WEAVING RIBBON

A few months back I came across one of the best hair blogs ever - 'goldilocks*n*me'. She always has her daughter's hair so neat, stylish and unique. Reading through her blog and looking through her facebook page for hair ideas, I came across the most amazing style ever. Click here to see it. I fell in love with this style. That same night I attempted to cornrow gg's hair from the bottom up. and it turned out not even half as good, that's because I am just learning to properly cornrow and gg's hair is still thickening out so there 'are lots of strands of hair that are too short to be picked up in the cornrow and I don't want to pull her hair too tight to pick them up. So I didn't get to weave my ribbon through, but wasn't disheartened by it and set of the next morning. This time I was going to attempt 2 cornrows which later could be weaved with ribbon. I read that most people band their children's hair the night before, to stretch it because it makes styling easier, so I did just that. It was very easy and gg liked all the coloured bands in her hair.  (sorry about the next few pictures, they kept getting uploaded sideways).

Banded hair



Hair after bands taken out

I did the 2 cornrows on gg's hair but they didn't turn out that neat. They looked a bit frizzy but this was not going to stop me from trying out my weaving technique, so I weaved the ribbon through and gg's hair looked so much better; still frizzy, but better.

I was happy with my weaving but still not happy about the quality of my cornrows.

That evening I wet gg's hair and cornrowed her hair whilst damp and they where so much better, but when they dried they started to frizz again. This was starting to really bother me and after a bit of research I realised I was suppose to use a product that had a bit of hold to keep them neat. I tried our homemade whipped shea butter mix which gave us great hold on two strand twists and her cornrows turned out much neater and didn't start to frizz for nearly 3 days and I have only recently tried olive oil eco styler gel too which has given us the same results. The only problem now is getting my cornrowing technique better (I have noticed though each time I do them they become neater and better so the saying is true practice makes perfect, I just need loads more practice lol).
I love adding this ribbon technique to gg's braids because they add a new dimension to her styles and cover up my not so perfect cornrows (",). Whenever I give her braids a ribbon style gg always gets complimented on her hair and people always tell me "that looks so complicated" and "does she sit still for you to do it?". I tell them that it doesn't take long and give them a quick explanation on how I do it. So I thought I would let you all know how I do it too, especially Marika who I told I would do this a few weeks Hi (",).
You Will need a craft needle and some ribbon. I cornrowed gg's hair when it was dry and curly so they are not that neat, they were done specificly for this post (",)

Threa ribbon through raft needle

Have 2 cornrows ready

Thread ribbon through inside of cornrow out to achieve the ribbons start overhand

When you have made the first line across line up both side of the ribbon so you don't end up with one shorter than the other when you have finished weaving

Take ribbon over and across to other cornrow. take it over to outside edge and weave it under and in

Weave ribbon up in a diagonal line thtough opposit cornrow



Take ribbon up over in a diagonal in opposie direction

Continue weaving through in a criss-cross diagonal way

Keep doing so till you reach the end

Threadcraft needle with other side of ribbon that is still at the begoining of cornrow

Tie the ends of the ribbon to secure with a bow

Here are some pictures of ribbon weaved through cornrows.

TIP: When I got my ribbon the salesman told me to dip the ends of the ribbon in nail varnish to stop the ends from fraying. Then the sales lady said you can also heat up a butter knife then rub it on the ribbons ends to stop them fraying, but your knife will end up black and ruined so use an old butter knife. I chose to dip the ends in nail varnish beacuse all my knives are new and I don't want to ruin them. The nail varnish dipping has been great the ribbbons haven't got one loose strand of cotton at all (",).