Not familiar with the words crochet braids? Never fear! I’m here to break down the who, what, when, why, and how of this lesser known but innovative and low maintenance hair technique. Although crochet braids can look incredibly real, they are all made of fake hair. To attach the fake hair, hair existing on the scalp is cornrowed all the way back, and the hair extensions are attached by using a crochet needle type device. Those are the basics, but there are a lot of ways that this style can be used to achieve different looks.
Crochet Braids
Dark Roots in Curls
For this style, first attach the crochet fake braids, making sure to use darker brown for the underside of the hair, and then curl. Alternately, you can use pre curled hair.
Voluminous Kinky Textured
The great thing about crochet hair is that you can play with it to make it as thick or thin as you want, depending on what looks best for your style, and what is easiest to maintain. In this style, volume is the order of the day with the incorporation of copious amounts fake kinky textured hair.
Tight Curls Shoulder Length
The tight spiral curls in this look are perfect for a girl looking for a more polished look. Even better, you don’t have to deal with all the time it takes to curl hair in the morning!
Kinky Long Afro
The afro in this dusky brown color is great for anyone looking for an alternative to the normal black hair used with crochet braids. The kinky afro look is great for a low maintenance, but high volume style.
Layered Spiral Curls
This slightly layered look is achieved by using about four packs of LoMe Marley Braiding Hair. The blogger, AseaMae Natural made a tutorial for how to do this lovely style on her channel, so make sure to check it out for some more inspiration.
Purple Afro!
Does it get any more chic than this cute afro that forms a lovely fringe above the eyes, almost like bangs? The purple hair color alternates light and dark, just like real hair would to create a visually appealing affect!
Red Twist Outs
Think purple was the only unique color on this list? Think again! Red is also a great choice for a girl who wants a style thats a little out of the box. Although the visible brown roots rather detract front the overall illusion, it might still be great for someone looking to experiment with a color without committing.
Chin Length Spiral Curls
Love curly hair but can’t bring yourself to damage your locks with daily heat- or simply don’t have the time every morning? Try this alternative! The piled up volume in this style looks chic but put together at the same time.
Afro Twist Outs
To get the effortless twisty look shown in this style, you need to put a bit of prep work in to getting that seamless afro crown. Twists are crocheted in, and then unraveled after a day to two. This look is great because it has great texture without being overly polished and uniform.
Shoulder Length Tightly Coiled Curls
The varying length of the crocheted in hair that is used in this style gives the overall look a rounded frame that gives the hair an even more voluminous feel. Pro Tip: to keep these lovely and bouncy curls looking fresh every morning, use the pineappling method. ‘Pineapping’ couldn’t be simpler, all you have to do is gather all of your hair on top of your head and cover with a silk cap or scarf for the night. The smoothing properties of the silk and the positioning of the hair will ensure frizz free curls the following morning.
French twist-esque Faux Locs Faux Mowhawk
This style is definitely one that looks best on shorter hair, aim for chin length to see best results. Once all the faux locs hair has been crocheted in, flip hair upside down and use the twist up and pin sectioning method of a normal french twist to secure hair starting from the bottom up. Stop when you have reached to about two inches above the ear, or wherever looks best for your hair.
Kinky Collarbone Length Small Curls
The key takeaway point I got from this style was the lovely way a small silk scarf or headband is used to flip all the hair back and secure it away from your face. While a lot of volume can be great for appearances, it might be rather hard to manage when doing physical activity, or even just on a windy day. A cute silk scarf is a perfect way to secure the bulk of the hair back when dealing with copious volume from crocheted hair. You can even pull your bangs out of the headband for a more playful look. Bonus: you can match the scarf to the rest of your outfit for a cohesive look.
Pixie Cut Fusilli Hair
Don’t those cute short curls look just like pieces of pasta? Or am I just hungry? These curls are a beautiful and low maintenance look for a girl looking for a short and sweet new style. Reminiscent of the Coney Island fair girls of yore, this vintage inspired style is begging to come back to modern fashion.
Wavy Curls with Bangs
Don’t forget that you do still have the option to incorporate bangs into your style with crochet braids! The curly bangs shown here are cute, but also consider using side bangs, or longer bangs that can be flipped back.
Kinky Highlighted Shoulder Length
We have already seen some of the more bold highlighting and coloring options, like red and purple, but if you would like to opt for a more natural look, try this brassy light brown color with dark brown roots. The casual style looks great with kinky textured hair!
Shoulder Length Bouncy Waves
To get these soft curly waves requires a few more steps than the last hairstyle. Use an already twisted pack of fake hair, such as the Janet Collection Havana Mambo Twist 24. Gently unravel the twists and brush them out until you reach the desired affect. To finish off and add overall softness to the look, spray in a little water and gel. I recommend trying organic, unadulterated aloe vera gel because of the healing and moisturizing properties it has for the hair.
Shoulder Length Shiny Twist Out
Up next is another look that requires a twist out.The blogger Kiitanaxo crochets in Havana Mambo Twists – 12″ and then unravels them in order to achieve this gorgeous piecy wavy look. Although twist outs require a few more steps and time, they are definitely worth the effort. Also, notice how she parts her hair to the side, allowing the shorter pieces to rest on top of her head, this allows a carefree and voluminous look that is great for any style!
Pin Drop Straight Long Hair
This style is very different for most of the others on this list, but still valuable for anyone who likes to have their hair straightened all the time, but can’t find the time in the morning to do so every day. The girl here uses two packs of Kanekelon braiding hair in order to achieve this look.
Kinky Middle Part Shoulder Length
In order to achieve this lovely kinky textured look pictured here, the vlogger Kymberli Brenzell uses about five and a half packs of twenty four inch Outre X-Pression Kinky Curl Crochet Hair. She uses a middle part in this style that is still great, and creates an overall rounded hair silouhette.
Kinky Shoulder Length Brassy Highlights
Another twist out! This one is very unique for many reasons. The highlights on top contrast with the dark brown bottom, giving this style a two toned look. Also, this style created by tastePINK is actually a wig! Braiding hair into a mesh cap and using a styrofoam wig head, she created this wig style in under an hour.
Super Long Pencil Curls
These tiny but shiny curls are a beautiful style for someone looking for curly hair, but not liking the huge ribbon curls we looked at earlier. The vlogger Beautycanbraid created this look using about three packs of Freetress Deep Twist,
Super Shiny Small Curls
These curls are also created using the Freetress Deep Twist, however, in this style five packs are used instead of the three in the previous style, creating a much more voluminous look. Also, important to note that the color used in this style is a dark brown instead of black.
Medium Sized Red Highlighted Afro
Highlights can also be used on kinky textured afros, in this look a light red is used, but feel free to explore more natural tones like shades of brown, or bold colors, like pink and blue. The beauty and hair vlogger Jessica Pettway used hair from a salon called Xpress Your Kinks in kinky blonde sugar to create this look.
Multi Textured Shoulder Length
We seem to be coming across a lot of shoulder length styles when dealing with crochet hair, and it is important to acknowledge that shoulder length is a wonderfully versatile length for anyone considering using crocheted hair because it is not too long and not too short. In this style, a mixture of textures like kinky, wavy, and curly are offset by the ever seen shoulder length.
Uniform Cut Soft Waves
This look requires quite a few more steps than some of the previous styles, but is definitely worth the effort for the soft and bouncy waves. The stylist BeautyEnthused created this look using five packs of the Freetress Equal Jamaican Twist Braiding Hair in the color code 1B, 16″. After she attaches the hair, she brushes it out, curls it over night with flex rods, and gently separates the curls in the morning for added definition.
Spiral Curls With Highlighted Bangs
This look uses highlights in a unique way by only applying them to the front section of hair and the bangs area, allowing a focal standout point for the look. In order to create the fantastic spiral curls, you can use flex rods, bantu knots, or perm rods. The vlogger BorderHammer created this look using Cuban Twist Shake-N-Go hair.
Purple Loose Kinky Afro
This purple look is a little different from the previous purple one that we looked at. The curls are looser, more defined, and less kinky. Definitely try this out if you want a smoother afro style. Again, crocheted hair is great if you want to experiment with hair colors, but don’t want to alter your natural hair.
Tiny Curls Short Pixie Cut With Bangs and Highlights
This look is less reminiscent of a traditional afro, and more like a pixie cut because of its short length and silouhette. Short curly hair and intermixed copper auburn highlights look great with the lengthy side parted bangs that hang in front of the face.
Wavy Curly Hair
This texture is hard to pin down! It is great for the gal who loves a texturized hairstyle and can’t choose between curls and waves. It’s partially a curl, partially a wave, and all fun!
Face Framing Spiral Curls
The best feature of this look is how the beautiful sausage curls are structured so no part is visible, and shorter hair is used in the front to create face framing bangs.
Casual Long Pencil Curls
The reason I call this style pencil curls is because the gorgeous small curls look like they were made by wrapping a pencil around each individual strand. The carefree look with shorter hair used near the top is a repeating pattern that looks wonderful for a more laid back style, even with a longer length of hair.
Very Long and Very Thick Straight Hair
This may be by far the longest hair length shown in this article. If you want straight hair with out the regular upkeep of heat tools, look no further than this voluminous style.
Curly Lob
a ‘lob’ is a long bob, it is a style that is quite trendy now as result of a lieu of celebrities that have chopped their locks off to this length. It is mostly seen with straight hair in a blunt cut, but it looks great in this style with perky curls.
Front Layered Hair
Layering can be very important in a crocheted style if you want to create a more natural and rounded shape that is not too unevenly thick. The hair is layered by staggering the length of hair that is crocheted in as you reach the crown, so that the shortest pieces of hair will be near the top of the head.
Highlighted Curly Bob
This short style is not exactly an afro, and has a unique shape that gives it a more modern look. Reminicient of a bob or lob hairstyle, this look is great for any girl who wants a much shorter look, but strays away from the classic afro.
Almost Natural Looking Hair
I bet if you saw someone walking down the street with these crochet braids, you would never suspect their hair wasn’t real. Flipping the hair up a little in the front helps to conceal the part and keep the style looking natural.
Super Shiny Shoulder Length Curls
These tightly coiled curls are a lovely style, but in order to keep them looking fresh remember to keep the frizz at bay. Try using a light gel or hair mist!
Natural Looking Loose Curls Collarbone Length
The natural looking curls are perfect for a casual daytime look. Pair them with a jeweled clip, headband, bun, they will shine with any style.
50s Inspired Beehive
Try this look only if you are going to a costume party, or are simply a very retro inspired gal. The beehive look created by the bangs was a popular style back in the fifties, but does require quite a bit of hairspray.
Jumbo Voluminous Twists
Twists are a great style to try if you have crocheted hair because they can be done much faster than it would take to achieve the same affect with your natural hair. In this look the twists are so voluminous that they can be piled on top of the head to create a little top bun.
Very Voluminous Kinky Braids
This style is definitely the winner of this list in term of volume. The kinky hair texture in this look is emphasized by the fearless volume.
Mob Length Kinky Hair
You have heard of the bob and the lob (long bob, so what could the mob be? If your answer was ‘middle bob’, you guessed it! The mob is a look rocked by Jennifer Lawrence and many other trendsetting women. The look is halfway between a bob and a lob, perfectly shown in the above picture with kinky textured hair.
Purple Again
We sure do like our purple hair today! The loose and long wavy style in this look is another excellent way to rock purple crochet hair.
Loose Playful Curls
Although we have seen a lot of curls in this list, but this style is unique in that the curls are loose and more natural looking. Consider a loose look if you don’t want your style to look to staged or structured, and are shooting for a messier ambiance. Pro tip: when taking a selfie, don’t hold your phone up facing the sun, you will end up taking a picture of the shadow your phone cast on yourself as shown on this model!
Swept Back Large Twists
Twists of this size may be hard to manage with the usual hair styling tools such as bobby pins, so to secure part of the hair back as shown in this style, try using a large clip or brooch.
Messy Mob Kinky Twists
This loose but professional twisty style is great for the office and out of it. Try to look for a versatile look if you want to keep your hair low maintenance.
Blonde Brown Highlights Long Hair
Crochet Braids Video
This look is great if you want to go with a more dyed hair look. The fluffy round curls are perfect for layering and offset the golden highlights naturally.