Yarn Braids...be CAREFUL!

Yarn Braids...be CAREFUL!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Yarn Braids. They are easy to put in and take out if you know what you're doing.

 When I started putting Yarn Braids in my hair for a protective style it was wonderful.

My hair was short then. Picture was taken in 2008 or 2009. I kept the braids in for about 3 months. When I took them down I had no problems at all with my hair. When my hair started to grow longer, in the winter I continued to put the braids in my hair.

Big mistake 2x over. Each time I put the braids in my hair, I moisturize them to death. Yarn is very drying and I didn't want any problems...I heard stories. So, now that my hair is longer I know that I have to concentrate the moisturization (my own word) on the yarn from the root to my shoulders. I moisturized my hair day and night with a mixture of glycerine, water, Knot Today leave-in conditioner, Hawaiian silky 14-in 1 Miracle Worker, Olive oil, and Care Free Curl Gold Instant activator. On top of that, I braided my hair with Shea Butter. This may seem excessive, but I am serious about moisture. This mixture has worked for me every since I started putting Yarn Braids in back in 2008. This mixture also works for me when I have my twist styles in and for my corn rows when I wear my wigs.

But in 2011 something went wrong. My edges were thinner and my hair felt very rough.

So after a couple of months my hair was still suffering. I decided to do a mini Big Chop. After I cut if off it started to get a lot better. It was smooth all the way down to the ends. It felt good. My hair was very short, but at least it was healthy. During this time I wore a lot of wigs. Finally my hair grew back to the original length.

 Winter came back around and guess what? The urge for YARN over took me in 2012. I put the yarn braids back in vowing to step up  my moisturization to the MAX. I kept them in for 3 months (the most I ever keep them in redoing them as needed).

 When I took them out. My hair was a disaster! I don't know what I did wrong. I cleaned them, moisturized them do death and re-did them and they were not braided tight. My edges were gone! My hair was thin! It was rough and brittle with little knots at the end. I will never put them back into my hair. Not while my hair is long. It is great for short hair, but I find that it is not good for long hair.

My hair was jacked up when I took the braids out and it got thinner, very thin. I had to cut about 4 inches off of my hair! I was so frustrated with it. It had tinny knots at the ends. It felt rough and brittle...it looked that way as well. My hair would not twist right and it was always tangled after a wash. I never had that problem...after I found the right products that is. So I switched products and kept my hair in wigs for less manipulation and every week I deep treated it with everything in my hair closet...YES I have a hair closet! It started to get back to normal. It was still rough, but I was not cutting all of that hair off. It took me too long to grow it. I did  and I am in the process of cutting it off to where it is not rough anymore, but it will take a while. I am not doing the Big-Chop a 4th time. So as of 2012 my hair looked like this before I cut off all of the rough parts:

This is after I cut off 4 inches. YES FOUR. Being the smart person that I am who never learns, I decided to put them back in earlier this year (Jan. 2013) after watching tons of videos and looking at tons of pictures. It persuaded me even though I knew better. So I put them in and in 2 weeks I took them out..lol...I could not go through that again. Common sense kicked in a little late, but when I took them out after 2 weeks my hair was fine. Now, if I want a protective style I will rock my wigs.

More Hair!! ....Y'all remember that saying?... lol  I am so old school.
If you have any comments or questions feel free to post them.