Genie Locs

Genie Locs

      I recently made the decision to test out Genie Locs aka Yarn Plaits as a protective style for my trip to New Orleans for Southern Fried 2013. I must say that I loved them but they are no easy feat.

      I watched several Youtube videos before I decided which method would be best to use when embarking upon this journey. According to my research I learned the following:

·         On average it takes about 17-22 hours to install

·         You must keep your hair oiled during the process because the yarn will dry it out

·         They can be a bit heavy

·         You must both knot and burn the ends

·         Do not burn the ends too long or it may cause discoloration of the yarn

Things I learned from my own experience:

·         They are extremely heavy when wet

·         It takes almost the same amount of time to take them out as it takes to put them in

·         It is a very cheap hairdo (one ball of yarn typically can cover the whole head)

·         You will need a nice strong gel to keep the ends of your hair contained (yuck)

Now let’s get to the how to’s.

      Things you will need

·         A ball of yarn of your color choice. (it is best to use acrylic yarn)

·         Scissors

·         A lighter

·         An oil of your choice (I used grapeseed and olive)

·         Gel of your choice (I used Gorilla Snot and Gummy)

·         Lots of patience

*You will most likely want to do a deep conditioning before placing this style in your head, whichever deep conditioning you would typically use before installing a protective style or weave. *

1.)  Decide how big and how long you want your genie locs. I did shorter 2 strands on my edges so that I would not weigh them down too much and longer 3 strands on the rest of my hair.

2.)  Cut the yarn into the length that you would like. (I found that it was easiest to cut up as much yarn as possible in one sitting so that the cutting process wouldn’t slow you down later.)

3.)  Oil the strands of yarn that you plan to use for your plait. This will help keep the yarn from drying out your hair as it is wrapped around it.

4.)  Decide the method that you would like to use. A lot of people use the crisscross method to start their plaits, I prefer to just loop it around my hair and start the plait.

5.)  Continue to plait your hair as normal using your real hair as the third strand until you have reached almost the bottom of your real hair.

a.  If you decided on using the 2 strand method then you will want to take one of the strand of yarn and place it with your real hair. (You will want to use gel to smooth down your ends with the yarn.) Then continue plaiting as normal and knot the end of the plait.

b.  If you decided on using the 3 strand method then you will want to take two strands of the yarn and place it with your real hair. (You will want to use gel to smooth down your ends with the yarn.) Then continue plaiting as normal and knot the end of the plait.

6.)  Repeat until whole head is finished.

7.)  Burn the ends of each plait and roll the ends in your fingertips while still warm to help seal them closed.

This is a very long tiresome process, but I did enjoy the look of it and it is a style that can last for quite a while. You will need to make sure that you keep the hair moisturized while in this style. I hope you enjoy!

And…if you do choose to give it a try, don’t forget to share pics by sending them to spokenheart_mf@aol.com.