewing your weft in the spiral pattern until you have created a closure that is large enough to cover your opening.
So we've completed our stitching on our closure and now we need to open it up and flatten it out.
That way our piece here has a smooth transition to cover our opening
So just gonna use our flat iron and kinda press that down.
If you are using a synthetic hair,
you are not probably going to be able to use your flat iron unless it is a higher temperature fiber.
And even then be real careful that your don't scorch it otherwise you'll have to recreate it.
And that is no fun.
So now that we have it flattened into place we're ready to sew it down.
So I'm just going to position it over the opening.
And I'm going to use this clip to hold it into place.
Before I sew into my closure, I'm just going to anchor my thread into the base.
Then I'm going to go up through the edges of my closure.
And pull that down.
Continue sewing the edges of the closure until it is firmly anchored into place.
Here's your finished look with your handmade closure.