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4. Braid tightness
By this, I simply mean the tightness of the braids applied not only at the root but the tightness along the hair shaft. You or your braider have to be mindful not just of how tightly your roots are gripped but also how tightly the sections of hair are wrapped and twisted to blend in with the extensions*.
Tension is often increased by professional braiders to promote the longevity of the style but let’s look at things a little closer shall we?
High Tension
We all know someone who’s had very little luck with length retention even though they wear braids or weaves the majority of the time. The fact that they are long-term protective styling often is great but if a high tension method of braiding is used, it puts the strands in a constant state of stress for the duration of the style.
During the takedown, the person notices that along with the expected shed hair, they get a great deal of breakage too. After this happens multiple times, they may assume that their hair just doesn’t grow.
Hair does have some natural elasticity but when you keep it under high tension for long periods, like a rubber band, the elasticity is lost and breakage becomes the obvious result. We all know that excessive heat is not great for our hair but along with that, high tension braids are a major reason for the loss of hair elasticity and integrity.
Medium Tension
This is of course the best way to braid hair for both hair health and longevity of the style. You work with your hair’s own elasticity and ensure that the hair is not being stretched excessively while braiding.
This means that the style will last a long time before becoming frizzy while still keeping the integrity of your hair’s structure.
Low Tension
This is also a good option but like chunky braids, the style will not have as much longevity as medium tension braids. Your hair will not suffer damage but you will definitely have to redo these often.
If you braid your own hair, recognizing that you are responsible for the lack of progress that you are seeing is… let’s say challenging. Most people don’t like to admit that they are wrong. But if you accept that you may be causing more harm than good, either change your braiding technique or you may be better off paying someone you trust to braid your hair for you.
Likewise, if your stylist is making some of these braiding mistakes either switch stylists to someone who understands the importance of healthy protective styling or learn how to braid your own hair!
Final Tip
If you are paying attention to braid size, weight, tensile strength, and tightness without properly deep conditioning your hair regularly WHILE BRAIDED, you are doing your hair a disservice.
Your hair washing regimen must continue throughout the duration of your long-term protective style to maintain proper moisture protein balance in your strands and see the fruits of your labor at the end.
Micros
the pencil size is also not good, according to me because, they are the reason for my thinning edges, if I was to have braids on, I would go for the chunky braids and make sure to tell my stylist to braid more of my hair with the extension, kinda like Beyonce’s box braids 🙂
The key is the START THE BRAID LARGE, THEN, braid the rest of the hair that is NOT attached at the scalp small(er), to your liking.
Pencil size braids are safe enough..just tell your stylist not to grip the front hairline too tight to avoid thining…my cent..
I do mini braids on my own natural hair. I can trust myself not to ruin my edges or hair
As a liscensed cosmetologist & also having thin edges…..I’ve found that despite the type of braid u get, you have to style them with minimum to no tension. So this means buns ect. Best results are to wear them hanging majority of the time! And not pulled up
Or bigger parts around the edges…or leave the shorter thinner edges out…….
Tension is everything. The lighter the braid is in weight the less likely it is to weight the hair out of the head. More important than this is what I call the Hair to Hair Ratio. We must section greater amounts of our hair to be braided than the added amount to ensure the extension doesn’t over power and weight the real hair out. I braid micro size all the time and clients report Zero hair loss. Because my braids are both painless and have a good hair to hair ratio through out.
I teach hair braiding for a living and find it amazing how uneducated most black people are about one of our oldest hair practices.
Wish I was near, so I can learn.. my granddaughters hair is mixed, soft, curly, and dried… my son has a friend that braids her hair like every 4 days cause it won’t stay in…
I would love to be in that class were are you located
When is your next class
Hair braiding is God’s gift to black hair even the time consuming aspect. There’s no other opportunity like it. When will you ever just sit and think or connect with another sister for 8 plus hours? Never. Hair braiding is our time out to regroup and reconnect. However very few people see it this way. Our impatience with our hair is why it’s in the condition it’s in. Much like fast food, quick isn’t the approach to black hair. Believe it or not. That’s why is so great when styles have a great return on investment such as lasting a few months.
i can rock the the pen sized ones, but the chunky ones i cant. the bulkiness of the braids when i lay down cause me to have headaches. not from them pulling on my hair, but from the size of them and the pain when i lay down. i cant even do big twists on my natural hair because of the pain. i think its mostly because of my fibromyalgia, either way, im going to stick with the pen size.
I’m trying to get some now! I didn’t believe you until I tried them lol
The chunky one weighs my hair down an pulls my edges out.
And Amen!
Micro braids are the worst,( If the africans do it,) they braid bits of hair ( to damn tight! n the glue for micro minis damages hair..n when they r taken out…UR HAIR COMES OUT with the fake hair. When i do my own hair/ micros, my hair never came out..I WILL NEVER LET ANOTHER AFRICAN do my hair….I GOT THIS..
Looks to me as if it just depends on you and what YOUR hair likes.
I will never let another African do micros on my hair EVER AGAIN… big, big mistake!!
The best to ensure your hair will not come out with any braid or size is to PREP ur natural hair by using a light, non greasy mosturizer,deep condition ,or simply do a co-wash. After that, safely DETANGLE and safely blowout to stretch the hair for better manage. Also, whenever gettin weave style it is highly important to take care of what under there.! Dryness leads to breakage so moisturizing is the key. Fresh braids, u shld already kno to at least wait a week before major style . After that week is gone u can wear as many buns and ponytails as u like but still keep the tension down a lil. I am a master cosmetologist, i am fully knowledged with this
Whatever the size it shouldn’t pull so right that it strains the hair roots.
My hair is VERY soft and a Lil thin but I’ve seen worse…whatever style I’ve gotten, sew-in, kinky twist, braids, updo or whatever my hair comes out in big wads even after being up only two weeks….I’ve been told, “everyone hair sheds after being up for a while”, although i think its not shedding as much just coming out, but i don’t like seeing it come out like that, so im just going to leave my hair alone…i don’t know what to do!
Nah. i did micro twists and while i was sleeping..or slanging my.backpack over my shoulder… i pulled out a twist or two…too nervous to attempt that w/braids…i like my edges
I wud never go micro. .#luvmyedges
A lot of braiders are self taught & aren’t licensed professionals. Braiding is a skill that isn’t even taught thoroughly in cosmetology school, it’s barely a part of the curriculum which is why I think we have so many issues with people losing their hair. Braiding isn’t even a part of the licensing test smh.. however, one thing I’ve learned through experience is that tension plays a huge role in hairloss. Also, the density of the section to be braided vs. the density of the extension hair is key. A really small section of natural hair with a big, heavy, dense amount of extension hair added to it is a bad idea.. the weight of that hair alone pulling on delicate areas can cause problems, even with minimal manipulation. Less really is more..
Question: So if this is true about braids then what about weaves ?
What about “Micro-Twist” ?
so true
Very Good Information!!!
The bottomline is if your hair was weak from the roots before the braids, it will be the same after them. Never had a issue with edges coming out and I stay in my hair, pulling, braiding, twisting for years. But I take care of my hair and scalp so it doesn’t easily break. Inside and Out
O no I jus installed mini braids (no weave added) for length retention. They aren’t tight and plan on keepn them n 4 weeks!! I’m a lil under APL. I’m down with moisture, I washed and DCd before I put them in. I hope my hair doesn’t fall out
Sistas, stop committing crimes against your edges. Lol!
Good info
Are any of the cosmetologist in the Birmingham Alabama area?
Renicka, your hair will be fine! Just make sure u take them out gently! This post is mostly for people with micro braids or other small braids.
iv been wearing pensized extentions for almost 6 yrs now and u have to wear them hanging free or loose bun and dont get them too tight. this is why i taught myself to do them bc the braiding shops always did them way too tight despite me directing them not to
Did anybody notice that it says pen size but showing a pencil…lol
I like tha Pen Size & the Chunky
I would like to know if I should rinse my yaki hair in vinegar and water before I braid my hair.
That is actually brilliant. I learned something valuable.
But still make sure they’re not too tight because my first set of professionally done box braids where medium (pen) size but my edges still thinned out a lot after I took them out
It’s not about the size of the braid it’s about the size of the section of your own hair that is taken to attach the braiding hair to.
Most brides take large sections in the back, middle, and sides and do tiny sections in the front the small sections of hair are too weak to hold the weight and as it grows out it becomes even weaker.
Additionally you don’t want them too tight either because that is why so many black women have traction alopecia (missing edges).
I’ve been doing my own hair for 5 years natural for 4 I’m mid back length and my first 2 years I wore strictly box braids taught myself and never did micro always pen size and this is very accurate it really did help me a lot.
Should I get braids if I have alopecia areata?
Good Job, Thanks for your tip.