So… What Is the Trend?
Well, for this trend you literally braid your hair into a pair of stockings or long socks. First, you split your hair down the middle, creating two parts. From there, you get the pair of socks and French braid each side of your hair, using the third strand as the pair of socks. Then you sleep in it and the next day when you take your hair out, it should create a beautiful, full curl. And they were doing it on women who had seemingly straight, thin hair… so when I saw it, I was completely mesmerized.
Here’s What Happened
I followed the directions pretty much exactly and added a bit here and there because, to be honest, I was super skeptical my hair would hold a curl because I feel like I’ve tried everything. So, in addition to the basic steps of braiding my hair into socks, in the shower, I used my roommate’s “Not Your Mother’s: Curl Talk” shampoo (I washed twice!) and conditioner. When I got out, I also brushed her “Not Your Mother’s: Curl Talk Defining Cream” into my hair. To dry it off a bit, we diffused my hair until it was damper (we were hoping this would encourage the curl!). After, we fingered generic hair gel through the ends of the hair and braided away! After all of this product to my virgin hair, we were sure it would stick.
The Results…
I will say this: Directly after taking the braids out, I felt totally cute. The curls were super cute, and I couldn’t stop looking in the mirror. I ran my fingers through my hair because they did feel a little crimpy, but I figured I wouldn’t touch them too much because they would fill out throughout the day. The day I wore them out was not super eventful, we went to vote (go out and vote if you haven’t yet!), got groceries, and ended the day with painting pumpkins. But alas, halfway through the day, my hair was completely flat again. I was a little disappointed, but not surprised. What works on someone’s hair does not work on everyone’s! Maybe I should have added mousse after I took the braids out, or maybe I could try again with completely dry hair instead of damp, and I likely will! But until then, even after all of the products, the curl did not stay. I will also add that I did not see a difference between braiding my hair with socks and regular braiding, but maybe if my hair were dry it would have made a bigger difference.
In the end, it ended up still not working great on my hair, but I would try again to experiment more. If there is a huge takeaway from this, it’s to get to know your hair! Figure out what it does and does not like (I learned my hair doesn’t like hair gel!), find what works best for you, and if that does not look like a Tik-Tok trend, that’s okay! Embrace the differences in us and our hair, it makes us, us.