How Long Does a Crochet Hairstyle Last?
It’s genuinely hard to get it wrong with crochet hairstyles, thanks to how amazing it looks out of the box. Due to the looks, most people want to carry it for more than a few days, but how long does a crochet hairstyle last realistically?
In most cases, your crochet hairstyle should only last around four to six weeks at most. To get anywhere near that longevity with the hair, you must implement a series of hair care tips that you perform regularly to ensure the hair looks new every day.
In this article, we’ll discuss how long crochet hairstyles last. Also, I’ll show you how to make your crochet braids last a lot longer by making slight changes to your haircare routine.
What is a Crochet Braids Hairstyle?
Crochet braids are exactly what you think they are; synthetic hair crocheted into your real hair. When you use the crocheting pin to add extensions to your hair, you’re getting the crochet braids hairstyle.
Crochet braids are regarded as a protective hairstyle since it offers most of the benefits you get with the average protective style. It’s also a pretty popular style, probably because you can do it yourself with an average knowledge of crocheting and below-average knowledge of making cornrows.
Crochet braids come with a set of benefits that you don’t get with most other hairstyles, even some in the protective category. The following section will look at some of the benefits of the style before I jump into how long crochet hairstyles last.
Benefits of Crochet Braids
At this point, you already know a bit about crochet braids, assuming you knew nothing about them to start with. If you’re planning to make your next hairstyle the same, you may want to know the benefits and drawbacks associated with wearing the crochet hairstyle.
To start on a positive note, here are some benefits of crochet braids on your hair.
Quick to install
One of the most annoying things about making your hair is how long it takes. To get anything presentable, you have to sit through several hours of installation, which is always boring. If that’s one of your biggest complaints with most hairstyles, you’ll love crochet braids.
You can install crochet braids in three hours or even less, saving you several hours on a salon chair that you can spend on something more productive. If you’re after a beautiful hairstyle that you can install quickly, it doesn’t get better than crochet braids.
Affordable to install
Not everyone can afford to pay several hundred dollars to get braids that look good. If you’re trying to get a lasting hairstyle without necessarily having to spend a fortune, you may have to try out the crochet braids hairstyle. Not only can you install it quickly, but you can also do that for much cheaper than alternatives.
What’s more, you don’t have to go to a salon to install a crochet hairstyle. By taking a few lessons from YouTube, you should be able to handle the installation yourself, saving on salon costs. Unless you’re an expert with hair, however, doing it yourself will likely result in a disaster.
It’s a protective hairstyle!
If you’re out for a protective hairstyle, there are plenty of options, but if you’re going for an adorable protective style, your options are quite limited. One of the cutest protective hairstyles out there is the crochet braids hairstyle.
In addition to looking excellent, you’ll also get all the benefits of a protective hairstyle. However, you want to avoid all the bad practices associated with crochet styles to ensure it’s truly beneficial. The following section lists some of those.
Drawbacks of Crochet Braids
Crochet braids aren’t all great; there are certain drawbacks to wearing the hairstyle, especially when it’s improperly done. If you’re wondering what could go wrong with your beautiful crochet hairstyle, there’s a lot, as we’ll see in a bit.
Here are some of the disadvantages of wearing crochet braids, compared to similar hairstyles.
Tension
Everyone with less than average knowledge of haircare is aware that excessive tension on the hair could lead to a whole lot of issues. The technique required to make the hair requires stressing the scalp, creating more tension than your hair would want to put up with.
Excessive tension will cause you to lose your hair, no thanks to the damage that results from the hair falling out easily. The same effect can also make it significantly more difficult for the hair to produce new strands, causing you to lose hair over time.
Heaviness
Recall that the crochet hairstyle requires you to crochet additional extensions to your hair, which may cause added weight to the hair. If you don’t monitor the weight added as a result of the addition, it may end up adding too much weight to your hair, putting unnecessarily high tension on your scalp.
How Long Does a Crochet Hairstyle Last?
One of the (unmentioned) disadvantages of a crochet braid is how terrible they look after just a few days. The look is exactly what sets the base for how long the average crochet hairstyle can last. So, how long does a crochet hairstyle last on average?
Crochet braids should last for four weeks before it starts to look unwearable if you follow all the tips for a long-lasting style. Depending on how much you’re willing to endure slight frizz, you can leave the hairstyle for up to six weeks, with some people reporting eight weeks of wearing crochet braids in extreme cases.
For the best results, however, try to always take the hair apart before or just after six weeks. Leaving the hair for more than six weeks could cause some serious problems when you finally start taking it apart; remember, the synthetic hair still needs to be taken apart at the end.
If the hair still looks OK after six weeks, there’s nothing wrong with keeping it for up to another two weeks, provided you implement the tips to make the braids last longer. The following section will show you some of those tips.
How to Make Crochet Braids Last Longer
If you got crochet braids without any optimizations for longevity, you’ll get a maximum of two weeks out of it. It’s not a fault of the hairstyle itself, I mean, two weeks is plenty long compared to some other styles, but it’s your problem since you’re not doing the needful to make the braids last long.
But what exactly is the “needful” required to make your crochet braids last long? Here are some of the most creative ways to make crochet braids last longer.
Trim the frizz and seal the ends
Excessive trimming will always be bad for your hair, but in the case of crochet braids, not trimming it at all will only make it look terrible. You should consider trimming the frizz with a bit of regularity to keep the hair looking new every single day. Revisiting your hair for frizz every three to four days isn’t too often.
Oil your scalp
Oiling your scalp regularly will do a lot to make your crochet braids last longer, since it makes the hair look better, giving you the impression that it’s new. When oiling, you want to ensure you’re using only natural oils, and you’re also following basic techniques to avoid doing more harm than good.
Choose the best hair for longevity
One of the most crucial decisions that’ll have the most impact on how long your hair lasts will be made even before you start working on the first strand: choosing the right hair. If you choose hair with tighter curls, there’s a much better chance that it will hold on for long, and it also works the other way round.
Protect your hair while you sleep
You should know at this point, but it’s worth emphasizing to always pay attention to your hair before going to sleep. Wrapping your hair with a silk or satin scarf before going to bed and changing your pillowcase to either material will do more than enough to protect your hair while you sleep.
Conclusion
And there you have it: crochet hairstyles can last for weeks, depending on how intentional you styled your hair in the first place. If you followed all the recommendations above, you should be able to wear your hair for up to six weeks; eight weeks in some cases.
