Recently, I installed yarn twists extensions in my daughter’s hair. She is a very active 8 year old and has a hard time brushing her own long curly hair. I figured this would give me a break from all the de-tangling that is required for her hair during a very busy few weeks. While it was time consuming to install them, it is simple to do. She had these in for 3 weeks. A few hours over an evening or two, saved me many, many hours over those weeks of struggle and tears from her to get the tangles out. We will definitely do these again in the near future.
This was only my second time doing these yarn twist extensions, ever! I did them a few years ago for the first time. Neither her, nor I were as patient to sit for the long to do them more often back then. I just randomly came across the original how to video that I learned from and decided to give it a try again. I posted photos on my personal Facebook page and the compliments were amazing! I figured I would share the photos here, some tips and the video for everyone that was interested in them as well.
WHY CHOOSE YARN EXTENSIONS?
My daughter likes dreads and braids. I personally have natural dreads, that I will post about another time, and they are low maintenance. No brushing tangles, no fighting frizz and no spending an hour or more to prep for each day. I am all for children making decisions on their own hairstyles. If my daughter wanted to make the long term choice of dreads, I’d be all for it. But she’s not up for it. This hairstyle has the same low maintenance as my dreads but it’s not long term. She loves color. What little girl doesn’t? With this hairstyle, you can choose yarn as natural to the hair color you are working with or as colorful as you want.
This is actually a protective hairstyle for those that have biracial, African American hair, or even curly hair but can be done with any hair type. My daughter is biracial so I use a little bit of coconut oil when putting these in so it is a great way to moisturize/repair her hair, keeps it from breaking and can help the curls regain their definition.
FAQ AND TIPS ABOUT YARN TWIST EXTENSIONS
• Use acrylic yarn, not wool as wool will dread into the hair. Acrylic yarn can be found at your local dollar stores, chain stores (Wal-Mart, Target, Members, etc) and is cheap. You will have lots left over for other projects or future hair styles!
• These can be the same length of regular hair or extended for a longer look.
• They can be left in up to 4 weeks (usually needs to be redone by that time due to frizziness at the scalp + new hair growth).
• Can be washed and conditioned as usual. And can be a great hairstyle to use during a time of changing from shampoos to no poo (hair goes through a wild ride sometimes with that).
• Can be styled in many ways: left down, ponytail, pig tails, bun, other up-dos or partial up-dos.
• To remove, just cut the yarn (making sure not to cut hair) and untwist. My daughter wears her hair twisted once the yarn is removed for a few days before washing again to go back to her normal curls.
THE HOW TO INSTALL YARN EXTENSIONS
I have not recorded a video how-to on yarn twists because there are many, many of them available on YouTube for viewing already. Basically, I measure the yarn (LENGTH OF HAIR x 2) and cut lots of strands of it. Then I section the hair into ‘brick pattern’s as you go. Each ‘block’ in the brick pattern will be what I attach the yarn to. I personally use two strands of yarn for each twist. I split the block into two strands of hair, then find the center of my yarn and place it against the scalp. So there are two strands of hair and two strands of yarn. I start twisting a strand of yarn with a strand of hair then cross over and continue twisting. At the end of the hair, I continue for about an inch past the hair then knot it. You can extend pas the hair as long as you want.
This is the video by Chocolate Hair/Vanilla Care that I learned to do this hairstyle. Check out their blog as they have many protective hairstyles to learn about as well!
https://youtu.be/WbEP7CqWhio
If you try yarn twist extensions out, please feel free to let me know how they turn out. And if you have any further questions at all about how this is done, ask in the comments + I’ll answer to the best of my ability!
