braid waves from rope braids?

[Heavenly Locks]

Hey my wonderful experienced plethora of information LHCers. :) I normally sleep with my hair loose and I just think it's not the best for my hair and I wanted to try sleeping with it braided. One single braid in the back failed because it pulled, was a lump and my layers made it come undone. *sigh* So I tried the pocahontas braids behind my ears and I slept comfortably :) YAY!

The thing is, I put them in with damp hair and now when I undid them...:scared: I have a straight crown, straight tassles and a zig saggy wavy frizz in the middle. Whoops. I have it put up in a gibraltar bun but it still looks rather fuzzy.

Would rope braids work better? What do braid waves from those look like?

[Heidi_234]

That's what rope braid does to my hair:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1927&pictureid=24417
But mine is considerably curlier, so I guess you'd have to try and see for yourself.

[Heavenly Locks]

Oh no fair Heidi! Your hair is fantastic and I wish I could try out some curls like that :) Rope braids <3 your hair...

[Phalaenopsis]

Seeing this, I'm going to try ropebraiding too!
I hate the typical braidwaves in my hair, even though I like braiding.

[Heidi_234]

Oh no fair Heidi! Your hair is fantastic and I wish I could try out some curls like that :) Rope braids <3 your hair...
Yeah my hair goes well with ropebraids, I assume my curls and the twirl of the ropebraid are sort of the same size, so the curls fit nicely into the braid, and come out as these awesome cork screw curls. I washed my hair and air dried it in a rope braid, that is how it work for me. You can give it a try, you're wavy enough, maybe it could give you some nice swirls as well.

Seeing this, I'm going to try ropebraiding too!
I hate the typical braidwaves in my hair, even though I like braiding.
I wouldn't get my hopes high, as you're 1a, and I've seen straighties complain that the ropebraid waves won't hold on for long. But no harm in trying. :flower:

[Heavenly Locks]

Heidi, do you do one or multiple rope braids?

[Heidi_234]

Heidi, do you do one or multiple rope braids?
Just one (or else the curls would come out too small in diameter).
When my hair is towel-damp, I oil it (optional, of course) and rope braid it. When it dried I undo to braid, and then start to section the hair (make sure it don't tangle at the bottom), not too much sections though. Divide it first horizontally in half (bottom-top), then start dividing it vertically, say 4 equal sections on the right and 4 on the left. I hope I'm clear enough lol, not sure how to explain it better. :o
Anyway, the hair should stay in the swirly form it dried into, and that's how it turns into cork screw curls.

[misstwist]

I hate standard braid waves, too. Rope braid waves look more like my natural wave. I will do two before sleeping and I twist the tassels and bend them back into the ponytail holder for the last pass or two around with the holder.

I have also been known to then bun those so they are hanging about ear level, kind of like a beebutt bun and held with a scrunchi. That adds an extra wavy texture. I'm a back sleeper so those buns don't bother me.

I do need to use some aloe gel before putting the braids in or I get pretty frizzy results.

[Ponytale]

I am a rope braider too. I wrote a few weeks ago about this in response to someone...maybe you saw it. I french rope it and put the rope in a bin at night. When I am lazy, I just pull it back, make a rope and bun that (bigger waves). It does look more "natural" than braid waves and the ends don't get too tight of a wave as they do it I braid it instead.

[eresh]

I'm a 1a too and this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=32&pictureid=30737) is what 1 ropebraid does to my hair.
2 ropebraids did this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=32&pictureid=29312) and another photo of it here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=32&pictureid=29307).
(Too bad I didn't rope all the way to the ends)

I roped the hair wet and wore it a whole day and night.
The spiral curls lasted half a day and then sagged out.
So if you want them to last a whole day I think you have to use some sort of setting lotion.

I always have my hair braided at night and stuffed under my pillow.
There's just no other way of comfortably sleeping.
That's why I always have braidwaves, some people didn't even know my hair is naturally stickstraight :D

ETA: I didn't pick the spirals apart in these pictures, just let them hang free as they came out.

[Heidi_234]

eresh, it looks great on your hair. :D
I pick them apart because otherwise it looks bad on me (two taped swirled sections of hair :/).

[Gumball]

For me damp rope braids result in a big no no that takes me a long time to comb out when I'm ready to do something else. Oy! I've learned and made a rule for myself that rope braids are out of the question when my hair is damp simply due to how tight and tough to comb out my hair gets when they are undone. It just takes to the shape too well.

For others it may work just fine though. I gave a coworker roped pigtails and she absolutely loved the curls she got from it once she took them down.

[spidermom]

Combed out rope braids on me make very pretty, smooth waves. Uncombed they stay together in a long spiral, similar to the eresh pictures.

[Heavenly Locks]

thanks so much ladies! I will have to try these the next time I wash :) I'd love to see how they come out. Right now I have my hair twisted and then rolled in about 6 sections and pinned up to dry. I've got a bandana tied on (rosie the riveter style) to hold onto the pinned parts. I wonder how it's going to come out?

[eresh]

I can't wait to see! :)

[Heavenly Locks]

Well, my results were surprising. I'd say that the waves I got from the twisting/coiling look just about like my natural air dried ones. :rolleyes: So, for all the time it took to get there, I think I will just let it drip dry instead. But hey, it was fun to try something!

Before -
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/HeavenlyJumper/DSC_0001-8.jpg

After! (pulled into a half up)

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/HeavenlyJumper/DSC_0002-5.jpg

[florenonite]

I did two French rope braids last night on very damp hair, finger-combed them out in the morning, and got this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=1012&pictureid=36634) and this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=1012&pictureid=36633) and this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=1012&pictureid=36632). I tucked the ends up when I plaited it so that I have curls all the way to the end.

[jel]

This is my hair after 2 rope braids, finger combed (and not very well in the middle!):

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?pictureid=16756&albumid=40&dl=1215774441&thumb=1 (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=40&pictureid=16756)
(clickable)

I think that both regular and rope braid waves are quite different from twisted/coiled waves...

[GlassEyes]

You may want to look in the articles section for Manderly's post on waves. I think you have a similar hair type, so her method may work well.