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BronzeBrown said:
I actually wasn't disagreeing with washing your hair more often, my question was why a week *exactly* is the absolute maximum. Also, I agree about washing preventing product build-up, but I think the lint accumulation - which comes from clothing, towels and other knitted & terrycloth items - is unavoidable. People with locs often describe how they cut part of a lock off and find lint accumulated at the center. It's mostly unrelated to washing [in my opinion]; it's a result of the balls of lint from fabrics getting trapped within the extension.
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BronzeBrown,
I used to think lint was unavoidable too. I used to have that when I went to professional braiders and they had me using african pride or something. I later realized that the sprays were really what attracted lint, causing that accumulation at the base. I believe braid sprays and anything with a high glycerin content, or butters, castor oil, etc are bad news for braids on my head.
When I began doing my own braids, I used a combo of water, a no-buildup/liquidy conditioning spray like back to basics sunflower, and oils. And, I never went for more than a week without washing them (shampoo only). I guess a week because that's how often I would shampoo ordinarily. I also would wash 2 days before taking them down, and my hair was always completely lint and build-up free. In fact, I could and would sometimes wear the debraided hair as an out style for a couple of days.
Of course, since I could easily handle any braid slippage myself, this method worked out well for me.