Braided Protective Styles

Hey Guys!

It’s been awhile, huh? My hair update posts always come at a random time, but I want to make sure what I’m sharing is really an update. As you may know, I suffered a “little” heat damage late last year and I’ve been steady trying to correct it. I trimmed my hair myself quite a bit so lately I haven’t been feeling like much growth has been happening. However, I try not to focus on that and rather on the health of my hair; retaining moisture seems to be the most difficult thing.

Lately, I’ve been getting tired of doing the same style over and over; also if you’ve been keeping up with my ‘Currently I am‘ posts you’d know that I’ve been dying to put in a protective style. My preferred choice of protective style is usually braids and they’re so many style techniques to choose from. A simple Pinterest search would have you overwhelmed. P.S Check out my Pinterest Braid Styles Board.

For the purpose of this post I wanted to give you guys a little insight as to what I’m currently doing with my hair. Of course by now you guessed it: BRAIDS!

But what kind?

Braided Protective Styles

Fulani Braids

This new style has been populating social media like crazyyyy and I really wanted in on it. By the time I saw Jade Kendle rocking them I knew I had to get to the hairdresser. Even though it wasn’t exactly what I wanted (missing the two braids in the center) I still loved it! Power to my big forehead girls lmao

 

 

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That’s not it guys.

Rubber Band Method Box Braids

For the past few weeks my little sister has convinced herself that she wanted to transition to a naturalista. Even though I’m with it, I just know she’ll go crawling back to the creamy crack soon and there’s nothing wrong with that. When she saw that I had in braids, she also wanted in on it. However, she’s never gotten her hair braided before and well we needed a test run before we paid money for her to get this done.

So I was home on Sunday with nothing to do and had an extra pack of braids on hand; therefore I asked if she wanted to be the guinea pig to a method I saw on YouTube. Turns out it’s pretty easy to braid your hair yourself using RUBBER BANDS (given that you know how to braid/plait).

I was really impressed with myself for a first timer and she loved them as well. They were supper easy to do and didn’t take long. I used the black elastic rubber bands and one pack kanekolan hair cut into two, the hardest thing to do was feather the ends of the hair.

For a video tutorial: Rubber Band Method Box Braids

Hair Care with Braids

Oil: I used Jamaican Black Castor Oil & Doo Gro Anti Itch Growth Oil
Jamaican Mango & Lime No More Itch Gro Spray
As I Am Cowash in a spray bottle, diluted with water

I oil my scalp every other night and use the itch spray as needed. I sleep with a satin head wrap to tie the front, then I wrap up the excess in the back and put another satin cap over it. When I realized my scalp started to flake from the buildup I sprayed a little of my mixture and rubbed it out, then spray water only to “rinse”. This is just what I do, but you can find lots of videos on YouTube detailing other processes.

Braid Extras

Spice up your braids with some beads, jewelry, or metallic string. These can also be found at your local beauty supply store or any craft shop.

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P.S I already know the next way I plan to braid my hair, but that won’t be until July.
I actually have two options this time.

What’s your favorite protective style right now?
Have you ever tried braids?
Let me know below!