From her early years as a member of Destiny’s Child, LeToya Luckett has since dazzled us with her albums and acting talent. I’m not very huge on music myself but I remember seeing her on Treme and she was pretty good.
She doensn’t go crazy with her hairstyles often snapped with straight glossy black locks with her signature swoop bang. On occasion she rocks curly weaves too but straight hair is definitely her thing. In this picture her hair is worn smooth straight and side swept with a few waves. The front looks like a faux bang but it is in fact her usual swoop bang.
LaToya has very long hair of her own and because she doesn’t vary her styles too often, it’s difficult to tell when she is wearing her own hair or her weave. That is the very definition of a well installed weave!
A big part of the reason why hair always looks ultra natural is because she keeps the volume of the extensions down to a minimum. Lots of volume can be great on occasion but get the balance wrong and your style screams of fake hair! Here is how to recreate her style.
Hair needed: 1 pack 16 inch and 1 pack 18 inch Virgin Indian Straight hair. You can get the hair in natural black or purchase it pre-colored to jet black for extra glossiness. Go for hand tied wefts too!
1. As always with any style that requires very little volume you will need to get the flattest braiding pattern that you can. If your own hair is natural, this means making your braids pretty small so they can lay flat against your scalp. Leave out a horseshoe section to be used to cover the tracks later. This is a one and half inch section of hair for your side part and a half inch around the hairline.
2. Sew in the 18 inch extensions starting at the back and working your way towards the front where the 16 inch extensions will be sewn in. For this weave you will have to be very sparse with your application overall. In total it would be best to use one and a half to two packs of hair. Any more than this and you will have way too much volume.
3. If your own leave out hair is short, use a pair of hair shears to slide cut a bang on one side of your part. You want to keep the bang pretty long. If your own leave out hair is long or you don’t want a bang, don’t worry, you can still do this style with a faux bang.
4. Apply heat protectant on your leave out and flat iron straight to blend in with the hair extensions. Apply some more heat protectant over the hair extensions and brush through to evenly distribute
5. Heat up a large barrel curler and starting at the back, curl large sections of hair and pin them up with bobby pins to prevent them dropping too soon. Remember to start the curl about half way up the length of the extensions because you don’t want lots of volume at the roots.
6. Once all the hair is curled release them from the bobby pins. Bump under the bang section and brush it in the direction of the swoop. If you didn’t cut a bang, take a section of hair at the front that will serve as your bang and curl it from the root to create a bit of volume. Brush the hair in the direction of the swoop to create the bang and pin the excess hair behind your ear.
7. You can use some edge control cream and a soft brush to smooth your edges.
8. Sweep and pin your hair to the side allowing it to fall over your shoulders. Style the curls with your fingers only and spray with some oil sheen to enhance the gloss. You are red carpet ready!
