Braid Removal and Disappointment

cocoberry10

cocoberry10

Well-Known Member
Ladies:

I know that you all encouraged me the last time I posted about removing my braids. Well, as of today, I removed them.

I can't tell if I've experienced growth or not, b/c I haven't relaxed or straightened it. However, I feel like I had a lot more breakage than I expected.

I followed the Diva's braid tips, and when I removed them, it didn't look too damaged. However, after detangling and conditioner washing my hair, I felt like mad clumps of hair came out. When I was in the shower, I saw a few medium-large sized clumps come out, but my hair felt soft.

Maybe I'm making a big deal over it, and it wasn't so bad. But I feel like I have damaged hair. I am 34 weeks post-relaxer, so I know my new growth and relaxed hair are more fragile, but I'm still not too happy. I'll keep you all updated, and ask for your encouragement or suggestions about where to go from here. I am just feeling a little down right now. I had visions of long hair!

Thanks!

Cocoberry

p.s. Oh by the way, it looks like the longest pieces are armpit length (though a little thin), but I fear I'll have to do a major trim when I relax, so I can't tell.
 
Last edited:
noooo... you're supposed to lose a lot of hair when you take braids out!

All of the sed hair didn't get to actually fall out, so you have weeks or months of already shed hair that comes out!

Keep that in mind, maybe your hair isn't damaged :)
 
Thanks for the info, I was really worried that I lost so much hair. After reading some of the other ladies posts who had braids, and said they didn't have almost any shedding or breakage, I thought I was doomed. Also, I had the braids in for 11 weeks, but took excellent care of them.
 
I guess I also thought that when I was washing my hair, the shedded hair took some of my ends off with them. Does this happen to anyone else?
 
http://growafrohairlong.com/braidreg.html

This is a link to the Crown and Glory site. If you scroll to the bottom of this page, she has a picture of the normal amount of shedding after 2 months of braids. Try not to worry about it too much b/c it you won't really be able to gauge your progress until you relax. HTH~
 
Awww cocoberry, now I'm scared. I'm taking my braids out next Wednesday (a total of 8 weeks) and I fear that I may not have much growth. ::sigh:: I don't even want to see my hair right now...
 
It may be just shedding, but I personally don't think I shed a lot, because I never got as much hair fall as shown on the Crown and Glory site. Even on a daily basis, I only see 2-3 hairs shed. I even tried plucking out my 1st grey and it would not come out!! I think it depends on the person, but you should expect some shedding when you unbraid.

Also, make sure they are well moisturized before unbraiding. I have even used CON on my hair as I unbraid. It works very well.
 
Maybe you should just go with buns as your protective style... That is the same reason I stopped getting braids altogether... I don't like seeing all that hair at once... and that thin, fragile look to your hair once you take them out - even if it is considered "accumulated" shedding/breakage, it's very discouraging. I figure, I'd rather be able to examine my shedding/breakage on a *daily* basis... especially since I'm going to get it regardless of wearing braids or not. I want to see on a daily basis whether or not there is a problem I need to remedy right away... Rather than waiting 2 months or so after the fact, and I missed being able to do something about it because I couldn't see it happening (due to the braids).

I don't know, I may be in the minority but I do not see the point of braids as a "protective" style when you still lose hair (accumulated or not). In theory, it would be great if you could "save" hairs that way. But the nature of braiding lends itself to breakage - the tautness of the strands that you need in order to have a neat look... and the daily "twisting" of the individual plaits. And the maintence I found was more than not wearing braids (trying to wash & rinse carefully, trying to moisturize/oil each braid thoroughly, etc.)
 
NoNapNique said:
Maybe you should just go with buns as your protective style... That is the same reason I stopped getting braids altogether... I don't like seeing all that hair at once... and that thin, fragile look to your hair once you take them out - even if it is considered "accumulated" shedding/breakage, it's very discouraging. I figure, I'd rather be able to examine my shedding/breakage on a *daily* basis... especially since I'm going to get it regardless of wearing braids or not. I want to see on a daily basis whether or not there is a problem I need to remedy right away... Rather than waiting 2 months or so after the fact, and I missed being able to do something about it because I couldn't see it happening (due to the braids).

I don't know, I may be in the minority but I do not see the point of braids as a "protective" style when you still lose hair (accumulated or not). In theory, it would be great if you could "save" hairs that way. But the nature of braiding lends itself to breakage - the tautness of the strands that you need in order to have a neat look... and the daily "twisting" of the individual plaits. And the maintence I found was more than not wearing braids (trying to wash & rinse carefully, trying to moisturize/oil each braid thoroughly, etc.)
Click to expand...


I totally agree with you..i dont think braids/sewins/weaves were made for us to wear for months at a time..i think they are just for a temporay type hairstyle that should be worn at the most for a month or a couple of weeks...i seem to sometimes have more damage from wearing the braids than i do if i was wearing my own hair...the only problem i have is what do you do with the in-between phase where you cant wear protective styles..or get it into that bun...thats kind of where im at right now..i know i'll get tired of wearing hair scarves..if i could afford to get my hair done once every month and then remove the braids/sewins/weaves that would be great..but that can be pricey and expensive at least until i get to that point where i wont have to depend on wearing braids/weaves/sewins...maybe that could be one of my new years resolutions...
 
cocoberry10 said:
Thanks for the info, I was really worried that I lost so much hair. After reading some of the other ladies posts who had braids, and said they didn't have almost any shedding or breakage, I thought I was doomed. Also, I had the braids in for 11 weeks, but took excellent care of them.
Click to expand...

Shedding is to be expected when you take down your braids. I had my cornrows in for 6 weeks and I had alot of shed hair, so don't be alarmed over this! I have to be honest, I don't really do a good job of taking care of braids other than washing once a week with Nioxin shampoo and using my MTG on my scalp twice a week. I personally prefer cornrows opposed to individual braids. I would keep individual braids in for 8 weeks and when I took them down, my hair seemed to be the same length, no growth which can be discouraging. Well this is the first time since many years ago, I decided to try cornrows. I got my hair cornrowed on Saturday, and my hair is already growing and believe me, my hair does not grow fast. I believe it is the stimulation from the cornrows with the MTG and healthy eating that may be contributing to my growth. Anyhow, we all have to find out what works for us and then stick to the regime. Cornrows works for me as well as MTG and I'm happy with my results.
 
I don't know about you but I don't believe washing (shampoo or conditioner) after coming out of braids is wise for everyone. I personally experienced a traumatizing experience earlier this year when I was 13 weeks post relaxer and took out some braids I had worn for 6 weeks and after washing, my hair locked up like dreads seriously. I could not get it untangled at all by myself and when I went to a salon, they ended up getting it untangled but it cost me alot of hair.

This was not the first tiem that I had worn braids but it was the first time that I tried washing instead of relaxing as I normally do. Everyone is correct in that you lose hair that you should have shed while in braids. However, I believe that there is some unnecessary breakage caused by washing hair after braids. You want to make sure to look at the strands and see if it is shedding or breakage. I had a lot of breakage from the detangling process.
 
dbachick74 said:
I don't know about you but I don't believe washing (shampoo or conditioner) after coming out of braids is wise for everyone. I personally experienced a traumatizing experience earlier this year when I was 13 weeks post relaxer and took out some braids I had worn for 6 weeks and after washing, my hair locked up like dreads seriously. I could not get it untangled at all by myself and when I went to a salon, they ended up getting it untangled but it cost me alot of hair.

This was not the first tiem that I had worn braids but it was the first time that I tried washing instead of relaxing as I normally do. Everyone is correct in that you lose hair that you should have shed while in braids. However, I believe that there is some unnecessary breakage caused by washing hair after braids. You want to make sure to look at the strands and see if it is shedding or breakage. I had a lot of breakage from the detangling process.
Click to expand...

I agree. Once, long before I knew of this site, I took my micros out after 6 weeks. I had my hair relaxed the next day, and there was little shedding/breakage. In fact, that summer my hair grew faster than it ever has.
 
cocoberry10 said:
Ladies:

I know that you all encouraged me the last time I posted about removing my braids. Well, as of today, I removed them.

I can't tell if I've experienced growth or not, b/c I haven't relaxed or straightened it. However, I feel like I had a lot more breakage than I expected.

I followed the Diva's braid tips, and when I removed them, it didn't look too damaged. However, after detangling and conditioner washing my hair, I felt like mad clumps of hair came out. When I was in the shower, I saw a few medium-large sized clumps come out, but my hair felt soft.

Maybe I'm making a big deal over it, and it wasn't so bad. But I feel like I have damaged hair. I am 34 weeks post-relaxer, so I know my new growth and relaxed hair are more fragile, but I'm still not too happy. I'll keep you all updated, and ask for your encouragement or suggestions about where to go from here. I am just feeling a little down right now. I had visions of long hair!

Thanks!

Cocoberry

p.s. Oh by the way, it looks like the longest pieces are armpit length (though a little thin), but I fear I'll have to do a major trim when I relax, so I can't tell.
Click to expand...

Braids and Kinky twists NEVER AGAIN!!! :mad: I don't even want to go into it here, but I learned that my hair Hates being plaited or twisted with synthetic hair (including kanakelon ). This year I've had major, major setbacks because of braids and kinky twists. I will never do these again. The things I thought would protect my hair destroyed it. Btw, I did everything by the book... I'm really sorry that you have experienced this trauma, please don't do braids anymore. Your hair doesn't like it. Mine didn't, but I ignored the signs and things got even worse...
 
cocoberry10 said:
I am 34 weeks post-relaxer, so I know my new growth and relaxed hair are more fragile, but I'm still not too happy. I'll keep you all updated, and ask for your encouragement or suggestions about where to go from here. I am just feeling a little down right now. I had visions of long hair!
Click to expand...

*gasp*!! OMG!! I am so not worthy. :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:
 
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