Reflection 2

This week during 20% percent time, I spent my time watching a tutorial on how to do box braids using weave. I decided to skip over learning how to cornrow as it really requires it being done on a mannequin and in all honestly, I still have no idea how I'm going to get one. In the meantime, I've decided to move on to my next style which were single braids or box braids. This I knew would be easier to do because I could just part a small section of my hair and work with that. After watching the tutorial several times, I assembled the things I needed to make the braids, sat down in front of my mirror, and started my first attempt at box braids. During this part, I learned two things: I obviously cannot tell left from right (jk but I did actually run into some problems with this) and weave is dreadfully messy. Besides that, my first attempt actually wasn't too shabby. The only problems I noticed with it was that it wasn't tight enough at the point of attachment and the beginning of the braid wasn't even. Other than that, it was beautiful. Oh, another thing I learned during this part: apparently, I know how to braid underhand. I mean, the process required that I braid underhand, but the fact that it came naturally surprised me. So, after figuring out what was wrong with the first one, I went back it with a second braid right next to the original so I could compare the two. The second one was a lot better, it was tighter and more uniform throughout. I believe that if I were to continue with the braids, they would progressively get better. Overall, today was a very successful day in terms of learning and executing a new skill and I couldn't be more proud. A bonus was getting compliments from my mom when she saw them. Next week, I think I'm going to continue practicing with the box braids to strengthen my abilities before moving on to another style.

(from left to right: the amount of hair I used and a comb, two shots of the finished braids; the first attempt is on the right and the second one is on the left, and the length of one braids, which was almost to my waist)