A client sits down with hair that has been relaxed twice in the past year, and she wants the fullness of locs without the commitment. You part her hair into neat squares — roughly the size of the hook you're holding — braid each section close to the scalp, then loop pre-looped hair through the base of each braid with a latch hook or a crochet hook. Two hours later she has a head of texture that moves, swings, and comes out in a weekend, and her own hair has been left alone underneath. That is crochet braids: not a braid style at all, but a braided foundation plus a hooked-in install, and the technique is the same whether you're working on a client's head or your own.
Learn the foundation stitches before you touch the hair
Crochet braids borrow their name from crochet, the yarn craft, because the install uses a hook — and the hook is the only real overlap. You do not need to know how to crochet a granny square to install them. But the better you are at the yarn side, the faster and cleaner your installs get, because the motions of holding a hook, pulling a loop through a tight space, and controlling tension are identical.
Start with a chain. To start a crochet chain, make a slip knot, wrap the working strand over the hook, and pull it through the loop on the hook. Repeat. That single motion — wrap, pull through — is the loop you'll use thousands of times during an install. From there, learn the half double crochet: yarn over, insert the hook, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over again, pull through all three loops. It sits between a single and double crochet in height and is the stitch most people find easiest to keep even, which matters because even tension is what keeps a braided foundation flat.
Then learn the shapes. A granny square teaches you to work into a chain space rather than into a stitch, and that is exactly the skill of working hair into the base of a braid — you're aiming for a gap, not a strand. A crochet circle teaches you to add stitches at a steady rate so the fabric lies flat instead of cupping; the same logic applies when you're placing hair around a curved hairline. The magic ring is the adjustable-loop start that lets you pull a circle closed, and it's the closest yarn technique to what you actually do with a latch hook: pull a loop through, open it, pull the next one through.
Hook sizes matter more than beginners expect. The Craft Yarn Council standard system lists a G-6 at 4.00 mm, an H-8 at 5.00 mm, and an I-9 at 5.50 mm. Those are the medium hooks, and they're what you'd use with worsted-weight yarn for basic blankets and hats. For crochet braids, the equivalent decision is latch hook versus crochet hook — a metal crochet hook in that medium range is what most installers reach for, because the throat holds the loop while your other hand manages the braid. Fine steel hooks exist too: a steel size 1 is 2.75 mm, meant for crochet thread and detailed work like lace edgings and doilies. A steel hook that fine is the wrong tool for hair — the throat is too shallow to hold a loop of braiding hair, and you'll fight it the whole install.
Build the braided foundation that the hair hangs from
The braid is the structure, and everything about how the finished style behaves — how flat it lies, how long it lasts, how it comes down — is decided here. Part the hair into sections. Cornrows give you the most secure base and the longest wear; individual box braids or two-strand twists give you more volume at the root and a faster takedown. The section size should match the density you want: smaller sections, more attachment points, fuller result, longer install.
Braid close to the scalp and keep the tension even across the whole head. This is where most DIY installs go wrong. A braid that is tight at the front and loose at the crown will pull unevenly, and the loose sections will shed hair within a week. Braid clean, moisturized hair — not freshly washed and soaking wet, and not coated in heavy product, because both make the braid slip. If you're working on relaxed hair, braid gently; the foundation does not need to be tight to hold, it needs to be consistent. If you're working on natural hair, you can braid slightly more firmly because the texture grips itself.
Stop the braid where you want the hair to start. If you braid all the way to the ends, you'll have no room to attach the hair without it sitting on top of the braid and looking bulky. Most installers braid to within a couple of inches of the scalp and leave the rest out, then tuck the tail under the attachment point.
Attach the hair with the hook, not around the braid
Pre-looped hair is the standard for a reason: the loop is already formed, so you're not tying knots. Take the hook, slide it under the base of one braid, catch the loop of the hair extension, and pull it through so the loop comes out the other side of the braid. Then take the two loose ends of the extension, pass them through that loop, and pull tight. The hair is now secured around the braid, not knotted to it, which is why takedown is quick and why the braid underneath stays intact.
Work in the same direction across the whole head — front to back, or side to side — so the hair lies consistently and you don't end up with sections pointing against each other. Keep the loop count per braid even. One loop per braid gives a light, natural look; two or three gives density. If you're changing colors, this is the moment: alternate loop colors between braids to blend a highlight, or place a contrast color at the front hairline only. Changing colors in crochet is done by dropping the old strand and picking up the new one before the final pull-through — in an install, it's the same idea, just with the extension loop instead of a yarn strand.
Don't pull the loops so tight that they dent the braid. You want the hair to sit against the scalp without compressing the foundation, because a compressed braid creates tension at the root and that is what causes sore spots and, eventually, breakage at the hairline.
Finish the style and plan the takedown before you start
Once every braid has hair, dip the ends in hot water — not boiling, just hot enough that you can't hold your hand in it — to set the curl pattern, then trim to shape. If you want a straighter finish, wrap the ends around a rod before dipping. Let it dry completely before you touch it, or you'll set the shape unevenly and the ends will frizz.
Maintenance is light. Sleep with a satin bonnet or a silk scarf, and don't pull the hair back tightly at the hairline. Most installs hold for a few weeks; how long depends on how fast your own hair grows out at the root, not on how well the hair was attached. When the new growth at the braid base gets long enough that the braids start to slide, it's time to take it down.
Takedown is where crochet braids earn their reputation. Cut the extension loop, not the braid, and the hair slides out. Unbraid the foundation, detangle, and wash. The whole appeal is that your own hair has been braided and left alone for weeks, with no glue, no heat, and no tension on the ends — which is also the limit. If your hair is fragile at the hairline, or if you're prone to traction damage, the braided foundation is still tension on the root, and no amount of careful hooking removes that. For those scalps, a looser cornrow base with fewer, larger sections is the safer version, even though it costs you density.