Dear Mireille, I have decided to go natural with my hair. The last time I relaxed was on March 25, 2013. In the meantime, my hair in the middle of my head has grown out more than 2 cm. The front is a bit less (1 cm) because this always broke due to relaxing.
Now I have been using a transitioning style for about 3 weeks and want to switch to braiding. However, I am afraid that my hair will break because of this. Especially the hairline. What do you advise? And how long after your last relaxing session can you braid your hair?I don't know if my photos are of any use to you.
Thank you in advance!
Grace
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Hi Grace,
Thank you for visiting kroeshaar.com, the photos and your question.
In principle braids do not break the hair, on the contrary, braids can make the hair flourish. What you see however is that women start braiding their hair immediately after relaxing it. So it is very good that you ask the question because braiding the hair immediately after relaxing it is guaranteed to cause hair breakage. After four weeks with a 1 cm regrowth you are good.
You always have to be very careful with the front hairline. Your picture shows that you still have hair there and from what I can see it looks like normal hair growth. The hairs there are usually naturally thinner and shorter. So it looks like braiding will not be a problem, what you have to know is that you do not add too much hair to that part of your hair that is naturally fragile.
What you also absolutely have to take into account is that the hair should not be braided too tightly. Braiding too tightly, together with braiding immediately after relaxing and braiding too thin, are the top causes why our hair breaks. So pay attention to these three things.
As an added precaution, it might also be a good idea to redo the front hairline every four weeks. This is to prevent the buildup of dirt and product residue from suffocating your own hair. You can safely leave the rest of the braids in for 8 weeks.
If you still want product advice: The Silky Shea Hair Butter is perfect for braids. It also protects your own hair from the false braid. In addition, I would shampoo every week with the Going Natural Herbal Shampoo and spray daily with the Scalp Conditioning Spray is not only wonderfully caring. It feels wonderfully refreshing and leaves no residue.
Success!
