It’s been great having these braids in the past month or so. I’ve rinsed them twice since putting them in.

I must admit: they would’ve lasted longer if I’d kept them tied up more when I slept. I still slept on a satin pillowcase, but they were still flopping around.

The take out was a bit rough, I won’t lie. It took more than an hour, I lost track after that. Here’s a tip for taking out braids: apply a little oil to the ends to help take them down. I remembered my oil after these babies popped up.

Knots!!

Yikes, very frustrating and not fun. After using a small dab of olive oil on each braid, they came apart much easier. I wore the braidout today and yesterday, but I know there’s a ton of shed hair to get out and detangling I need to do.

And I tried to take a belly picture but it didn’t do my belly justice. Believe me, it’s much bigger:

After my failed braidout, which I really should’ve gotten pictures of, I decided to put in some small braids since my hair was already nice and stretched. I love my twists, but this is nice for a change. I hesistated to do these so small, as we all know that braids in general are the devil to remove compared to twists. I will report how the take down goes.

But…for now I am having lots ‘o fun! I did these with JC Nourish and Shine and Fleurtzy’s Hair Butter. Just so there’s not confusion, there is no added hair used in these braids.  It took me about 6 or 7 hours to complete.

Whew! Took a long time to do, but well worth it!

Layers are present and accounted for!

Tied back with an ouchless band

Here's the front

Used my Tomoka's Twists

Tomoka's Twists...I really liked this look. The TT's really work well with braids.

I did a loose bun

Headband courtesy of the clearance table at Sally's!

Gotta love buns! No bobby pins used at all, just two ouchless bands.

In other news, I am now 17 weeks pregnant. I’ll be finding out the sex on July 15th! Yay! I’m starting to feel a little better but have been suffering from sciatic nerve pain and also occasional bouts of low blood pressure.

In other hair related news, you must read this post from the Natural Haven blog (if you want to know the science behind hair, this is the place to be!).  JC, the author, shares her impression of the Essence live natural hair  chat. I wasn’t able to view or join in on the chat, so I can’t comment personally. However, she eloquently expresses her concerns regarding the content of the chat. (Thanks to Sharifa for sending me an email about JC’s article)

Finally, thanks to OC_Swimmer, both a Newly Natural and Runninginafatsuit.com reader, for sharing her first triathlon race report with us! Read her story here and be inspired!

Foreword: I’m copycatting Fleurtzy over at Texture Playground, she just did a beautiful braidout.

I got done swimming and didn’t feel like putting in twists. So, after a DC, I spritzed my hair with a homemade spritz, applied Afroveda Totally Twisted, and detangled each section with my Denman. I then braided largish sections, just fingerparting and grabbing. I sealed the braids with coconut oil. I let it air dry and then took it apart separating gently. I’m so happy that my hair is long enough that this looks ok now. When it was shorter, if I tried to do braids this large for a braid out, it wouldn’t have enough definition.

Braids:

Braidout:

Today’s Hair:

I took the braids out today. I thought I might leave them in longer, but 2 weeks was all they could handle of the frequent swimming. Also, I want to wear it out for a bit and then put it in twists for the triathlon (the weekend after next!!)

Tip:

Braids are a tricky creature for me. They take longer to put in than twists, they take longer to take out than twists.  My hair is also very prone to tangle when taking braids out. Here are my tips for taking them out (this is not for braids with extensions)

For a braid out: Saturate the braid end with an oil to lubricate. This makes it so much easier for me to remove them. It gives it a little slip. The first time I took braids out I nearly cried from frustration.

Braid chosen for take down

Use an oil. I actually like liquid oils for this better because they sink in better, but I used Oyin Burnt Sugar pomade just for the scent

Apply and let it sink in, then undo braid with extreme care

To take them out without a braid out: Wet and soak your hair in conditioner, then take down with care. You may want to use the end of  a rat tail comb to help separate the braid.

Detangle each braid as you undo them to get shed hair out. I’ve found that this reduces tangles and knots.

And the celebration!

Two years ago, around the end of September/beginning of October (cant remember which) is when I ended my relationship with the relaxer. Yay! Here are some growth shots. My head is not perfectly straight in both of these, but I am bad at doing this, so forgive me. It may not be perfect, but it shows marked progress. My nape does not grow/retain length as well as the front. It also shrinks up more.

The first pictures are from this past April.

April 09

Today

~~~~~

April 09

Today

And from my baby natural days, about a month after my BC:

So I’m at 2 years of growth. I haven’t measured in awhile and don’t really have a desire to. My plans for future growth? More of the same: protective styles, eating well, lots of moisture, minimal trimming. I would like to be at least BSL stretched but we will see

Thanks so much to all of my readers for their support since I’ve started this blog. And to the newbies who dream of more hair, it will happen with proper care. I am proof!

Still rockin the braids, but threw in a hair zing. I love being carefree. I swam this morning after applying liberal amounts of conditioner, rinsed well after swimming and went on my merry way. I threw a hair zing in to spice things up a bit.

I haven’t posted a hair picture in awhile so I thought I’d go ahead and post a few of the braids I did three days ago. They’re a little fuzzy, as I fell asleep on them without a satin pillowcase (Kcurly was exhausted , ya’ll!)

I did these after swimming. Here’s that I did:

-Shampooed with very diluted  AO swimmer’s Shampoo
-Oil Rinsed with Red Palm oil
-DC’d with Curls Ecstasy Conditioner
-Detangled and braided with JC Nourish and Shine
-Oiled scalp with HPO Happy Scalp

Close up

Pinned back

I’m interested to see how long these last . I’m also interested to see how long it’s going to take me to get these suckers out, because they have been hard to remove in the past. Surely I won’t start locing or anything? Eh, we will see! I know I had a devil of a time detangling because I’d been wearing my hair out so much lately.

I tried to do them smaller than I usually do them, because I’m usually just putting them in  for the resulting braid out. This time it’s all about simplicity. They took around 8 hours to put in…see why I like twists so much better?

I haven’t decided if I’m going to try and do braids or twists for the triathlon. I guess we will see. I have about 3 more weeks!! Pray for me!!

Here is my braid out from today. I did the braids a few days ago, they were pitiful looking and it was heck taking them out. I was actually in the car trying to undo them on the way to work LOL. I did the braids on dry hair to show more length and used Frizzy Pudding from Blended Beauty to braid. It turned out alright.

Lots of compliments today on it. We’ll see how it holds up during my bike ride in the morning. Helmet hair is no joke!

I held out as long as I could! The braids really could’ve lasted another week and it was a time consuming process to take them out (I had to be really careful) but here’s my braid out. It doesn’t look at all like I thought it would, but I like it a  lot.

Yesterday, I moisturized the braids before taking them out by using my homemade spritz, let it sink in (and dry) and then took them out with the help of a rat tail comb.  Last night I put a small amount of Oyin Burnt Sugar Pomade on it, loosely tied it down with a silk scarf and slept on a satin pillowcase.

If it can just last me through the weekend, I’ll be happy.

*Burnt Sugar Pomade review incoming once I’ve tested it out completely!

**Don’t forget to enter the Valentine’s Day Giveaway! I’ve gotten some great entries so far! Keep em coming!

I’ve been meaning to do a set of braids to see how it would look. I’d planned to try box braids, but I am not good at straight lines so I just fingerparted It turned out pretty good. Yesterday, I washed my hair with castile soap, detangled and DC’ed with SitriNillah Deep Conditioning Masque, and put my hair back in a pony to air dry overnight after moisturizing with shea butter. Today I braided it with Whipped Cream and dunk the ends in water to help them curl back up, a helpful tip I learned from LHCF that I also use on my twists.

My only compliant about these is that the back is a little patchy, next time I will have to get another mirror and make sure I’m braiding in the right direction. I can’t wait to see the braid out!

I will have to improve on the back next time