I need to get my hair braided to give it a rest and I haven't had extensions since being natural. I'm clueless.
I'm leaning towards twists, but I'm open to suggestions.
Hi @
WhoIAm, I have never done twists with extensions myself--although I had them done on me as a teen by a stylist--but personally I don't feel like twists hold as well as braids. However, @
MizzBrit (I meant Mook's Hair) is a pro at doing kinky twists and she probably could give you tips on how to make them last. When I had them done, my stylist braided the base to secure the hair then twisted the rest. I don't think MizzBrit does that though.
What kind of hair do I need to use that will match 4b hair?
None of the hair I have ever used has perfectly matched my own. But I always went for the less than glossy hair because it was "closer" to my own. I am partial to human hair because I find it more versatile and I am able to wear any style that one could wear on their hair and I can even use heat to curl it so that I'm never bored. So the type of hair I've used has looked like this:
in 1B not ^^that red, rather than silky shiny slippery. Wet N Wavy (or Water Wave) became my love because on days I didn't feel like doing anything, the ends would just look cute and wavy after I washed it...so I could just wear it like that:
I also like human hair because it is so much lighter than synthetic...and I find it doesn't matt. Back when I used synthetic, I used it once and done. Also I had to burn the ends to have it looking neat coz hot water just didn't cut it. Human hair gives a nice finished end, even if it unravels, it's not faned out in a stiff and ugly way. *shrug* Yeah, I'm biased.
I took the photos below to show that even though my hair doesn't match the hair I use to braid perfectly, once the braids are done, you can't really tell.
My hair is never as silky as even the least silkiest of human hair but once I braid, it's hard to see that difference:
As long as you try to match your hair color, it's only obvious if someone comes really close. Except for black girls who know about extension and get it, most people I met used to think that was my hair. They never knew me any other way and even after I took the braids out and wore twists, they still thought it was the same thing.
I think using little hair also makes a difference. MAKE SURE YOU USE LESS EXTENSION HAIR PER SECTION OF YOUR OWN so you're not carrying too much weight. I only use 1 pack and an 1/8 of the second pack for my whole head in that pic^^. I think that looks more natural. If you have too much hair it looks so fake and ahem painful!
Do I need to blow dry or stretch before I go?
You do not need to blow dry or straighten. In fact if you do, you're just asking for your braids to get messy faster. You may braid it to stretch it as it will be easier to part when it's somewhat stretched but you don't want it more than the wavy straight you get from braiding because what will happen when you wash is it would shrink and cause an accordion effect to your braids...and hence the fuzz. By not stretching it and braiding in a semi shrunken state, there will not be that much shrinking so that when you wash, the hair still looks the same. Below is what happens when I wash braids. The part that doesn't contain my hair unravels, but the part with my hair doesn't and stays neat. Maybe only one or two braids need redoing but all the others stay neat. And that's because shrinkage didn't take place.
How do I prolong the fuzz (without not washing for over 2 weeks)?
You can delay fuzz by making sure your hair is as close to shrunken as possible when you put the braids in. I wash my hair twice a week when in braids and they stay pretty neat. If they start to look messy, then soon after a wash, I may redo the ones along the part I create when I style since they will be ON TOP and visible. I then cornrow the braids in prep for a braid-out.
Why? Coz a braidout is a good disguise for messy braids:
That buys me time to redo more of the braids in the next couple of days...working on the top ones that will hide the ones underneath. Wash day may come before I've done them all (coz I never put myself through any punishment but do my braids when relaxing watching TV working on one at a time and stopping when I feel like it) so I wash, and if most of them look good, I may wear my hair down and straight or put it up in a style that keeps them all in place hiding the messy ones....Till all are redone and I'm back to looking neat. But they usually don't get messy until after several washes. And my hand-in-hair disease means I can't stop feeling for braids that are loose at the base due to growth so I rarely ever have too many braids looking messy. The incident I just described above happens if for some unknown reason, I am able to keep my hands out of my hair for weeks.
Otherwise, this is how freshly done braids look after a wash (shampoo, conditioner, ACV rinse):
Also braid to the ends. That will ensure a better hold. Human hair will unravel though when new. This is a close up of how the ends o my hair looked after ^^that wash:
The waves are due to the type of hair I used: Water Wave by
www.hisandher.com (I never get the Italian Mink coz it'd be too silky and I use any human hair even the BSS Wet N Wavy. I only spent more money on hisandher because I needed a length I couldn't find at the BSS. The waves only show where my hair isn't because my hair forces the waves straight in the areas that contain my hair. And the waves at the ends only show after I wet it.)
And the pic below show my hair after a wash when the braids were ten months old:
The one thing that happens as the hair gets old is it doesn't unravel as much as it does when it's new...but it does look a bit "dead" so braidouts or Curlformers can help put some oomph into the do:
Or you could just wear it in buns, French braid, etc.
How you wash will also make a difference on keeping fuzz at bay. Do not pile braids up on your head. Some people feel more comfortable putting the braids in big loose plaits with friendly elastics at the ends. I am OK not doing that. I just leave them hang loose and after letting the showerhead wet them, I apply shampoo (undiluted) onto my fingers and then feel through the braids to my scalp to apply. I then massage it into scalp to clean. Once I feel good about the scalp cleaning, I spray my head with water and as the shampoo suds start running down my hair, I squeeze them to clean the length of my hair. If the suds look dark/dirty, I will repeat the process. But with the frequency I use to wash my hair, one shampoo is usually all I ever need.
Once I've rinsed fully, I then put my hair in a loose cornrow roing forward or braid. I then pull out a few braids from the back and apply some conditioner to fingers and then relaxer style I apply to those braids from an inch away from scalp all the way to end of MY HAIR not the extension. I leave that hair hanging down while I pull out another few strands. This ensures I'm not missing any. When I have a few applied, I will hold them together pony style and squeeze in stages along the length to encourage conditioner to penetrate.
There are two reasons why I skip the inch close to my scalp:
- I believe conditioner has no business on my scalp and is meant for hair and coating my scalp would give me itches so I just try to keep it off;
- By not applying it to base of braids, I don't risk gunk collecting at the base and forming that knot that causes breakage.
The reason I leave the braids hanging down is that conditioner can stay away from scalp and drip to ends of my hair where it's most needed. I may wear a plastic shopping back over my head so that I don't have conditioner dripping over my body while I let it do its thang and complete my shower. I then rinse using the same squeezing motion along length I used to rinse shampoo. I keep squeezing till I don't see any frothing--which means the conditioner is out.
Lastly I mix a 1/4 cup ACV in about 2 gallons of warm water in a basin and dunk my head and massage my scalp to my hearts content. Voilà!
ETA: I meant @
Mook's hair not MizzBrit. (Sorry MizzBrit for dragging you into a thread that wasn't about you. *shameface*)
I want to learn to do them myself.
THANKS for being so through, sis!
It was extremely helpful to see in action.
