For those who hate protective styling- part 6

**AfroIsland** · 10-25-2012, 11:17 PM

*I had a whole post already done, and then when I hit submit, the stupid internet freezes up

*

Less than an hour ago, I took down my braid and cowashed, finger-detangled, mositurized & sealed, and braided my hair back up. It took only 17 min from being to end

. I love love love this PS. I had planned to wash tomorrow (would have made it 4 days since my last wash), but when I wet my hands and added CO to re-moisturized, my hair frizzed up like crazy. So, I added more CO, put on my plastic cap and wool hat, and did random stuff until I decided that I'd pre-poo'd enough. When I took down my braid, my hair was so soft and moist. But then there was more. My ends were still curly!!! They weren't stretched or gnarled and knotted.

You know how everyone (myself included) has a long-haired grand or great-grandmother from back in the day who always wore a single braid? That's because it's the best protective style ever!!!! A single braid is quick to put in and take down with little manipulation (I lose no hair in either step), keeps moisture locked within the hair (my hair isn't 100% dry until 3 days later), keeps hair stretched without over stretching, upkeep is take scarf off and go

. Plus it cut my wash and detangle time down to 7 min.
I have never had a style have no cons at all. I am so in love <3

**CCmomof5** · 10-26-2012, 01:01 AM

I really wish you had a pic you could post of your braid, AfroIsland. Is it like a French braid down the middle or one side of your head? Or more like a plait?

I would LOVE to be able to wear a style like that - but if it's like French braid, I already know that this dense-as-heck hair of mine is very difficult to put into a decent braid. A plait - now I could probably pull that off!

I will probably try a single plait soon.

**AfroIsland** · 10-26-2012, 03:46 AM

It's just a plait, nothing fancy. I found that putting my hair in a ponytail and then plaiting it gives me a tighter (not stressful though), longer lasting braid. You can definitely do a plait, and I know that it'll look great with all of that luscious hair of yours

. I need to go back in the other thread and find the poster who put me on to the wonderful world of the single braid

.

**Cerendipity** · 10-26-2012, 11:21 AM

Tomorrow will be a week in this weave. 9 weeks to go

**AfroIsland** · 10-26-2012, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by Cerendipity

Tomorrow will be a week in this weave. 9 weeks to go

Good luck!!

**LBellatrix** · 10-27-2012, 12:39 AM

Originally Posted by AfroIsland

You know how everyone (myself included) has a long-haired grand or great-grandmother from back in the day who always wore a single braid? That's because it's the best protective style ever!!!! A single braid is quick to put in and take down with little manipulation (I lose no hair in either step), keeps moisture locked within the hair (my hair isn't 100% dry until 3 days later), keeps hair stretched without over stretching, upkeep is take scarf off and go

. Plus it cut my wash and detangle time down to 7 min.
I have never had a style have no cons at all. I am so in love <3

I never had one of those ancestors you speak of. My great-grandmother had naturally wavy hair but in the one picture I have of her it's bobbed short. And even if she DID have hair long enough to sit on, it's not like any of her four kids, five grandkids, or fifty-leven great-grands and great-great-grands inherited it...

Now that said...I won't be a grandmother or great-grandmother myself, but the single braid is my ultimate length goal. I don't even need it to be long at this point, really; I just want to be able to get it all in there without a whole lot of drama. The day I'm able to do a single French braid on stretched hair (I'm not crazy enough to think I can do this on unstretched hair) will be the day I'll say I "made it" length-wise.

--

Well, it was my intention to co-wash tonight and air-dry in braids in preparation for a mini-rope twist session tomorrow, but it's almost 7:30 and I'm still at work...and in about an hour I've got to make an appearance at an event. Tomorrow is my one free day and I really don't think I'm up to doing the full monty (co-wash, (probably) blow-dry, mini-twist). My house is a disgusting mess and I've really got to dedicate time to job-hunting, especially since I told my landlord I'm moving in the next 6-8 months.

Funny...earlier today I was surfing YT videos and one woman talked about how HARRRRDDDD having longer tightly-coiled natural hair was while at the same time saying how much all the work was "worth it"...I was sitting there thinking, well dang...you're really not being very encouraging (her video was titled "Words of encouragement" or something like that) but as I'm sitting here knowing good and damn well I don't want to spend tons of time on my hair tomorrow I'm like, well...she's kinda right...

Now I'm thinking about doing a WNG. It'll take approximately an hour to do it right (co-wash, leave-in, some kind of heavy oil or butter followed by Eco Styler olive oil gel) but compared to the 6+ hours it'd take to twist my hair, it sounds like a good trade...

**AfroIsland** · 10-27-2012, 02:58 AM

Originally Posted by LBellatrix

I never had one of those ancestors you speak of. My great-grandmother had naturally wavy hair but in the one picture I have of her it's bobbed short.

Funny...earlier today I was surfing YT videos and one woman talked about how HARRRRDDDD having longer tightly-coiled natural hair was while at the same time saying how much all the work was "worth it"...I was sitting there thinking, well dang...you're really not being very encouraging (her video was titled "Words of encouragement" or something like that) but as I'm sitting here knowing good and damn well I don't want to spend tons of time on my hair tomorrow I'm like, well...she's kinda right...

What?! You don't have a butt length great-grandma? I have read so many comments and a few threads and have known so many people with one

. And I mean one lol. I've only seen a picture of mine, but my other great-gran is alive and has no hair

. I dunno what that's about.
I know what you mean about these type of videos. Knowing myself, I'm glad that I was already natural before I discovered hair videos. I don't find those videos encouraging at all, so I tend to avoid them. But I understand how one can find them as such.

I kinda wanted to start a discussion about this:
I noticed that a majority of WL and beyond naturals (type 4 especially but also kinky type 3's) are now straightening frequently or end up going back to chemicals. It makes me sad and I find it incredibly discouraging to see so many ladies who are where I want to be, have moved to these styling methods just to manage their hair.

**LBellatrix** · 10-27-2012, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by AfroIsland

What?! You don't have a butt length great-grandma? I have read so many comments and a few threads and have known so many people with one

. And I mean one lol.

Here's where we tread into Socially Incorrect (for NP at least) thread territory:

I used to be the unofficial family genealogist and from what I know of my people (well, most of them), we're the kind of folks who even if we were mixed with thirty-leven different ethnicities and had generations of different hair lengths, textures, skin colors, and eye colors, we'd be like: "I'm black y'all/I'm black y'all/I'm blackety-black-and-I'm-black-y'all..."

I have a friend whose family tree is probably more white than black and they're just like that...and they will fight you if you say otherwise. Even the 90-something-year-old grandma will get up and haul off and hit you...we come from the fa-REAL-fa real ride-or-die Black-Is-M'Fing-Beautiful people. So when people go on about having the butt-length grandma I'm always like, "Okay...how's that working for you today?"

When I think of all the black women and girls I've known in my life who have or had their own naturally long hair, for most of them it wasn't a big huge deal. And by that I don't mean it wasn't a big huge deal in terms of caring for it because I'm sure for some of them it was (if I lined them all up today they'd span the ENTIRE texture spectrum from straight to kinky-coily). I mean they didn't act like it was all that special...and I realize that that's uncommon in a culture that fusses so much over long hanging hair. Sure, people treated them like they were special...but they themselves didn't hold themselves over everyone else, if that makes sense. I'm sure they probably had butt-length grandmas too...

Seeing how some women on hair boards and blogs act like having long hair is the be-all and end-all of life ("Black women can grow long hair too! YES WE CAN!")...I can't relate. I just can't. And I'm saying that as someone who's growing her hair out. And to that subject:

I noticed that a majority of WL and beyond naturals (type 4 especially but also kinky type 3's) are now straightening frequently or end up going back to chemicals. It makes me sad and I find it incredibly discouraging to see so many ladies who are where I want to be, have moved to these styling methods just to manage their hair.

My instinct is to add a disclaimer here but eff that: I am on record as saying that I don't think certain hair types are meant to be worn long and loose (meaning un-locked, though it could also mean long and hanging) in their natural state. NOW I'll insert the disclaimer that I'm speaking solely for myself:

If I have to go through all these hoops in terms of washing in sections, putting in hours for styling sessions, finger-detangling every one of the 100K+ hairs on my head individually, etc., just to preserve every last inch of my growth, maybe by doing so I'm fighting against nature...and maybe I SHOULD consider cutting my hair to a more manageable length (those other races do it all the time (/sarcasm)) or, if I absolutely have to make my hair conform to the long-hair ideal, maybe I SHOULD flat-iron it more or put in a texture-loosening chemical. Maybe if I have other, more important things to do with my time than fight against nature by spending hours wrestling with my long natural hair, it's OKAY for me to look for alternatives. Because as much as I may wish that my hair was like that of these two white women I used to work with (who both cut their hair super-short and were back to WL within 2 years with very little extra investment in time or effort) IT AIN'T. So the way I see it, I have two choices: Either put in the effort or don't. Either choice is perfectly okay. It's likely the case that those women you speak of have made a choice.

I know what you mean about these type of videos. Knowing myself, I'm glad that I was already natural before I discovered hair videos. I don't find those videos encouraging at all, so I tend to avoid them. But I understand how one can find them as such.

I couldn't agree more. As I'm sitting here with my co-washed hair in six large sections waiting for it to get 50% dry so I can apply my just-made batch of Shae's Pudding I am both grateful that the online natural hair community exists (because I have it to thank for everything in that previous phrase, lol) and thankful I went natural before it came into existence.

All right, long essay over; I need to clean this house...

ETA: All right, I'm back for a second...and how ironic is it that this subject comes up when cynthiarf has a new video out in which she reveals her hair after a hiatus of over a year. She hasn't confirmed what she's done to it exactly but the guess is that a chemical was involved...

**AfroIsland** · 10-27-2012, 10:30 PM

^WHAT?! I was suppose to watch her video yesterday, but didn't get the chance too. I hope cynthiarf only dyed her hair, nothing else

.

LBell, tell 'em how you feel!!

What you say is so true. I've been so over people going hard on how their mixed family is 100% of the blackest black. Being black American, I never got that and I've yet to see or hear of a non-black person up my family line. But whatever.
I still have long long hair aspirations, but suddenly having healthy hair from root to tip is actually more important that hitting a length goal. I'm also not as willing to jump through flaming hoops and do anything to keep an unmanageable length. For the first time since I've been natural, I am actually willing to entertain the thought of cutting my hair shorter if I need to.

**lea23** · 10-28-2012, 01:55 PM

Speaking of healthier hair I put mine in tst and then clipped the ends (I pretty much cut off where the twist started to get thin).

I also revisted using AOHC even though it is a bit thick for my hair strands... I desperately need some sort of moisturizer and the shea moisture product line is not working for my hair.

I expect these tst to last a week... my tst get frizzy to quick especially now that I work out 5 days a week.