Need some help blending your natural hair with a weave?

oh you brave girl. The most important factor that determines how easily your hair will blend with your weave is the hair texture you buy.

With straight virgin hair extensions being the most difficult and kinky/curly weave or kinky straight hair being the easiest, you need to choose wisely and make sure you are well prepared. Other factors to consider also include whether you will use heat tools or not - some naturals choose not to but if you do we'll cover how to do this without excessive damage.

Another major factor to consider when blending is that if you can get a perfect match in colour then that is half the job done. Try to choose hair that matches your hair colour as closely as possible. If you're really dedicated you can do what I do- I dye my bundles with bigen hair dye to jet black and then dye my leave out and edges the same exact colour - it's flawless! The dye is also not permanent and harmless.

A bad blend can make good quality virgin hair look cheap so pay attention and do your research.

How to blend natural hair with straight weave?

The first thing to be mindful of when choosing straight weave is the amount of your own hair that will be left out to begin with. The less leave-out the better - obviously your leave-out should not be so little that you can see the tracks below it. But you shouldn't have a single strand more than what you need to cover those tracks. This limits the amount of damage to the hair if you will be heat styling.

The truth of the matter with bone straight hair is that you will need heat tools to achieve this look. I highly recommend you spray a heat protectant on to the leave out and wait a minute to allow it to dry. Then apply a thin layer of Argan oil (or whatever oil you have, I just like Argan) to reduce the amount of friction when the flat iron is sliding through your hair. Make sure the temperature is not too low otherwise you will have to slide it through again, but it should not be excessively hot either - i usually use 200*C to get the perfect blend and slide it through once.

You don't want to do this too often so seal the straightened leave-out with a tiny drop of oil and rub through - use a blow dryer on medium heat for day to day maintenance and ensure to wrap it when going to bed.

If you can't be bothered with all this then do what everybody else does and get a closure, frontal or wig.

How to blend natural hair with curly weave?

A lot of the key points mentioned above apply here too but one of the most important things when blending or styling with curly weave is moisture! You need to keep the hair soft. Spray and condition the hair to a nice healthy feel, obviously not dripping wet but slightly damp and soft. The hair will be best to work with in this state.

The best thing to do is prepare before bed - section your curly weave and your leave out into small bits and begin to plait or twist them together like single braids or twists. Do this in a specific pattern and allow the hair to fall in the direction you intend when you take the plaits out in the morning. Spray the plaits with moisturiser then wrap with a scarf to secure them in place.

In the morning when you loosen your hair, the texture of the plaits will match the texture of the virgin hair vendors more closely. You may need to experiment to decide what size plaits and twists give you the most accurate match - I would recommend the smaller the better. Don't worry you won't have to do this every night - eventually the pattern will start to maintain itself.

For some of you - you will need to blow dry your hair and comb it out to make it a bit straighter first before attempting this - especially if your natural curl pattern is much smaller or tighter than the hair you are trying to blend with.

How to blend natural hair with wavy weave?

The same rules for blending with curly weave would apply for blending with wavy weave but the only difference with wavy weave is that the curl pattern tends to loosen up or become straighter the longer the hair gets. What you therefore want to do is make sure that your natural hair also loosens up the longer the hair gets. This is something you will need to be mindful of when plaiting or twisting the hair as instructed above. Blow drying the hair first is highly recommended on this occasion.

Products to blend natural hair with weave

This is a common question and the answer I always give rarely satisfies most people but i'll stick by it. I am not big on products - I don't have the patience to explore the majority of them. I stick to a nice thick oil such as Moroccan Argan Oil (my favourite) or Jamaican castor oil, keeping your curls moisturised with a good conditioner mixed with water - I would recommend Aussie or Tressemme and any heat protector - they all do the same job. Thats it...sorry...I know its underwhelming.