Protective styles are important for healthy hair; they reduce breakage, damage and shield the hair from the sun and weather. Some examples of protective styles would be box braids, twists, cornrows, buns, etc., with no rubber bands or beads. Most everyone in the hair care blogosphere is probably aware of the month long protective style challenge hosted by Beads, Braids & Beyond that recently took place and I wanted to share our protective style(s) with everyone. We chose to do small box/triangle/diamond braids, they are easy and versatile. I worked on them off and on for 2 days, starting on clean, detangled, well moisturized hair. I used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer all over, Bee Mine Curly Butter on each section before braiding, and Kinky-Curly Curling Custard on the ends as I finger curled them:
The braids lasted over 2 weeks, that is the longest amount of time a style has ever lasted for us!!! I changed up the look of her braids several ways during these two weeks. First, we simply added a headband (from Ni’s Ebony Curls Spot):
She participated in her school’s track meet, so I put her braids in 2 french braids to keep it out of her face:
Then we had a french braid out, adding another cute headband for some flare (this headband was purchased locally):
After the first week, they were still looking great. I washed her hair using a liquid castile hair wash from the Created by Nature line, her hair was still soaking wet in this photo:
Two cornrows in the front and a sock bun for her dance recital:
Here is another way we gave the style a different look, using only the cloth Goody ponytail holders, I put the top half up in two ponytails:
I had to attempt a variation of my favorite styles, the faux hawk:
They had been in for 2 weeks at this point, a little unraveling of the ends and fuzzy at the top, but not too bad:
She sported them in a ponytail for a couple more days while she was at her grandmas (with lots of swimming and not much care) and then they were taken down (I’ll make a post on the takedown process). Throughout these 2 1/2 weeks, I washed her hair twice, and moisturized daily with Bee Mine Luscious, really focusing on the ends.
Ok, I would really like your feedback, which style from this post was your favorite? Also, how often do you do protective styles on your/your child's hair?
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