Well, here I was sitting bored and irritated (not a good combo) because I was TRYING to get my rk hair to behave.  Unsuccessfully.  Well after yanking it all out and swearing off human hair forever, I went ahead and ordered more hair for a plastikhaar install.  Burgund Rot and pepperoni.  I will FINALLY have my red hair.

Anyways...

I was wondering if I would be able to install with shrinkies without pretipping.  Because, well, that sucks.  I was going over in my head how people have tried to loop it over (it shead), pretipped with shrinkies and then install with another one over it (too bulky), pulled it straight through with one end hanging out (I didnt like the way it looked, plus the person reporting it had shrinkie fallout).

So Im going "hmmmm, maybe I'll just pinch braid it in"

If you all were here you would have laughed, cause you could almost SEE the little lightbulb in my head go off.

I combined the two, and the results are awsome!

I successfully did one, and took pics of the second one.  Its a little messy cause I was just practicing, so forgive the little stray hairs.

Pic 1. Here I am sectioning off the hair.  Like I said I was just practicing, but if this was a real head the section would be much neater.

Pic 2. Here is the pinch braid.

Pic 3. Here I applied one of amm's extended length shrinkies over the pinch braid.

Pic 4. Here they are shrunk down.  I covered the whole braid on the first one, and left a peek out on the second one to show how it would look UNDER the shrinkie.

Pic 5. Wanna see how stong those little buggers are?  Heres the pic I took, the entire head is supported by the braid/shrinkie weight. I also yanked on individual hairs trying to pull it out, or get SOME shedding, I didnt get any.

I plan on doing my entire head like this once I get my plastikhaar order in and let you know how well it holds, but so far I have VERY high hopes for it.  I believe it could also be adapted for human hair, just double it over an inch for the braid instead of the entire length like you would for synth.

sooo, whacha all think?

*edit* P.S. I also wouldnt have to prelayer anymore, just braid one side a little longer then the other

lol you all are pitiful

I'm getting some pics for ya

Okie Dokie

Pic 1.  Im loaded.

Pic 2. set aside the hook and make the braid (ignore the uber-crappy braid, was for pic taking purposes only!)

Pic 3. while holding on to the braid with one hand, grab the hook with the other and position it right under the braid.

Pic 4. Remove your finger from the braid and place on the shrinkie. Gently pull hair through.

Pic 5. Slide the shrinkie into place as needed, and shrink!

Its really very easy, as easy as any other shrinkie IMO (although mine is crappy looking, like I said it was for deminstration only!) And if I can do it AND take pics at the same time, it should be a breeze for anyone whos ever used a shrinkie before

yeah Im gonna do my own.  I know the installation itself will take longer, but it'll cut down on the overal time because I wont have to pretip.  And they hold better then pretipped shrinkies IMO

It's definatly a more advanced installation method, but I think the results will be worth it.  Maybe it'll work better for people with real "slippery" hair where the other shrinkies fall out (Im thinking of Amanda's customer who blew through 2 installations then demanded 1/2 her money back)

ok, here is another question, not related to your new method.  How in the he** do you get your pics loaded so big?  Everytime I load mine I have to resize them down so small they lose all detail.

Thanks

I have a 5 megapixal camera and a good zoom.  those are actually cropped and then shrunk down 1/3 of their size before being posted on here.

The picture host I use is picturetrail.com, they can load 4 sizes; small, medium, large (those), or original size.

for example heres the original size for the 1st pic http://pic12.picturetrail.com/VOL433/1041077/8050062/l-111787935.jpg - http://pic12.picturetrail.com/VOL433/1041077/8050062/l-11178 7935.jpg  (some browsers may automatically resize smaller)

OMG that is definitely a new method and one that would definitely work for the moanyest of client he he, now I've just got to learn how to pinchbraid LOL.  Well done you inventive little minx you he he

Huh?

You have to shrink the shrinkie regardless.  Im confused.

I bet take down would be quicker too. When I took out my shrinkies, there seemed to be a lot of LG that transferred to my hair (Unless it was shrinkie glue but it doesn't seem like there is THAT much glue inside those things) anyway...it came out nicely with Amm's remover but it did take a while massaging it in. This looks much cleaner! 

LT...I dont think they would be any bigger than a pinchbraid...the shrinkie is gonna shrink down tight around the pinchbraid and kind of compact it..therefore probably making it at least a little samller than a pinchbraid.

NG...I agree that it would be quicker and cleaner. Im assuming since there is no pretip...no extra glue besides the shrinkie. And some of the shrinkie glue would transfer onto the extension hair, so the actual amount of glue that transfers onto the natural hair would be very minimal...thus making takedown much quicker!

Kalika I never thought about laying down to do my hair....LOL! Thats what I love about all the DIYers...we are pretty creative...and learn how to improvise!

heyyy

just wondering if any1 has used this new method for a full install... it looks amazing! any testimonies?? shrinkieing pinchbraids sounds like a great alternative to pretipping first and i was wondering if any1 took up this method and could tell us how well it worked??

also, how do you do pinchbraids laying down? i may be missing something... do you mean lying down on your back? how do you get to the back of your hair that way because wouldnt the hair around your hairline be in front? sorry if this is a stupid question im just confused

anyway, thanks in advance for any help!

sry.. i really want 2 know... bump

I didnt do it on a full head but I did the first few rows on the bottom here

I had the hair in about 6 weeks, just took it out a few days ago and have amms indian hair in.  Wow do I love this stuff!

Anyways, I didnt lose any of the pinchbraided shrinkies, but I lost a few of the ones I did the "reqular way", but to be fair it was all on the back of my head which I didnt look at in a mirror when I did them.  I had almost 500 strands in, so loosing a few durring 6 weeks wasnt a problem at all.

And the lying down thing, Yes I mean lying down on your back.  I would do it on the couch with my head hanging off.

amm wrote: OK, so no string and just the shrinkie adhesive alone held it for 6 weeks without any extra help under it?

Yes.

Just make smaller braids, when I started braiding I thought it would be easier with thicker bits of hair, in reality its much easier with less.  If you practice with smaller bits then it should just be tighter automatically, and the shrinkie can fit over it.

kalika- you remind me of angelina jolie as lara croft in the tomb raider movies... the stance, hair(braided) and everything... I LOVE the red hair it looks amazing.. what hair did you use with the shrinkied pinchbraids?

also, does anybody plan to do an install this method in the future?? oOo another thing.. do u think this method is possible w/ the amm's regular shrinkies and not just the extended shrinkies? thanx..

haha thanks guys  Its PH in the pics.

Right now, I have installed black wavy indian hair I got from amm, I'll post pics of that soon too. 

I think regular shrinkies would be too short to support the braid, but maybe you can use 2 regular ones instead, one right after the other?

heyy

kalika- did you have to do something special to the ph to keep it frun burning or something under the shrinkie when you applied heat? idk if ph is affected by 10 seconds of heat... i am going 2 install ph and i considering this method. when you took the ph out was it in good enough condition to be reused? thanx

Kalika, first of all, I'm very impressed with your new method. I must try it for my own slippery slidy hair. I love to invent new methods and play around and that idea is awesome! Thanks for sharing it with us.

You look like one of my best friends in that pic, except she's 20 years older (she still looks young)