I wear it down at let it swang for 1-3 weeks, given my mood, the weather, and what's going on.
I am a little over 8 days post and started protective styling after a week, because it's easy, and I am lazy, and good at it now, and I wanted my hair out of the way. I also just got a small trim, but my ends look great, and I took pretty good care of them this time around, but now that I know what I'm doing, I want to do an even better job.
Also the cold air here some days is very drying even this early on. In summer, at home (humid and hot, but my hair doesn't frizz from my city's weather easily, so the weather just means moisture for me), I let it hang for 3 weeks.