In another discussion, I shared the sentiments of the OP on what a nightmare it is if someone with type 4 hair wore microbraids without extensions, washed them repeatedly in the micros and then tried to undo them.
The hair literally feels like it's turned into locs. I didn't need more than a week of wearing the front of my hair in bangs of microbraids w/o extensions (I wash twice a week, you see) to quickly get
thatmessage. But the term "washing in braids" in that discussion caught my attention and I realized that there are many of us who use it in another way that is actually safe and even good for hair.
So I decided to create this thread just to explain to newbies who may not know of this method how I wash in braids in case it may be helpful to them. So those who already know of this method you'd be wise to exit the thread now for I refuse to be responsible for the boredom you'll be subjected to if you continue reading.
When I use the phrase "washing in braids" what I mean is my hair was loose and I put it in large plaits before I wet it.
This ensures that it stays in the detangled state I had it and shrinkage doesn't cause the strands to curl back and wrap around each other in a way that would cause knots. So when in braids, I wet the hair and apply shampoo to the plaits/braids squeezing them to get it to penetrate the plaits. I apply some to my fingers and feel through the hair that is plaited to my scalp and massage it to my heart's content (Shampooing is a wonderful excuse for me to give myself a scalp massage. If you prefer, you could use an applicator bottle to get shampoo on scalp but I don't find this necessary.) I then undo one of the plaits with shampoo still on and comb through. I stretch out the strands as I comb so that I'm opening up the coils for easy gliding of the comb. (You'll see clip later showing this.) The shampoo also provides slip to make combing easy. The combing helps me remove shed hair and further ensures that hair is still free of tangles. I then braid that back up and do the same on another plait/braid till all have been combed. Plaiting each back promptly ensures that you keep hair in that state where combing is easy.
Next I hold my head under a shower head and rinse off the shampoo first with all the plaits in massaging my scalp and squeezing plaits to get as much of the suds out. I like to repeat the undo and comb through letting the water from the shower stretch my stands and make the comb glide easier through. Undoing and combing while water is running through also ensures that all shampoo is removed. During this combing, I really make sure I'm starting from the base of the hair to the ends. I do that with each braid at a time braiding it back up before working on another.
I then apply conditioner the same way. First to all the plaits, and then I undo each and comb through.
This clip shows me combing a wet braid section of my 4B hair with conditioner on it during a "washing in braids" session, and you will notice the stretching out strands I was talking about earlier. (I would like to point out that while I do make an effort to get shampoo on my scalp, it's the opposite when it comes to conditioner: I make an effort not to get it on my scalp by not applying to the section of my hair closest to my scalp. Not only is that hair so much healthier and not in as desperate need of conditioning as the older hair, I also believe it gets "conditioned" often by my sebum (I baggy a lot) plus I don't think conditioner has any business on the scalp as it's supposed to leave a coating on hair and that on the scalp I believe causes itches galore!) So when I undo each plait to comb conditioner through, while I may get comb close to my scalp to comb my hair, I don't try to touch my scalp. Since I've been thorough with the combing thus far and keeping hair in plaits, I can trust the base of my hair is still tangle free. Again, I plait each braid back before moving to the next to comb conditioner through.
Rinsing conditioner off is similar to how I did with the shampoo. And then comes my final and favorite part: the ACV rinse dunk. I mix 1/4 cup of ACV in a basin of about 2 gallons of water. I add about 20 drops of rosemary essential oil and 20 of lavender essential oil and dunk my braided head in there and massage my scalp till I'm in heaven. I lift my head undo one braid, dunk the loose hair and comb it under water...then get up and braid it back up. I do that with all. If I'm in a hurry and haven't got time to dunk, I'll towel dry the plaits after rinsing the conditioner. Then I will undo one at a time, towel dry some more, spritz with an ACV spritz I have in a spray bottle to wet, comb through then plait back. The reason I towel dry first is so that when I spray ACV, I can be sure that all the wetness I now have is from the solution having covered my strands well. I don't want any strand to be left out. I do this to each plait. It is important to me that the last thing I use on my hair is an ACV rinse because it leaves my strands smooth as it closes cuticles. So if I don't do that glorious dunk, then I'll do the spritz and then let my hair dry in the braids. The final braiding I do after my final rinse (you know, the braiding I do to each section after the ACV rinse) is done firmly because it will be my airdrying style and I need the braids to stretch my hair. I do not undo the braids until my hair is fully dried. (Note: up to this point I have no product in my hair!) But don't let the idea of air-drying bare hair scare you; it's not as "dangerous" as it sound....
***Everything is going to be all right.
Below you can see how hair that is air-dried fully while bare like I do and in plaits ends up so nicely stretched:
At this point I can then apply S Curl and style...and the hair will be easy to comb and work with. In the above pic, I was just going to twist my hair (you can see some already done to the right) and I don't use products for that so the ACV rinse is the last thing I had on my hair. I just undid the braids one at a time and twisted it into small twists. Another thing about the braids in this last photo is they are smaller than I would normally have for a "washing in braid" session. The reason they are so small is it was only the front I was washing like this; the rest of my hair was in braid extensions. Only the front was w/o extensions coz I'd wear twisted bangs. I normally just washed in the twists along with the extensions the easy way, but on this day I just wanted to change the parting in my "bangs" and do the twists afresh so decided to undo them all and "wash in braids".
So yeah, my way of "washing in braids" may be time consuming but it becomes like clockwork once you're used to it and doesn't feel like a chore at all (coz lawd knows they don't make them any lazier than I and I wouldn't be doing it if it felt like "work"). What's more, the fact that I am NEVER faced with knots and tangles in my hair being this anal about keeping my hair detangled just makes it all worthwhile to me.
Usually I wear my hair in twists and so my usual wash sessions take a few minutes because there's no combing involved. Just shampoo, rinse, condition, rinse, ACV rinse, done. That extended ritual of "washing in braids" only happens when I am wearing my hair out.
When I straightened my hair in April 2009 that is how I washed my hair before I braided it with extensions. The first pic below shows the starting point (BTW, I cleverly parted my hair the way I knew the main parts for styling my final braid extensions would be so that I could airdry my hair and it would then be ready for braiding without any special parting being necessary. I'd just undo one braid section at a time, finger part smaller sections to put in extensions, and the rest of the hair would be out of the way and out of danger of tangling. So because of this pre-planning, no comb was necessary during the braiding since the styling parts (meaning the parts that I may want to be seen later when I style my braids depending on how I choose to wear them) were already "set" in advance.
So yeah, this is before the wash:
And this was the end of my wash:
^^I hadn't yet firmly braided each section to stretch the way I suggested you need to do at the end of the wash. This was immediately after the ACV dunk so that was my next step--hence the undone section.
HTH to newbies.
ETA: The Crown & Glory website (
www.growafrohairlong.com) has a
simpler method where you just keep the braids intact for the duration of the wash and it may work for some better than my method. But I find my way so effective and tangle-proof that I'd not change it for the world.
See, this is why you still don't know that everything is going to be awwwwwwright!
oke:
you make momma so proud 
Oh how you beamed as you chimed "♫I'm a big kid now!"♪ and oh how I clapped and cheered, "Yes you are, Baby! Yes you are!" 
. Grab a bite.....
