After posting yesterday about quick and simple protective styles, what do I go and do? I don’t know what’s up with me. I guess I’ve been bunning so much lately, I was ready for something different. I had planned on doing twists or a TnC this past weekend until Irene ruined those plans. So, guess I made up for it Thursday night. I had done those two braids and thought they looked nice and wondered what a full head would look like. Well, about two hours later, this is it. They are nice and shiny, but there’s lots of scalp and they are really gappy and thin when you see them from behind *sigh.* I spiral set them on the small red flexis using some DevaCurl Set It Free to rectify that. Curls should give them some “body” (I’ll post pics soon), though they’ll probably still look thin and end up in an updo.

As to the actual styling, my hair was stretched from the bun and wasn’t hard to braid. Making straight parts and even sections was the hardest and most time-consuming element of the style. At first, I applied a little ORS Twist and Lock gel to one section before starting to braid it, thinking it would help give a nice set and hold flyaways. But, I realized quickly, the wetness of the product actually made my hair more tangled and difficult to braid. I remember CurlyNikki saying the same thing about wetting her hair to twist and I’ve experienced this when trying to cornrow wet hair with leave-in conditioner. Instead, Nikki indicated that she applies the product after the twists are finished. I decided I would just use Carol’s Daughter Healthy Hair Butter to moisturize as I braided. It’s creamy and not too wet.

My ends are still feeling a little rough despite a 3 day pre-poo and overnight DC. I really think it was those two bad shampoo experiences and the Rugged Maniac in July (remember the unintentional mud hair “masque?”). It’s only feeling a little rough at the very ends. So, I think I might do a micro trim/dusting on the braids before removing them to wash. I’m hoping to get a week out of the braids. I won’t be washing my hair this weekend as I didn’t exercise (I know, shame on me … I also had cookies twice today and McDonald’s *hanging head in shame*), so no sweaty scalp/dirty hair to cleanse.

Anywho, I also think this will be a good style for the White Water Rafting trip that was rescheduled for this Saturday. I’ll probably bun it or put it into a single braid and tuck. I doubt that I’ll get a braid-out from the style as I think that it’ll be flat and too “zig zag” wavy for me. I like big curls. If my hair was thicker, denser and had a tighter curl pattern, I think that this type of braid would probably make for a nicely defined braid-out with longevity and the ability to get bigger and better as it got older! Alas, I don’t think that is meant to be for me.

Well here are a few more pics.

Have you tried box braids? If so, what products do you use to style? How many days/weeks do you get out of them? What are the challenges? Do you get a good braid-out when releasing this protective style?