Cornrow Style For Men

Having its origin in Africa, the cornrow is not only a hairstyle but has become an attitude, or at least an associate to a typical attitude. Before wearing this hairstyle, it is a must to understand the relevance of it. This hairstyle has been a symbol of self expression since its origins. And when the African slaves were brought to the old world, the style had almost vanished for it was custom to shave their heads for practical purposes. But a few slaves kept the hairstyle as a symbol of keeping their dignity. This was a small but a meaningful gesture for a slave at that time. The modern styles that have originated from the old ones, too follow the geometry of the latter. Nowadays, the cornrow hairstyle is donned by many famous personalities and is definitely an in thing. Men, especially can wear this style to accentuate their personality. Follow the segment below to learn how to style your hair in cornrows. 

Preparations Needed Before Styling

• First of all, be sure that you can get a cornrow style. The eligibility criteria is: your hair length should at least be 5cm (in case of curly hair) and 7cm (in case of straight hair). Anything shorter won’t be able to hold the look.
• To maintain a great hold you will need some type of a holding agent like the popular aqua wax which works great while braiding. Use of gel is forbidden because it is supposed to be used in bulk while braiding, and this is not feasible for texture of the hair, and also, it drips.
• Make sure you are free, as this style consumes an awful lot of time. Each row can take from fifteen to twenty minutes to set. So get it done while you are busy with something, for e.g. do it while you watch your favourite movie or a soap opera. If you don’t keep yourself busy then you will get impatient after a while. Take breaks while getting the braids done, at least every half an hour or so.
• Be really patient if you are getting it done from someone who is not really proficient with this style, as it is really a difficult one and needs lots of hard work and experience. 

Steps For Styling A Cornrow

• The very first step which you have to follow before you actually start styling your hair is planning what kind of a braid you want to go for, because the styling will be done accordingly. This is the basic step because even if you want to get the simplest cornrow done, it will need much planning. This also needs to be done because different people have got different hairlines. So, the braid will obviously become thicker and needs to be taken care of from the beginning.
• Making a part is the second step, and an important one at that. You should try to make a few precise partitions because this will determine the precision of the cornrows. While you are making braids with a particularly long section of hair, use rubber bands and clips to keep rest of the hair out of the way.
• You have to start from braiding two small stitches at a time. And start at the area from where you want the cornrow to begin. The starting point can differ according to the style you want to get. This step should never be forgotten as this will prevent too much tension at the initial parts of the hairline or at the beginning of the braid. Hence, a little slack is given which can be covered while you gradually move ahead. Not many hairstylists have the knowledge of this step and is missed by the majority, thereby resulting in hair fall because of pulling them too hard.
• Take a small section of hair from the section just below the one which you were braiding, and add it to the middle strand. When picking up the strand, keep in mind that you should not pick up too much hair as this will make the braid look thick and uneven.
• Now, all you got to do is to braid a stitch, then pick up some more hair and finish the stitch, then pick up some more hair and go on like this. What exactly you are doing is picking up more hair and adding them to the middle strand as you go ahead. But don’t forget that you might need to do regular stitches or double stitches to leave a slack while designing a curve. Doing a one on one braiding might get too tight and will surely look off balanced.

Try creating new styles using cornrows; the patterns may remain geometric but with a little twists and turns you might get some new results. Happy cornrowing!