Anyone know about Yarn Braids/Genie Locks?! (pics/video)

[Astrume]

I hope I'm posting this in the right place.

So, I'm surfing the web a stumbled upon this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAvISKG_pwY
I know very little about yarn braids ( they're also called genie locks I think ), but they look so beautiful! I love the fact that it looks like real dreads and since it's yarn, they should be really soft, right? Here are some other examples I found over the web (i don't own any of these images) :






Anyway, did anyone else tried this before? How long did it take you to put it in? And how do you take them out?

Sorry if someone had already posted this. I'm a newbie on this forum, so please forgive me if i did something wrong ^_^;

[MrsEss]

Oooh, theres a tute somewhere on here for something similar, normal wool but wrapped to make them look more dread like.

WoolHairHabit does quite a few wool installs for people & Rhaeniel makes her own by braiding wool then felting it in the washing machine. I believe they both have quite a few show off on here if you're looking for some inspiration.

Welcome to the board

[toxic trish]

ye i think this is the thing that sarah is on about but i dont no how it would work on hair if it is ??

http://hairextensionforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=9791

hope it helps and welcome to the board

[MrsEss]

Wool wraps used to be really popular. Quinnster has some pics, here's one:

XmachiinaX says:
I cut two strands of wool twice the length I wanted my hair to be, then lined up the end of the wool still attached to the ball with the ends of those strands. Then I folded the strands in half and braided the three strands into my real hair, one strand of hair to each strand of wool, leaving half of the 2 cut strands and the strand attached to the ball free (but attached to my hair at the root). At the end of my hair I stopped braiding and tied the wool strands together leaving three strands of loose wool, THEN I used the strand attached to the ball to wrap the braid and the two loose strands. when i got to the end of the braid I kept wrapping the 5 strands of loose wool... at the end I just tied them together (I was going to seal them to make neat blunt ends but decided the loose wool was cute).
Mine was heavy (too heavy for my poor follicles =( ) but if you put more of your real hair in a section and/or don't add so much length it won't be so bad.

[Astrume]

Wow, Thanks for the info guys! This was a great help!

I found out more about yarn braids/genie locs. Apparently, the process of braiding them in your hair and taking them out takes far too long to do ( some people said it took them DAYS to put them in/take them out ). However, I do like Amaryllis tut on yarn wrap falls, so I think I'll try those instead.

[Couture_Coiffure]

Years ago I did yarn braids with wraps in my mohawk, since I had a habit of shaving my head in Winter and needed something to keep it warm. Also made a couple of falls for extra bulk.

The most tedious part of the process was measuring and cutting the yarn, particularly making the effort to keep the lengths uniform. The actual installation was fairly easy and only took a couple of hours, but of course that was due to the small amount of hair I had. Would wear the extensions for about week before removing them, but I really did enjoy how light/soft they were.

Thinking about it now, I might have to try this again when it gets cold.