Let’s talk about one piece headwraps! Have you heard about them? I talked about these on my Instagram page a short while ago and showed off a few of my favorites. Today I’m showing you how to put them on and style them, in an easy tutorial.

But first, let’s dive into a brief cultural history of headwraps.

A brief history of headwraps

Headwraps are a Black cultural symbol. Before Africa was colonized, headwraps were worn as status symbols and to show family lineage and marriage.

Besides hairstyles and a few other traditional practices, headwraps were one of the very few cultural pieces that slaves were able to carry over to the Americas and other slave centers in other parts of the world. 

So it’s no wonder why we love them so much in Black American culture. 

I can’t get enough of one piece headwraps

I can still remember when Erykah Badu’s first album, Baduizm, debuted and women were flocking to rock a regal headwrap just like the one she wore in the On and On music video.  

I was in the first few years of my natural hair journey when I donned my first one. I fell in love with wearing headwraps because they were perfect for giving my hair a rest and for expressing myself.  I bought colors and patterns to match my outfits or mood, and they really made me feel beautiful. 

I remember going to the craft store to buy yards of fabric just so I could have a closet full of cute colors and patterned headwraps.

The difficulty back then was that there weren’t a lot of tutorials or instructions about how to tie headwraps properly.  So, we all just did the best that we could or swapped ideas in Black online forums.

How To Style One Piece Headwraps

Nowadays, there are a lot of cheat methods to getting the perfect headwrap styles.  One of them is the one piece headwrap.  Have you seen these?

I love to buy one piece headwraps in a lot of colors and patterns just like I did with my plain fabric ones back in the day. But, these are a lot cheaper and super quick to style. 

Create your base

Headwraps need a good base to stand tall. Loosely gather or brush your hair into a mound on the top of your head.  If your hair is thin, you can use a wide ponytail holder or a thin scarf to secure your hair into the position.

But, do not tie your hair into a pony. Leave it as loose as possible.

Position your one piece headwrap

Line up the front of your headwrap with the front of your head and place it on like a cap. A couple of ways to know that you’re putting it on correctly are to make sure that the seam is at the back of your head, straight down your nape. 

Another way to tell is that the point where the fabric overlaps (if applicable) should line up with the front of your head. 

Begin wrapping your headwrap

Hold your headwrap tightly in the front with your non-dominant hand (kudos to you if you’re ambidextrous).  With your dominant hand, begin wrapping the loose end of your headwrap around the front of your head in an upward circular motion. 

Each time you wrap around and reach your first hand with the other, remove your securing hand and place it on top of your wrap, making sure to hold down tightly as you continue wrapping.

Secure the ends

Secure the end of your wrap by tucking it underneath your tightest fold.  This should likely be the 2nd row of fabric. Make sure you tuck in enough to hold and lay the tucked fabric flat inside the tuck before you remove your hand.

Adjust and style as needed and you are done!

Check out my hair video where I show you how to style a one piece headwrap, quickly and easily.  These wraps take less than a minute to style and can help you to always be camera ready.

⇒  https://youtu.be/U-G5ZWCyKpk  ⇐

I hope this post enlightened you about the history of headwraps and inspired you to try something new.

Until next time Star!

Do you like to wear headwraps? What’s your favorite style?