beaded box braids

With Hope's birthday last weekend, we wanted to do something really special for her hair.  I would consider small box braids to be a 'signature' look for Hope... I love these braids for many reasons.  I myself have not yet learned to cornrow (I know, I know...), but lots and lots of small box braids is something I can do well.  If I don't mind saying so myself, when I complete this style on Hope I am always impressed at the nice parts and the look of the braids themselves.  Braids do take longer to put in (and take out, but let's not think about that right now...), but they last for us a nice, long time.  Last time Hope wore braids they lasted about 6 weeks, and we made very good use of them.  I do like twists in Hope's hair as well, but I've noticed that I need to be careful with them as her hair seems to want to almost lock when it is twisted.

These braids were styled over three days, and Hope did want to add beads to them.  She selected pink beads and some special crown beads, which were just right for her Princess Party.

We followed the "skip a step" method of going directly from one style to the next skipping the detangling step (that's always nice).  I washed and conditioned (with Organix Coconut Milk) Hope's hair in the bath with her previous rope twists still in.  I followed that with some coconut oil and a quick spray of jojoba oil.  I have no photos of it, but I then banded the twists (much in the same way as I would band her loose, detangled hair for stretching) to preserve some length as they dried.  The next day I began the process of untwisting and braiding... from the bottom up, literally one twist at a time.  Each twist usually became 3 braids, though in some cases 2 or 4.  I kept the same 'headband' or 'ear to ear' part, and made use of the previous part lines in the back as well.

As I mentioned, I braided Hope's hair over the course of three days.  Product-wise, I used Sugar Berries pomade from Oyin Handmade.  The first day, the hair was still slightly damp and the twists removed pretty easily.  By the second day, the hair felt a bit more dry and the strands from the rope twists seemed almost like 'pre-locks.'  It wasn't that easy to untwist them to divide and braid each one.  Eventually I got smart enough to spray each twist with Juices & Berries from Oyin Handmade before untwisting.

I wanted to give the front of Hope's style a fancier look.  Essentially, what I put in were mini piggyback braids, starting just above each ear and moving upward, just like a braided headband.  I joined these in an off-center ponytail, and then put in a bunch of little braids.  I covered the rubber bands with large pink beads (except for the one holding the ponytail).  It does look really pretty, and I liked that it took Hope's hair off of her face, too.  I will be removing this part of the style later this week, in favor of more box braids, as I do not like the use of rubber bands at the base of her hair.  (Yes, I know I used rubber bands with the beads, but that is just the price we choose to pay for giving a little girl what she wanted in her hair.)

After the last braid was completed, Hope rushed off to her room to look in the mirror.  As she left her room, she was saying "It's just what I always wanted!"  That alone made it all worth it to me.