Celegant Foundations: the In-Person Braiding Intensive

Modules 1 to 2, 8 lessons. You meet the cohort, build your kit and set up your station, then go straight into professional sanitation: tools, workspace, hands, and the scalp and skin conditions that mean pause the service and refer the client. Nothing glamorous. Everything that keeps you and a client safe.

Modules 3 to 5, 12 lessons. Hair structure and growth cycles. Hair types, textures and porosity, and what each needs. Scalp health from a braider’s point of view. Then the consultation framework: assessment, screening for cautions, aligning what a client wants with what their hair can do, and documenting a service plan. Then the toolkit, the products, and how to judge braiding hair by quality and quantity.

Modules 6 to 7, 9 lessons. Workstation and service flow. Detangling and handling hair without breaking it. Client comfort and positioning through a long service. Then cleansing, conditioning, stretching and blow-drying for a smooth braiding surface, adapting prep to different hair types, and preparing extension hair.

Modules 8 to 10, 15 lessons. The heaviest technical week in the course. Grip and hand position. The three-strand foundation. Tension control. Rhythm and consistency. Recognising and correcting your own errors mid-braid. Then parting: the clean part, box, brick-lay and triangle parts, brick-lay being the one that offsets every row like bricks in a wall, planning and mapping a full head, and the step-back check, where you stand back from the head to see whether the parts line up before you carry on. Then three-strand on the head, the two-strand twist, the rubber-band grip method and the basic method for adding extension hair.

Module 11, 5 lessons. The underhand cornrow motion and feeding hair as you go. Straight-backs. Then a full head, sequenced and paced with quality checkpoints along the way. Then cornrows with extensions, the basic feed-in. Then finishing: securing ends, neatening the hairline, protecting the edges.

Module 12, 6 lessons. Both starts, taught properly. The traditional knotted single braid. The knotless single braid and its smooth transition. Box and triangle parting. C (crescent) parting. Then braiding down, finishing, and the single-braid check that tells you whether the set is even.

Module 13, 4 lessons. Full-section two-strand twists on natural hair. Adding extension hair for length and fullness. A first passion or Senegalese-style twist. Finishing twists, and an honest picture of where the Twists Specialist certification takes this next.

Modules 14 to 15, 8 lessons. First session: safety first and the full install picture, the braided foundation, the basic weft and sewing stitch, and glueless wigs. Second session: the crochet base and the latch hook, a small hooked needle that draws hair through the braid, and the invisible knot, tied so nothing shows at the scalp.

Modules 15 to 16, 8 lessons. First session: installing and shaping a simple curly crochet style, and finishing it cleanly. Second session: how hair locks and the stages of the loc journey, starter locs with comb coils, starter locs from a two-strand twist, and a first retwist, taught with the cultural respect a loc client deserves.

Module 17, 5 lessons. Finishing and sealing to a professional standard. Edge and hairline styling. Aftercare counsel: wear time, safe takedown, and the conversation that gets a client to rebook. Capstone preparation with coached practice on your weakest area. Then the Foundations Capstone, assessed in person, and a one-to-one conversation about which specialty is right for you.

Week 1. What is covered: The program structure and what the credential certifies, setting up and organising your personal braiding kit and station, the practice commitment an in-person intensive asks for, and how to get help during and between sessions.

• What it gives you: You walk in nervous and walk out belonging to a cohort, with a working station, so that no practical time is lost later in the course.

Week 1. What is covered: Why sanitation matters, tool and station sanitation, personal and hand hygiene, scalp and skin awareness, and product safety and a hygienic workflow.

• What it gives you: The standard that separates a professional from someone braiding on a kitchen chair, and the confidence to recognise a scalp condition and refer instead of guessing.

Week 2. What is covered: Hair structure and the growth cycle, hair types and textures and what each needs, scalp health for braiders, and applying hair science to braiding decisions.

• What it gives you: You stop choosing tension, product and style by feel and start choosing them for a reason you can explain to a client.

Week 2. What is covered: The consultation framework, hair and scalp assessment, managing expectations, and documenting the service plan.

• What it gives you: The conversation that prevents the argument. You leave with your own consultation form and the language to say no to a style that will damage someone’s hair.

Week 2. What is covered: The braiding toolkit, products for prep, hold and finish, understanding braiding hair, human, synthetic and blends, and judging quality and estimating quantity.

• What it gives you: You stop over-buying and under-buying hair, and you can tell a client why the cheap pack is costing them their edges.

Week 3. What is covered: Workstation and service flow, detangling and hair handling, client comfort and positioning, and professionalism in the chair.

• What it gives you: The difference between a service someone endures and one they rebook. Also the reason your own back and shoulders survive a five-hour install.

Week 3. What is covered: Cleansing and conditioning for braiding, stretching and blow-drying, adapting prep to hair type, preparing extension hair, and the complete prep workflow.

• What it gives you: Most bad braid jobs are bad prep jobs. This is where a finish stops looking homemade.

Week 4. What is covered: Grip and hand position, the three-strand foundation, tension control, rhythm and consistency, and error recognition and correction.

• What it gives you: The muscle memory every single style in this course sits on top of, and the ability to feel a mistake before you can see it.

Week 4. What is covered: The clean part, box, brick-lay and triangle parts, planning and mapping the head, and consistency and the step-back check.

• What it gives you: Even parts. This is the single thing clients notice first and the single thing self-taught braiders most often get wrong.

Week 4. What is covered: Three-strand on the head, the two-strand twist, the rubber-band grip method, adding extension hair by the basic method, putting it together, and coached practice, feedback and readiness.

• What it gives you: The point where the separate skills become one motion, and the honest readiness check before the style weeks start.

Week 5. What is covered: The cornrow motion, straight-back cornrows, cornrowing a full head, cornrows with extensions and the basic feed-in, and finishing cornrows.

• What it gives you: A full head of even, flat straight-backs: the foundational style, the base for feed-ins, sew-in foundations and crochet, and the first thing you will ever be paid for.

Week 6. What is covered: What single braids are and the two starts, the traditional knotted braid, the knotless braid, box and triangle parting, C (crescent) parting, and braiding down, finishing and the single-braid check.

• What it gives you: Both starts in your hands, not just the one you find easier, and three parting systems, which is what lets you say yes to what a client actually asks for.

Week 7. What is covered: Two-strand twists in a full section, adding extensions to twists, a first passion or Senegalese twist, and finishing twists and where the specialty takes you.

• What it gives you: The gentlest style family on the hair and one of the most repeat-friendly on a service menu.

Week 8. What is covered: Safety first and the install picture, the braided foundation, basic weft and the sewing stitch, and glueless wigs and where the specialty takes you.

• What it gives you: An introduction to the highest-ticket service in the trade, taught glueless-first, with the safety principles that protect a client’s hairline.

Weeks 8 to 9. What is covered: The crochet base and the latch hook, the invisible knot, installing a simple curly style, and finishing crochet and where the specialty takes you.

• What it gives you: The fastest protective style to install: the one that lets a new braider take bookings while their braiding speed is still building.

Week 9. What is covered: How locs work and cultural respect, starter locs with comb coils, starter locs from a two-strand twist and a first retwist, and the loc journey and where the specialty takes you.

• What it gives you: Loc literacy: enough to start a client’s locs, and more importantly enough to talk honestly with someone about a commitment measured in years.

Week 10. What is covered: Finishing and sealing techniques, edge and hairline styling, aftercare and client counsel, capstone preparation with coached practice, and the Foundations Capstone and what comes next.

• What it gives you: The polish that separates a beginner’s work from a professional’s, an aftercare sheet you wrote yourself, and the credential.