My Life with a Full Weave and a Closure {Temple Hair Loose Wavy Review}

(By this stage my own hair had overgrown and pushed the closure back…lol)

The last five years have proved very adventurous for me and my hair. I had my last relaxer in July 2010, planned on doing a long transition that didn’t pan out, and met Gabrielle Corney, the hairstylist who would forever change my life when it came to my hair. I’ve tried out so many different styles thanks to her—I trust her so much that most times I go in her chair like “I don’t know what I want—do you what you think is nice,” lol. So when she suggested I try a full weave with a closure even though I was nervous as heck, I trusted her.

See my past hairstyles and products I use here

Note: Most of the pics in this post were taken weeks and even months ago so I don’t remember things like makeup details for a lot of them, but I’ll list what I remember :)

Now I’ve seen tons of closures and with how many of them were sitting high on the tops of various heads, I think many of them have seen me, too…lol. I was worried about my hair looking wiggy and super obvious and well—WACK. But Gabi knows what she’s doing and wouldn’t steer me wrong. Hairstyling by Joseph, a luxury Black-owned salon in Manhattan where Gabi currently works had recently launched their own hair line—Temple Hair. They gave me three bundles of their loose wavy hair (I think the lengths are 16″, 20″, and 24″ but I really don’t remember—they were gifted to me and since the hair came the same exact time as I was sitting in the chair, I never really looked at the packaging). But it was definitely longer and had more volume than my previous weaves. Very little of my own hair was left out—only my edges and even there a really small part of them.

My hair looked amazing when I left the salon—but of course it did—Gabi is the best. But then after leaving the salon and then the next maybe two weeks after that—a girl was feeling mighty different…lol. No matter what I did to try and style it, I HATED how it looked. I wore a baseball cap most of the time because the hair looked like I was doing too much if I wore my typical super casual tee and shorts outfits when running errands so the hat balanced it out AND kept all that hair out of my face.

My hair the day after I first got it installed.

Then I started to realize why I wasn’t feeling it so much those first two weeks. I had a side part but the “swoop bang” part was much longer than what I’m used to. I happened upon an older pic of me wearing weave I really liked and saw that the difference was the way the hair was cut. Plus the hair installed was “too new,” (you can see what I mean about it looking too new in this video interview I did with Neffy Anderson which was filmed the morning after I got my hair done the first time). I like LIVED IN hair—I remembered that I most often don’t like fresh weaves and wind up liking them best after they’ve settled in after about two weeks. So on my next hair appointment I had Gabi cut the “bangs” shorter so they framed my face better and by then the hair wasn’t so “fresh out of the tube” so it looked muuuuch better. Also after the two weeks my hair started to grow out some and the closure looked more lived in as well. I was happy again…lol. Good because I was contemplating taking it all out—which wasn’t going to be an easy feat. The braid pattern for a closure is very different from that for a “regular” weave with leave out so I would’ve had to take EVERYTHING out and start from scratch :x

Me and this hat I got from Target were BFFs during the awkward stages or when I just had running around to do…lol

Tutorial on this makeup here

One of the NYX Xtreme Shine Lip Creams

This is when I realized that the problem was that the hair needed to be cut to frame my face, so I tucked it behind my ear to keep it out of my face…lol. Lip is an NYC Expert Last Lip Lacquer. (Rockaway Ruby)

Lip color is an NYC Expert Last Color (Unforgettable Fuchsia)

So about 2-3 weeks after getting the closure, I had to go back again and get it taken out and placed again. This is because the hair grows out and seems to “push” the closure back. Before the closure is placed back, the braid (or braids) in the front are unbraided and braided again (because they grow out and can make the closure look loose and displaced). This process makes it almost look like you got a brand new install so I was again happier when it was more “lived in” lol.

About 2 weeks or so after getting the front cut to frame my face—I got a dry style at DreamDry 57th (Gabi was out of town). The stylist who did it doesn’t seem to be there anymore though

Even though I had times where I HATED the hair in the beginning and was ready to take it out and get a new weave, I’m glad I pushed through because I actually wound up really, really, really loving it. I lead a very active lifestyle—I go to the gym regularly, I travel pretty often, and because of what I do for a living in the beauty industry, I need to be camera ready at random times and I need a hairstyle that’s easy for me to style and that doesn’t require a lot of prep time. [I’m of course not saying weave is the ONLY style that doesn’t require a ton of prep time—do whatever is easiest for YOU. I’m saying it works well for me.] When I was in London last month, I didn’t have to worry about lugging a ton of hair products and tools—all I needed was my satin scarf, a brush, a stylish hat, and then I bought an inexpensive curling iron with a UK plug so I wouldn’t have to worry about possibly burning out my US tools in a convertor.

See the tutorial on how I got these curls here. Lips are my Chanel lip combo.

This hair would also be perfect for swimming—I wish I had this a few months back when I was taking swimming lessons. I only had a small portion of my edges out to worry about flat-ironing so it would have made my life SO much easier back then.

Temple Hair Performance

So I LOVED the loose wavy hair—it gave me the thick, big, voluminous hair I love but it could also be tamed to be less “big” lol. The one thing though is that it did tangle a lot—I actually didn’t mind much because the trade off for me was more volume but I did need extra time to style it because of detangling. The closure would tangle even more but I’m told that’s because of the French knots used on it.

Before going to bed I’d always make sure I brushed it out and twisted it (see my process here). I could only imagine the type of tangling and then matting that could occur if I didn’t do that regularly. But with the twisting I was able to hold some of the curl and wear the hair the next day without needing to primp.

I also loved that even though this hair was different in texture than my hair in its natural state, it still looked believable (well, after it was more “lived in”…lol)

Another hat I loved. I got it here.

(These last three pics were taken during a photo shoot—my hair was styled by Tiffany Daugherty. Makeup by Andi Y. Lip color is my Chanel lip combo)

Like most hair companies, Temple Hair can be re-used many times with proper maintenance. I took mine out the other day and it still looks amazing. I may either have it turned into a half-wig or reinstall. Or I may try another Temple Hair texture—I’m having visions of trying their Relaxed Straight texture with a closure—maybe something where I can vary the part. We’ll see :)

Now that I’ve worn my first closure, I’d definitely do it again depending on my circumstances (especially if I do another round of swimming lessons). I do have to say I still prefer to have some leave out but that can change as I get more closure experience under my belt…lol.

You can see the various posts with details and such in these last bunch of pics here.

Some videos where I’m wearing the hair:

Fall Lip Colors for Dark Skin
How to Rock 70s Boho Chic
Date Night Makeup Tutorial
Summer to Fall Transition
Five Minute Makeup
How to Build a Work Wardrobe on a Budget
The Path Less Traveled (this is when it was really new—the morning after it was installed)

Where to buy:

You can find more info on Temple Hair at www.temple-hair.com. I believe they have some inventory at Hairstyling by Joseph as well but call the salon to inquire. (212) 355-6965.

Hairstyling by Joseph is located at 6 East 39th St. 2nd floor in Manhattan.