A
hair style worn mostly by people with
thick curly or
nappy hair. The people most famous for cornrows are the central and western
Africans who have raised this form of
braiding to an art form. The name cornrow comes from
America, of course, where the hair style was thought to look like ordered rows of corn. Cornrows come in many sizes and
geometric patterns such as
spiral radial sunbursts and good old fashion straight lines.
It's almost impossible to cornrow your own hair, so, to try it out, find a friend and ask them to part your hair from the centre of your forehead to the nape of your neck. Use a clip to hold one half of the hair in place and start working from the centre out on one side parting out even rows of hair then braiding front to back as close to the skull as you can in a tight French braid. Make sure you count how many rows you do you want the same number on each side or you head will look lopsided. When you are done put a little bit of hair lotion in each of the parts to keep you scalp from getting dry. You can leave the cornrows in for at least a week and wash your hair every two or three days during that time. When they start getting fuzzy it's time to take them out.
Cornrows are a great
summer hairstyle, since all the parts give you ample
ventilation. They are also great for little kids, who can run around and play without messing up their hair. Some people put
plastic beads in their kids hair when it's cornrowed and then you can always tell where their kids are because they make little
clacking sounds everywhere they go.