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In terms of protecting hairstyles, I’ve tried nearly each look that you can imagine: field braids, twists, and cornrows galore. However for my annual birthday solo journey a number of months in the past, I tapped into my Aquarian power and challenged myself to strive a recent new look to mark a recent chapter. I let TikTok affect me into getting a sew-in with a closure on my pure hair, and have not seemed again since.
“Sew-in hairstyles” are trending with good cause. There’s actually an artwork to those extension installs, and a plethora of extensions choices for all hair varieties and textures. Previous to my birthday, the final time I received a sew-in was in 2013. My braids had been cumbersome, the standard of my hair was questionable, and my stylist put in the tracks with no sense of poetry. As of late, there are complete area of interest communities (see: #traditionalsewin, #closuresewin, #versatilesewin) devoted to the assorted sorts of sew-ins and the stylist secrets and techniques to attaining them.
I’ve coarse and fragile pure 4C hair, so a leave-out sew-in is out of the query for now. I need to defend my hair and never harm it with warmth styling instruments or an excessive amount of product. That is additionally why I wished to decide on a hair texture that considerably mimics my very own. After some in depth analysis, referrals, and falling down a number of extra TikTok rabbit holes, I discovered the perfect hair extensions for my texture — and the proper professional, Nicole Hemmings of Elevate The Salon Expertise in Brooklyn, NY, to put in them.
Selecting My Hair Extensions
I all the time shied away from sew-ins as a result of I used to be a bit overwhelmed by the oversaturated market of hair extensions. Do not get me improper: New York Metropolis is rich with choices. However any stylist will let you know that high quality issues in terms of the longevity of your sew-in. I wished to decide on hair that will look good, really feel good, and might be reused for a wig.
Earlier than I jetted off for my journey, I visited the Yummy Extensions boutique in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the place I selected my 18-inch Uncooked Burma Curly ($154) bundles and closure. I had such a seamless {and professional} expertise within the boutique and with my hair (significantly, the perfect I’ve ever had) that I knew I wanted one other dose of Yummy.
After a short cellphone session with the staff, we selected a brand new texture and longer size for the brand new season: three bundles of kinky-straight 24-inch Uncooked Lao Straight Blowout Weft ($238) bundles. After I picked my hair up from the boutique, a beautiful gross sales affiliate assured me that repairs could be tremendous easy – even perhaps less complicated than my curly bundles, which do require every day upkeep. Apart from brushing, weekly cowashing, and making use of a number of drops of shine serum from time to time, I would not must do a lot to the hair and will put on it in its pure state with out a lot manipulation. Bought.
Putting in the Sew-In Extensions
I had already heard nice issues about Nicole Hemmings and Elevate The Salon Expertise via social media and the native grapevine, because the salon is in my neighborhood. Whereas Hemmings is broadly generally known as the “silk press queen,” she tells me that sew-ins are her old flame. That love actually confirmed in how she put in my new bundles.
Although TikTok clued me in to loads of choices, I selected a closure sew-in so that every one of my hair was tucked away and guarded. Closure sew-ins are well-liked – and a few would argue, more healthy – as a result of sometimes, most individuals go for a texture that blends properly with their pure texture. Although the Lao Blowout hair mimics blown-out 4c curls, I truthfully did not really feel like doing further work each day.
Hemmings started engaged on customizing my closure a day earlier than our precise appointment. She bleached the knots and toned and tweezed the hairline to make it look as reasonable as doable. One other trick for her signature reasonable installs is her strategic braiding and her use of a weaving internet. “It permits me to stitch in areas the place a braid is likely to be,” she says.
I wished a “buss down” center half, so Hemmings parted my pure hair down the middle of my head and braided away from the half as a substitute of straight down. Straight-back braids really add top and bulk to your look.
A good thing about the web is that it retains the muse of cornrows firmer and helps the braids keep in longer — an optimum consider final fashion longevity. A closure sew-in sometimes lasts for a month and a half, and even longer with correct upkeep, Hemmings says. She used a little bit of adhesive spray to get the closure to put down utterly flat and left me with stern orders to return to her chair when the lace begins lifting. “Do not reglue the closure your self,” she says. “Tie your lace down each evening in order that the friction will not make the lace transfer sooner.”
The Outcomes: Straight Hair
It has been over every week since my set up, andI assume that I’ve discovered a ceaselessly texture. This kinky-straight hair is a dream, and very low-maintenance. The Uncooked Lao Straight Blowout Weft texture is one which straightens simply however appears even higher when it is in its pure state. Even after a very sweaty morning exercise or a moist day on the subway, my hair nonetheless appears implausible. And the set up is so flat that I’ve tricked a number of strangers into pondering that it is the actual deal. Which is all the time the project.
The Outcomes: Curly Hair