I did it! 7 full weeks in a protective style – it feels like I have finished a marathon in record time! I feel with protective styles I can never decide what I want, when my hair is out I am so keen to put it away so that I don’t have to deal with daily manipulation. Then when I do have a protective style, I miss my hair terribly and I can’t wait to get it off. However, I can’t really take away from the benefits of having your hair hidden for a while.

This protective style did my hair a world of good since I am so deep into my stretch (26 weeks), overall the hair felt moisturised and the new growth coming in feels heavenly. I measured about just less than 2cm of new growth which is standard for me, I normally grow 1cm of hair per month.

In terms of taking off the braids – I decided to use an oil instead of a  water based detangler so to minimise matting and give me that extra slip. I first took out all the braids, I did this over parts of Sauturday evening and Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon I proceeded with my wash day starting by detangling the knotted mess that was my hair. I took out a small section of hair and coated the hair with coconut oil, I started by removing the knots at the base of the braid using my fingers, then a wide tooth comb and finally a smaller toothed comb. I followed this process until  my whole head was done. I further detangled to ensure that I had zero knots remaining. The whole process took me about 2 hours – not bad at all – then I proceeded with my wash day.

I didn’t lose that much hair compared to the hair I lose after I have my hair in a weave, so that’s a definite positive. My ends were however not ready at all! I have a lost some length due to the length of the braids (some of my ends had to be sacrificed). So I would not recommend this hair do for someone with longer hair who is focused on length retention. I am currently transitioning, so length retention is not my #1 goal at the moment.

Wash Day

• Prepoo Coconut Oil for 20 minutes with heat
• Shampoo ORS Creamy Aloe
• Instant DC Watson’s Anti-Frizz Treatment Conditioner with Argan Oil
• Protein Conditioner Carebeau Beer and Egg Yolk Hair Treatment Wax – steamed it into my hair. I had forgotten how much I love steaming my hair!
• Leave-In Aunt Jackie’s Knot on my Watch Instant Detangling Therapy
• Moisture & Sealing AfroBotanics Conditioning Moisturiser and Olive Oil

My hair felt wonderful after it had dried! I was too tired to do anything else to my hair so I did a simple roll, tuck and pin for the week.

How long do you keep your protective styles on for?