Long hair is overrated. It’s nice to have it but it’s also a great deal of work to maintain, particularly long natural hair. Look at Mwedzi with her mid back length 4b hair. Her epic 4 hour detangling sessions are enough to make even the most patient of us reach for either a pair of scissors or a relaxer!
If you follow my personal blog you will know that recently I’m going through a short-hair-is-great phase but I also have no intention of cutting my own hair (this stuff grows way too slow for me to even consider a trim) but I do enjoy rocking a short do every now and again.
Without resorting to short full weaves or wigs* which don’t generally look very natural, I came up with a simple way to hide my hair under a short wig. It’s a lovely looking protective style and because of the way it is installed, using a u-part wig*, you can take it down every weekend for a thorough hair washing. Here’s how I did it:
1. Create a u- part wig. You will need a wig head, a wig cap* and some curly weaving hair. Lover4Fashion has a really good tutorial on how to create a u-part wig on YouTube so if you don’t know how, check it out now. In regards to the hair, go for the shortest length you can get since you are only going to cut it anyway. When cutting the wig, have it as short as you like at the back but leave some length at the front to allow for more seamless blending with your own hair.
2. Separate your hair and braid. Separate your leave out hair (I left out 1 inch at the top and sides) and braid up the remainder. You can choose to cornrow your hair for a flatter base but I often opt to do some large braids which work just as well. When I have the time I may create a more intricate and flatter braiding pattern but it’s not absolutely necessary.
3. Create a perimeter braid. If you are going to sew down the wig*, create a perimeter cornrow braid behind the leave out hair and all along the rest of the hairline. This is to provide a solid base for the wig to sit on. If you are going to use wig clips omit this step but I find clips very uncomfortable personally.
4. Tie your hair down. I like to tie my loose braids into a low bun for convenience. Since you are installing curly hair, there won’t be a visible hump anyway!
