How To Avoid Getting A Unnatural Looking Weave

In this day and age nobody should have to walk around with a terrible weave. You know the ones I mean, the ones couldn’t fool a baby because they look so terrible! I truly believe that nobody should ever know that you are wearing a weave unless you tell them or they touch your scalp and feel the tracks. My friends often have to resort to feeling for tracks to make sure that my weaves are actually weaves because they look so natural and your should be too.

I would love to tell you that there is a way to fix your weave without having to take it down but unfortunately there isn’t. You just have to avoid getting a bad weave in the first place. Great weavologists are always in high demand so if you happen to find yourself in the seat of a poor to average stylist, don’t hesitate to speak up so that you can get the fabulous weave that you want.

These are the main culprits in terrible looking weaves and how to avoid them.

Lumps and bumps

Even though black women are wearing more curly installs than ever these days, we still love our straight extensions every now and again. Curly installs are great because if your braiding pattern is not so good, the volume of the hair covers even the worst of braiding sins. Straight extensions on the other hand are not so forgiving.

If you braid your cornrows carelessly or too big then you will have a bumpy, lumpy looking weave. You will end up with that ‘wiggy’ look that is difficult to disguise. If you are relaxed braid carefully and neatly, you don’t have to be too precise with the parting as the cornrows are not for show but your pattern has to be flat. Be firm with your braids without pulling too tight.

If you are natural, then blow out your hair before braiding to reduce it’s volume. Don’t assume that after you wash it the volume will return anyway, in fact the braids will remain pretty stretched for the duration of the install. Make your cornrows pretty small as well to create a very good flat base.

Another contributor to lumpy weaves is doubling up your tracks. Where possible stick with hand tied wefts as they are very thin and doubling up will not noticeably cause any lumpiness. With machine wefts, only double up where appropriate without leaving lumps.

Wear believable textures

If you are natural and don’t like to straighten your own hair then it stands to reason that you should probably go for kinky curly textures to make your blending easy and believable. If you don’t wish to straighten your leave out hair then wearing silky textured extensions will just give away the fact that you are wearing a weave. Blending must be seamless to avoid raised eyebrows.