Hi Melodee
I've been wearing braid / twist outs 'bout a month now, & plan to continue during the entire summer.
Breakage is not an issue for me
(thank God). Basically, I don't give my hair time to break, because I keep it very "moist" daily (sometimes twice a day, or if needed, more!!!), especially the last 3" of hair (the "ends").
I find that when my hair "dries", it does begin to tangle. This is when I'll "spritz" some water / oil to rejuvenate it.
Another thing, I don't wear the hair "out" all of the time. The first 2 days I'll let the hair hang, but the last 2 or 3 days, I'll pull the hair back into a bun (still moisturing daily this time with S-Curl).
My key for avoiding breakage during my "re-wash" is this.... I make sure that my initial wet "cornroll strans" are absolutely tangle free. This really helps to keep the strans tangle free once they've dried.
Re-braiding is tricky. I try to "re-braid" in the "original position". By doing this, I find that I'm following the same "crimping" pattern as the initial braids. Keep in mind, the more times u let the hair out, then re-braid, the greater the chance of having more tangles form. Because of this alone, I try to use the "original pattern".
I really hope that I made sense here