Braids with or without extensions?? wich gives more brakeage?

[Saida]

I dont remember if I asked this before, but I think I did..

Ive been wondering, when I was younger and I used to get braids done with extensions I remember it making my hair grow really nicely, and after taking them out I wouldnt have a exagerated amount of brakeage, just enough to not worry or even pay attention to it...

Now I dont use extensions anymore, and I can't for other reasons, but I noticed that everytime I take my hair out of the braids done with just my hair, I have alot of brakage, im sorry I know ive been complaning alot about brakeage the last few days, but I really do need to know what it is that is causing it. Is my hair to weak to be in braids for that long without any extension, or is there something that im not doing right?? is it because I wash my hair too much when its in braids, or what could be the problem??

Any advice would be great.

Another thing I thought that maybe it could be the size of the braids, when I do them bigger I loose less hair, and smaller braids usually gets more brakeage.

TIA

 

[changedlife]

The braids without extensions are gentle IMO.

 

[Saida]

The braids without extensions are gentle IMO.

So why is the reason for my hair shedding and breaking??

 

[Nonie]

Saida, do you DC your hair when in braids? You have to keep your regimen the same when in braids as when out of them. So protein and moisture treatment are still necessary. Protein treatment make your hair stronger, while moisture makes it pliable. Also you say small braids cause more breakage. The only deduction I can make from that - since you're not using extensions - is that you may not be undoing your hair with the extra care needed for tiny braids than thick ones. Tiny braids take more manipulation to undo. If you're using a comb, you stick it in the braid more times than you do a thick braid. More manipulation means more wear and tear and thus weakening of the hair. Shedding is usually a normal thing and will always appear to be unusually more after being in braids because all the daily shed hair just gets caught inside the braid till you undo.

And back to the question of which causes more breakage, with extensions or without. Extensions would appear to be more risky because there are many people who don't know how to add them safely. For instance too much hair added to a small section means more weight than your scalp can handle hence hairloss or breakage. On the other hand, if you are like me and are pretty confident that you know how to add extension hair w/o causing damage to your own, then you would find it harder to under hair without extensions than hair with. And this is where I understand what you mean about tiny braids seeming to cause more breakage than thick. For me extensions seem to make it very easy to slip my fingers in the braid the way one would a comb and undo in a jiffy. Without extensions, finding the right spot to stick my finger gets trickier when the braids are thin. It seems the spirals make braids without extensions tighter. And when I wash my hair, instead of the braid pattern getting looser and therefore easy to undo as happens when I have extensions, braids without extensions shrink and appear to get tighter after a wash, not to mention fuzzy so that it's harder to feel the pattern and harder to undo. So while braids with extensions just seem to fall apart when I undo, without extensions, I find myself struggling to feel the pattern and undo gently if I tried to undo without a comb.

I think extensions help keep my type 4 hair from tangling as much as it would without them. Think of the additional hair separating my own hairs a bit as I cross them over so the spirals don't wrap around each other tightly. That separation means I do not have to pull my hair strands apart from a tight embrace. This means less friction between strands when undoing my braids, and hence less wear and tear.

I imagine if I braided my hair w/o extensions, I'd make my braids thicker and I'd only undo my braids when my hair was wet and drenched in conditioner so that the strands would slip over each other with less friction. (BTW does anyone do this?)

 

[grownnsexy]

Nonie,
That information was very helpful. Thank you!
I am guilty of combing my hair when it's dry, but it's only so I can rebraid it again. For some reason, I'm too stubborn and scared to comb it when its wet. My hair seems more fragile...forgive me I'm a newbie

 

[Nonie]

Nonie,
That information was very helpful. Thank you!
I am guilty of combing my hair when it's dry, but it's only so I can rebraid it again. For some reason, I'm too stubborn and scared to comb it when its wet. My hair seems more fragile...forgive me I'm a newbie

I can understand you not wanting to comb wet hair. There are many articles about wet hair being fragile but I think for us naturals, wet hair when slathered with conditioner is slippery and so the strands just slide past each other smoothly and a comb glides through easily.

If you are wearing extensions, you really don't need to comb before redoing. Using your fingers, just move down the braid really slowly, allowing the braid to kinda unravel with your help - so no rough pulling. Then once the extension is out, use your fingers to fan the hair out starting from the base. Be gentle. Keep in mind the pattern of the strands and separate them with the gentleness you would if your hair was a baby. I don't know if the fact that I don't use products stops my strands from sticking together or what, but my hair strands just seem to separate with such ease. And because they were braided, they're kinda stretched so tangle less.

Here's a pic of a braid I undid to touch up all using fingers. Notice that my hair is detangled and because it is stretched from being in braids, the job of getting the strands to separate is made a lot easier:

Now it's ready for rebraiding.

 

[Sunshine0801]

When I put my hair in box braids (without extensions), I make the braids medium-sized, because I tend to have a tougher time undoing the smaller braids. With smaller box braids, I'm more likely to get knots towards the end of my hair with some of the braids, which leads to more manipulation to remove the knots/tangles, which ultimately leads to breakage. I much prefer medium-sized box braids, since they're a breeze to remove as far as tangling/knots are concerned, and I have very little breakage.

 

[Nonie]

When I put my hair in box braids (without extensions), I make the braids medium-sized, because I tend to have a tougher time undoing the smaller braids. With smaller box braids, I'm more likely to get knots towards the end of my hair with some of the braids, which leads to more manipulation to remove the knots/tangles, which ultimately leads to breakage. I much prefer medium-sized box braids, since they're a breeze to remove as far as tangling/knots are concerned, and I have very little breakage.

Do you braid to the ends of your own hair or just to a point where you feel the extension hair won't fall out? Are the knots you talk of at the base of the braid or at the ends of your hair? (Sorry if this seems like a redundant question since you just said "end of hair" but I find my ends are stretched straight from being in braids so there's no chance of the hair curling back on itself and knotting, which is why I thought you might mean base not end.) Now if you mean the base of the braid - the starting point - then I do understand what you mean, and yes, thicker braids are less likely to knot up there. But also if you can avoid putting products on your scalp or if you can touch your braids up more often so you're not allowing your hair to mat where the braid started, you can prevent the knotting at the base. But nevertheless, you're right, thicker braids are always better than really thin ones.

 

[glamazon386]

Are you sure it's breakage and not shed hair from your hair being braided up for an extended period of time?