African Cuts

For a beauty conscious African woman, hair is one of our most treasured possessions and a fashion issue. Given the texture of our hair, we have many options to give ourselves very unique looks! Women of African descent are at the forefront of innovations in hair styling, what we can put on our buy heads is only limited by our imaginations. In some previous post on this nice hair blog, a colleague discussed that braids are a natural design for an African woman for the simple fact that they look quite nice when done in the right way and are relatively very easy to maintain!

For many African women, braids and cornrows have become the hairstyles of choice, they have been a part of our fashion sense from time immemorial. A typical rural life or an African woman involves an afternoon spent quietly ;listening to music under a shade while lines of beautiful braids slowly form a pattern on the head!

Even today, braids and cornrows still have a star attraction! Alicia Keys clearly is one of the famous faces and heads on braids. Other famous women and girls :) who have proudly spotted braids include Jill Scott and Malia Obama.

Alicia Keys on Braids

Rihanna wears her stylish braids

Although braids have become popular especially in the recent times, the oldest hairstyle in Africa is probably the corn rows which have been worn by African women throughout the continent over the centuries.  Both braids and corn rows are quite versatile allowing much flexibility to the hair stylist to play around with your hair for some really stunning look! Braids and cornrows give African women a very fresh natural look and feel. They free you from the stress of a thousand chemicals and allow you to concentrate on the more important things in life while looking good!

Braiding is a very popular African art. African women have been braiding not just hair but baskets, ornaments, mats, sweaters. It takes the time and endurance that's  inbuilt in the African women. But braiding is not unique to Africa. many other societies have been braiding the hair particularly in Western Europe and Asia.

Braiding involves taking three strands of hair, starting at the scalp and overlaying one strand on another, until the desired effect is created. Cornrows are braids that have been under-woven to lie flat on the head and then sculpted into simple or complex parting and sectioning.

The following are the more popular types of braids common amongst African women:

Microbraids are elegant looking tiny delicate braids that are carefully woven into the hair.
Microbraiding was a braiding style that was quite common with African American women and women in the Caribbean but it since gained a loyal following amongst African women particuplarly in the cities. The advantage of Microbraids is that they can last for several months without the need to redo them. The style is still very common amongst African American women, a hair style of choice! Microbraids give women of African descent an awesome look, which explains their rock star status amongst hair styles! There are concerns that microbraids stuff thee air thus preventing natural air circulation on your scalp. To avoid these and other harmful effects such as hair breakage, remember to undo them every two to three months. There are several tips available on how to care for your microbraids.

Awesome Awesome Microbraids!

Microbraids last for months and give women of African descent a stunning look!

Cornrow or track braids