Question for those who have ever worn yarn or ext. braids? Please help.

[curlytwirly06]

Hi. after realizing that I have not held on to much length past my BSL in two years I understood I needed to protective style if I wanted to hold on to some of my length and not have to trim so often. My problem is that I cannot style my hair to save my life. I am not even kidding I have fine 2-3 hair that looks terrible in anything I do. So I decided to try yarn braids.I would have gone to a professional but I am in college and don't have the money for one. It was a challenge for me because I have never so much as plaited my hair before. It took a while but I wa determined and finished.

I like the look of it but I did the parts way to small for the amount of hair I had and it came out super full. I also was not able to put the braids in very close to my scalp but maybe 1-3 centimeters down. MY scalp is very sensitive and started to ache if I did them any tighter.

Here are my questions:

1. I just gently washed them and my ends are poking out. I am now terrified that my ends are going to break off and defeat my whole purpose of doing this style.

2. They are so heavy when wet. I had a hard time washing them. Any suggestions?

3. They have slipped down a bit more after washing. I am now freaking out that this may cause some sort of breakage. Please advise

Ladies yall have to help me. It took me 3 weeks to put this in and I have to keep them in for 3 months redoing them every 30 days, washing every 2 weeks and moisturizing daily.

For reference here are pictures of my hair and the yarn twists I did.

 

[danniegirl]

be careful i have had nothing but bad experience all 3 times i decided to do yarn braids but i am actually going to give them one more try i saw some very large chunky twist done with yarn and i am going to try it they used around 12 strings in the past i used only 4 and 2.

Any way

when i wash any of my extensions i now section them off and put them UP in lose ponytails i make sure they are not hanging down at all, i feel like its to much weight on my hair with the water and stuff.

I also avoid doing my normal wash routine i just do Steaming, AC rinses and a very Light dc-ing. i do this to avoid drying my hair out and to avoid product build up.

for daily (when working out) and or weekly cleansing i use a peppermint and jojoba oil spritz on my scalp only its easy and it doesnt dry out my hair in the braids

when i do go for a full wash cycle i will prepare to re-braid my whole head within the next full days because the hair becomes dry its really hard to re-moisture hair while its braided within extensions. Also my hair type will coil around my extensions when it becomes to dry

 

[curlytwirly06]

Thanks for responding. Any info of my ends and slippage bad results from slippage?

 

[curlytwirly06]

Bumping for answers.

 

[southerncitygirl]

curlywirly06

you have fine hair and braids that are eithertoo big or too small could break your hair off and give you a setback, this can even happen to folks with medium density strands. look up the crown and glory method on here via the search. I would mist with a water based moisturizing spray like a braid sheen spray and seal with a light oil 3-4 times a week and wash every 2 weeks. from here on out before braiding do a very light trim (1/8th-1/4th of an inch) and make sure you do a hardcore protein treatment followed by a moisturizing deep conditioner.... if thats too much for you look for a conditioner that is a reconstructor as those have moisture & protein. make sure on wash day with the braids you dilute the shampoo in an applicator bottle and apply to scalp, let the sudsy water run down the length of the braids.

 

[robot.]

OP, I would just take them out. The fact that they are already slipping down means they won't last for much longer and you don't want that weight pulling on your hair, especially since you didn't secure it closer to your scalp.

I know it took you a while, but three months is too long to have them in if you're having trouble with it now. You will get better at braiding with time as you re-do them, so maybe start refreshing the loose ones now and then see how they hold up/how you feel.

As for washing, section your hair off and focus on your roots. I would not wash them in the shower, just to avoid that heaviness.

 

[curlytwirly06]

Thank you all for your lovely replies. I do not have the time to take them out now as I am studying for finals and would have to wait another 2-3 weeks. any suggestions till then on how to handle this?

 

[curlytwirly06]

Also I did trim my edges before I braided they were so blunt It was that that much harder to keep in the twists. Any suggestions on how to keep the end in the twists better? I will research the crown and glory method. Thank you.

 

[curlytwirly06]

curlywirly06

you have fine hair and braids that are eithertoo big or too small could break your hair off and give you a setback, this can even happen to folks with medium density strands. look up the crown and glory method on here via the search. I would mist with a water based moisturizing spray like a braid sheen spray and seal with a light oil 3-4 times a week and wash every 2 weeks. from here on out before braiding do a very light trim (1/8th-1/4th of an inch) and make sure you do a hardcore protein treatment followed by a moisturizing deep conditioner.... if thats too much for you look for a conditioner that is a reconstructor as those have moisture & protein. make sure on wash day with the braids you dilute the shampoo in an applicator bottle and apply to scalp, let the sudsy water run down the length of the braids.

Also I am adding this for those who might have the same problem I am. I think strand density and fineness has something to do with it. Towards the end I did some twist that had 3-4 times as much hair as the other ones. Those did not slip at all. While the ends did pop out of the twist more during washing they did not slip. I am thinking that once I take these down I am going to try chunky twists with yarn.

 

[danniegirl]

Thanks for responding. Any info of my ends and slippage bad results from slippage?

Redo the ones that are slipping the reason they could be slipping down is due to the way you installed them ipersonally wouldn't worry.

Also try some up dos I liked my yarn braids because it gave me a loc look so I would do loc styles while I wore them.

 

[jbwphoto1]

Not a suggestion, but I remember how heavy my yarn braids were when I washed. I don't know why it didn't occur to me wet yarn braids would be the same as having a wet sweater sitting on top of my head.