Long Braid and Ubiquitous 2019

This past weekend I worked at the Ubiquitous 2019 expo at the Washington Dc Convention Center and had a blast. It was my 3rd year conducting interviews but my 5th year attending.

For those not familiar with Ubiquitous Hair and Beauty Expo, it is a two-day event celebrating women no matter how they choose to wear their hair. From guest speakers to musical performances to vendors to live product demonstrations, Ubiquitous offers something for everyone.

My main reason for attending is to see all the vendors and learn about all the new products launching and to advance my interviewing skills. Where else will they hand me a microphone and dedicated videographer and allow me to interview guests, vendors AND celebrities?!?!? lol. But in all honesty, the first time I attended Ubiquitous was in 2014. At that time, I was relaxed and weaved up and spoke on a panel about hair. I was the only person with relaxed hair on the panel and not once did I feel weird about it. That is what is SO special about this expo— the celebration of ALL women no matter how they choose to wear their hair!

Now Ubiquitous 2019 was a tad different. Although I am feeling worlds better, I am still teetering around the 65-70% better range. I was only able to last about 4 hours at the expo and was not able to make it the next day at all. Your girl just isn’t at her best. But that is ok. There is always next year where I hope to partner with a brand doing their social media coverage.

After texting my friend Shauniece and consulting with Jermaine, the consensus was to rock my slicked back hair with a long Sade braid. Then because I was excited about the fall temperatures outside, I topped my look off with a wide brim hat.

The Long Braid

I really should have recorded a short video on how I achieved the look but I will do my best to share the how-to in words.

1. I washed my hair using my FAVORITE shampoo and conditioner from Carol’s Daughter, the Coco Creme Line hydration.
2. I then used KeraCare Leave In Conditioner while detangling.
3. I used a paddle brush to start the “straightening” process.
4. Eco-Styler in the green tub is my gel of choice for this look because it never flakes for me. I place it in different parts of my hair and at the top so I can really lay the hair down. I also make sure my hair is still WET!
5. After the gel, I use a bit of hair spray to really make sure it stays down.
6. Because my hair is still a bit shorter on the sides thanks to my mohawk of 2 years ago, I gather hair at the top and bottom into two ponytails.
7. The nape of my hair and the shorter length is in one small ponytail and then the top, middle, and sides of my hair go into another ponytail. Please note I make sure that both ponytails are close together so they resemble one.
8. Then I grab my 1.99 Kanekalon hair from the BSS (beauty supply store) and make one large braid.
9. I use a ponytail holder to attach it to my natural tiny ponytail and then wrap what is my natural hair around the kanekalon braid. If I was not wearing a hat I would have braided my natural hair into the kanekalon hair for better blending.
10. Because my natural hair is way curlier than the braid, I usually have to use a bigger “scrunchie” to hide it. This time I used a velcro wrap to wrap around it.

Thank you so much for reading if you made it this far and if there are any questions, comments, feedback, please drop them in the comments 🙂

Also I have included easy share buttons if you want others to see my post!