TAKING YOUR FESTIVAL BRAIDS TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH KANEKALON

Has anyone seen the Instagram account @hairwithlinda? If you haven’t, please close this window, open up Instagram and just take a look, because she is making all of us look like complete failures when it comes to festival hair. Ever since I discovered the account I have been unable to stop trying to figure out how she crafts the amazing, brightly colored, festival hairstyles that cover the entirety of her picture-perfect feed, I have been obsessed with trying to bring some of her extra style to my own outfits. As I have mentioned a few times before, festival fashion for some of us, is more of a way of life than anything else, but even when you have found the most amazing outfit, done your makeup and thrown on your platforms, figuring out what to do with your hair can be somewhat of a challenge. For most of us it just makes more sense to pull our hair back in the classic ‘festival' braids’ and call it a day, but honestly, after seeing the magic Linda Ha is making, it honestly feels like that just isn’t going to cut it anymore.

So, if you are going to try and re-create any of these fabulous looks, I would suggest you start with braiding hair. Now, the type of hair you are going to want to use is called ‘kanekalon’ braiding hair, and though it is available all over the internet, there are a few things you should know before you just start purchasing random bunches of hair offline and hoping for the best. For a standards pair of long, colorful, braids you are probably going to need about two packs of hair, however, if you are starting out with braiding or want to attempt something a little more complicated, then I would suggest you get about four to five packs of hair. The great thing about this stuff, is that if you have extra left over, you can save it for your next festival.

While Amazon is the best place to find most things, I actually wouldn’t really recommend ordering your braiding hair off of Amazon, because the color selection is extremely limited and more often then not you are forced to buy packs of around six or seven bundles of hair that you are probably never going to work your way through. This may sound like an exaggeration, but I still haven’t used up all of the hair that I bought from Amazon for Nocturnal Wonderland, and that was in August of 2018 (despite my best attempts). I would suggest that if you want to order hair offline that you do so from Ali express. Now, I know it sounds a little weird to tell you that some kind of sketchy Chinese website is the best place to check for hair, but I have had great experiences ordering hair through them. The shipping may take a little longer, so don’t try and get this last minute, but the color selection is fantastic, and it is super cheap, which is perfect if you don’t want to drop a ton on hair. If you're going to get the exact hair that Linda uses for her creations, you can order it off of Dusty Rode. Now, this hair is super nice, but that is reflected in the price tag, and if you (like me) don’t have a brand deal with them where you get discounted hair, it might not make sense to drop so much money on it.

Once you have your hair, it is the best time of all, figuring out what you want to do with it. Accounts like Hair with Linda and Get Bradified are great places to start for inspiration, especially if you don’t really have anything in mind, except adding some color to your hair. I think the easiest style to start off with is two, basic French braids. You can actually add a ton of variation to make them a little more interesting once you get the basic braid down and the colored hair secured, which makes them perfect for beginners. If you are looking for tutorials, I recommend looking at ‘feed-in braid’ tutorials on youtube, as they are going to give you the best technique. Doing anything for the first time is going to be a bit of a challenge so if you are planning on trying to do a more intricate style, try it out a day or so before so you can work out all of the problems without the pressure of needing to get to your favorite artists set on time. This is again where the extra hair comes in handy. If you are an inexperienced braider, then it might be a good idea to add an extra pack to your shopping cart.

If the whole nightmare of trying to do super intricate braids is a little too much for you, then I would also recommend looking at clip-in extensions. I recently ordered several clip-in extensions in a wide range of colors which can be easily incorporated into my hair if I don’t want to go through the hassle of using braiding hair. I also purchased a set of clip-in braided extensions from ‘spark styles'' (another awesome Instagram find), that I would recommend for my lazy babes out there. The extensions are already braided and color coordinated, so all you have to do is clip them in and go on with the rest of your life. They are all handmade, and the clips are incredibly sturdy which is one of the other reason’s I would recommend them. If that wasn’t enough, they are also reusable, so if you maintain them, you will get instant festival hair ready to go at all times, which is pretty neat.

If even that sounds like too much work for you, then you can always go to a salon that specialized in braids (put African Hair Braiding into Yelp) and explain to them exactly what you want. As I have mentioned before on this site, festival braids and the techniques that go into protective hairstyles actually originated in African communities as a way to maintain hair. Feed in braids, dreadlocks, and box braids are more than just a fashion statement; they are a way to manage black hair. If you don’t want to DIY everything, then why not get your hair done and support a black business in the process.

I hope this has given you a little bit of help when it comes to trying out some of the crazy looks you can find on @hairwithlinda. Learning how to braid can be a little bit of a challenge, but the key thing to keep in mind is that it doesn't need to be perfect. The first time I did crazy pink braids, they didn't turn out the best, but I still got tons of compliments and people asking about them. The next time I tried to incorporate color, into my braids, they turned out a lot better. Like with anything else it is just going to be a matter of patience and practice.