There comes a time when our little girls aren’t so little anymore and aren’t so into little girl things. D is now a tween and no longer into the beads and bows and cutesy hairstyles.
She is also super busy and doesn’t have a lot of time to spend on protective styles that can take some time to do. She has been doing her own hair from a few months now.
She washes, conditions, detangles, moisturizes and even styles! Her styles are limited, right now, to ponytails, single braids and twists, but she is learning and doing a pretty good job.
However, we have both gotten a little tired of the detangling sessions that ensue from her wearing her hair out/in ponytails all week long. So, we finally took the time recently to do some cornrows to give her a break from styling/detangling and me a break from hearing the gripes about it.
A simple cornrow hairstyle that will hopefully last 3-4 weeks. We are currently going into week 3 and the style is holding strong, *Fingers crossed for 2 more full weeks*. She moisturizes almost everyday with our favorite, Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer, and wears her satin sleep wrap every night.
Both of these cornrow hairstyles are similar and basically start off the same way. Your parts should resemble a pie or pizza.
How to make Cornrow hairstyles for Kids
(For steps 1-3 refer back to the hair parting diagram above)
Step 1: Part hair in four sections. (front to back, ear to ear) clip each section to keep them separate
Step 2: starting with the right front section and from the center point, I parted diagonal so that I had two triangles.
Step 3: I then split those two triangles in half from the center point making 4 triangles in that 1 section. Make sure you keep the 4 triangles separate.
Step 4: starting w/ the 2 triangles at the top make a set of criss crossed cornrows (if you’re not sure how to do that see our criss cross cornrow tutorial) going to the center of the head, w/ the bottom two make 2 regular cornrows going to the center of the head.
Step 5: repeat steps 2 & 3 on the left front section. Once top portion is complete, secure w/ an ouchless band.
Step 6: untie back right section and split into 4 triangles like we did on the top and just cornrow downward.
Step 7 repeat on the other side and accessorize as you like.
(For steps 1-3 refer back to the hair parting diagram above)
Step 1: Part hair in four sections. (front to back, ear to ear) clip each section to keep them separate
Step 2: starting with the right front section and from the center point I parted diagonal so that I had two triangles.
Step 3: I then split those two triangles in half from the center point making 4 triangles in that 1 section. make sure you clip the 4 triangles separate. (as shown in the diagram above)
Step 4: Make 2 sets of criss-crossed cornrows going to the center of the head in 3 of the sections(top, bottom left). with the bottom right section
make two sets of criss-crossed cornrows going downward.
Step 5: secure the cornrows going to the center into a bun on the top of the head. Accessorize as you like!
Cornrows Braids Box Braids
Today I am sharing a couple kids hairstyles that I have done recently on my daughter. These cornrows, braids and box braid styles are fairly easy (and cute), especially the first one I have for you.
How To:
1. Start with banded/stretched and moisturized hair. Part and cornrow 2 braids on the top/center of the head. Be sure to add a holding/moisturizing product so the style will last. My favorite is Bee Mine Curly Butter. I used that and Bee Mine Luscious when creating this style.
2. Make 2 small ponytails on each side of the cornrows, cross them over into a second ponytail to create the criss cross ponytail look, then braid or twist each ponytail.
3. Part out 4 equal ponytailed sections in the back and braid or twist each of them.
This next style was a little bit more difficult for me, I attempted some curving cornrows.
1. Start with banded/stretched hair, curve the parts for your cornrows (make the curves pretty drastic if you want the braids to appear even more curvy). I did 4 cornrows on one side of her head.
2. Create box braids on the remaining hair. Don’t forget the styling product!
This style was her back to school hairstyle this year. Check out these back to school hair ideas for more.
Easy Protective Cornrow Style
After a summer of many wash and go’s and trying out different curl defining products for our Wash and Go Series it is time to get back into some protective styling. Protective styles can include cornrows, mini/box braids, twists, buns, basically any style in which the ends are protected and the hair is not manipulated during the duration of the hairstyle. For protective styles it is also ideal to have no beads/rubber bands or barrettes in the hair.
For this protective style I decided on an easy cornrow style.
>>I started on hair that have been washed, detangled, moisturized and banded overnight
>>I parted from ear to ear and cornrowed the top half straight back
>>Then I cornrowed the bottom half straight down
>>When the cornrows were completed I started braided near her left ear gathering the braids and braiding them around her head.
>>Once I reached my starting point I tucked the ends into the larger braid
How is your styling routine now that it is starting to cool off? What is your favorite protective style?
Cornrow Mohawk
I had washed and banded D’s hair the night before I did her cornrow mohawk, so when it was time to style I evenly distributed the styling cream throughout each section of her hair as I removed the bands. Starting in the front I began parting and braiding adding the pomade to each individual section of hair before I braided. When I finished, her hair looked really, really good…most of the credit going to the products and not my cornrowing abilities, lol.
Each say after swimming and rinsing I would moisturize with Bee Mine Hair Milk and spray with Morrorro Methods Styling Spritz Hair Spray for hold.
Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Whole Leaf Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis), Blood of the Dragon (Jatropha dioica), Marine Proteins of Sea Silk (Algae leaf extract), Kelp (Macrocystis purifera), Nori (Nori Algae), Kombu (Laminaria digitata) and Fucus (Fucus vesiculosis), Yucca (Yucca aloifolia), Cactus (Opuntia erinacea), Shea Butter (Vitellaria paradoxa), Enriched Volcanic Ash with natural plant-base Herbs and Spices, Orange Seed (Citrus sinensis), Pure Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) Oil, Lemon (Citrus limon) Oil
Price: $19.00 16oz
French braid down the center for a few days:
This was Day 5, the style was still going strong after the week of swimming, it could have lasted longer but I was anxious to take her hair down to see how it felt and to give it a good washing after all that swimming.
Easy Cornrows Pompadour Curls
D’s birthday was last month and she had a “Rockstar” themed party were the kids got to karaoke, rock out and have a blast. For her party I wanted her to have a Rockin’ Hairstyle and decided on cornrows, a pompadour and curls with a little bit of color. Her style was actually inspired by a hairstyle I saw on the Feather Girlz website:
I wanted to make it my own and let D rock some of her natural curls too. This styles looks simple enough, but I actually:
>>banded all of her hair overnight
>>did the cornrows
>>straightened the front section for a smooth pompadour (which wasn’t so smooth after she ran around and started sweating)
>>then went back and co-washed the rest of her hair that was down so the curls would pop
Cornrows and Beads Hairstyle For Kids
I just recently got D’s hair trimmed (I’ll post some photo’s soon), it hadn’t had a good trim since November. But before the trim I wanted to do a cornrows with beads hairstyle, she hasn’t worn beads since around the first of December when we did a fun Christmas hairstyle.
Cornrows, Beads and a Bun
For this style I started with the cornrows down the back of her head, adding heart, princess crown and regular pony beads to the ends of the braids. (Want to know how to get the beads to stay on? See our instructions on how to add beads to braids). Next I started a part above her ear and began braiding, I wasn’t sure what I was doing or how it was going to turn out, I actually almost gave up and didn’t finish the style because I didn’t think I was going to like it, but it turned out ok, I was pleasantly surprised. Once I finished the top/front cornrows I put those braids into a bun.
Braided Cornrow Hairstyles
It’s been quite on the blog, but I can assure you life with my (now) teen has been busy. As far as hairstyles go, the past year has include a lot of down and outs, wash n goes, braid outs, ponytails, top knots, double buns and a few cornrow hairstyles. D has wanted to add some fun hair colors to her braids a few times, so I have taken her into a salon for that. Here are a few braided cornrow hairstyles from this year:
Mo Plaits Cornrow Braided Bangs
What you will need for this hairstyle:
Rat tail comb (small toothed comb)
Spray bottle with water
Leave in conditioner, any leave in of your choice. We use African Pride Shea Butter Moisture Intense Leave-In.
Learning Cornrow Hair Takes Practices Patience
Learning to cornrow hair takes practice and patience. It can be discouraging when a style you have in mind doesn’t turn out. I can’t tell you how many failed style attempts I’ve had. I tried learning to cornrow and gave up several times before sticking it out. I honestly thought I would NEVER get the hang of it.
I like to think I’ve come along way with my cornrowing skills since I first started learning, like this easy cornrow style I did in my beginning days, lol, it is apparent my skills were lacking, but I don’t mind sharing, because everyone starts somewhere and everyone needs practice and anyone can learn to do it. It was definitely a process and took a lot of practice, but I watched from others, learned from my mistakes, figured out what works best for me and practiced some more while applying the cornrowing tips and tricks I was learning along the way.
This was a great protective style I did last year. Simple straight back cornrows, 2 Ki Lan style cornrows down the sides of the hairline in front and small box braids in the back. The bottom right photo are the lose braids braided and twisted up into a bun:
A cute and easy style incorporating cornrows:
See a tutorial for this cute and super easy hairstyle here and also see another way to wear this style.
My point of this post is to not give up, even when discouraged. You will learn and you will get better at cornrowing, it just takes a little lot of patience and practice. Start with these tips and once you get the hang of it try some of these cornrow styles. Good luck! and Please share your progress with us on our Facebook page.
Leave a comment
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.