D.I.Y. ANKARA KIMONO & Flexi Rods on Locs

Hey boo heyy,

I posted the ruffle skirt on my IG page and if you want to see the original post click here!

About this kimono.. I mean you honestly can’t ever go wrong with a kimono. It’s a great beginner project. I’ve taught classes on how to make a kimono, we have one coming up this weekend if you’re in the DMV.

I love kimonos because they are so versatile! I’ve worn this one with a black dress and flats to work, and with jeans and heels as you can see below. At this point I’ve made many different styles of kimonos using a variety of fabrics.

Making a kimono out of ankara fabric is great for the fall/spring, however I wouldn’t advise using an ankara print for a summer kimono because it would be too heavy and hot. For a summer kimono I recommend a poly or even a chiffon type of fabric. Chiffon kimonos are great for layering and can also be worn as a swimsuit coverup. I did patch pockets on this kimono because I really never do them and I wanted to switch it up. lol

Also how cool is this fabric? I love it!

Now about this hair. Where to start?? lol When I was natural I used to always wear my hair in flexis. Although the style is time consuming to do, it lasted a long time. Now that I have locs I still like the look of flexis but it does take a bit longer to do them, especially if I’m retwisting and doing flexis at the same time.

I didn’t want my curls to be tight so I did 2 locs per flexi. I love the way it came out. I do want my locs to grow, but doing my hair at this length makes me think when it does get long, my hair is gonna take forever to do. lol Washing, retwisting, and a flexi set takes about 2 hours, then sitting under the dryer for about another hour. So its about a 3 hour process when I do my hair myself.

After my flexis dry I normally just pin my hair up. By pin it up I mean I put it in a loose ponytail at the top of my head. lol I really like loose chill loc styles. lol Like I said I feel like I’ve become a bit tender headed since having locs so I don’t do much “styling” to my hair. To maintain the curls I pineapple my locs at night and sleep with a satin bonnet on. I don’t really do anything else to my hair in between styling except oil my scalp and hair with almond oil. The curls normally last about 2 weeks or so.. When my hair is not curled I spray my locs with a water based leave in so they don’t get dull or super dry. I know this picture isn’t the best of my before and after of my curls but hopefully you get an idea of how they turned out!