Stiff, Upward Sticking Box Braids?

[Nessia12]

Man I wish that was a problem I had. If I do braids or twists they last for MAYBE a day before they loosen up, and forget about putting water on it. That is a recipe for loose wet curls.

[deecoily]

I know this is an ooolllldddd thread but I am going to add something here because we are getting a lot of hits on this topic.

Oil your scalp. If you wet your braids and scalp, wash or condition them, or even if you don't, use a rich oil on your scalp, denatured coconut oil is a good one. You have to do this if you are going to try and loosed stiff braids. Or your scalp will stay sore. Lavender is a good way to reduce any irritation but stay away from anything like peppermint until your scalp is not pulling anymore and your braids are loose. A steam treatment will help loosen tight braids too and soothe the scalp.

[Napia Mia]

I’ve been wearing my hair in large plaits daily for over a year now. For the most part, my hair is rarely loose except for the very rare puff and the even more rare braidout.

I rinse my hair thoroughly every Sunday while they’re still in braids. Then I take each one down to moisturize, clean up my parts and rebraid. I’ll leave the current parts in pace till I’m decide to do something new.

I use two products: AmPro Shine and Jam extra hold and African Royal Braid sheen spray. I saturate the length of each braid with both products and only use tha AmPro product for smoothing my edges. On clean hair, it’s really effective on smoothing and holding my coarse, edges in check for a while. Hot flashes and night sweats eventually undo that finished look, but oh well. I saturate and smooth and until it no longer feels rough and then I rebraid. They’ll look stiff at first but the next step takes care of that.

While my braids are still saturated, I pin curl them. Sleep with a scarf on. Since I do this on Sunday evening, my braids are still a little damp and the fall nicely the next morning. Shrinkage also takes hold and loosens up that stiffness. But eventually they start to dry out and I’ll sprits them in the mornings with a little braid sheen to make them cooperate.