How To: Caring for Braids.

Hellur AB readers! Can I just say how honoured I am to be featured here? Shout out to my haters and to the village people that gave me this dandruff curse. I have one thing to say to you: look at me now! So, yes, I battle with dandruff. This is one of the reasons I decided to stop installing weaves. Now, when I need to hide my twa, I either use a wig or have braids or twists done. With these, I find I can still care for my scalp. For the longest time, though, it never occurred to me that I could wash my braids. In the past, after the first week of having my braids in, I become anti-social. Why? My hair would have started to stink and I wouldn’t want to subject anybody to that horror. Fast forward to 2013 and I randomly decided to try to salvage my old, smelly braids (babes were broke. Desperate times… desperate measures). In case you are still wondering why I am here, today, I will be sharing with you:

How I Wash My Braids

Disclaimer: Frequent washing of braids causes them to age quicker.

What Do I Use?

Nothing different from my normal wash day regimen. How Do I Wash?

I have learnt that my hair gets dry quickly when I have braids in. I have also learnt that with braids, the dirt just seems to stick very easily. To maximise the effect of the wash without stripping my hair of the very minimal moisture, I make sure to prepoo the night before wash day. Typically, I use olive oil for this. Why? It is the cheapest oil I have in my stash. Ain’t nobody trying to use up precious, precious JBCO or any other oil that is exclusively for hair TLC, on a prepoo.

Side Note: I have prepoo’d once with PAX Bitters and not only did it help to rid my scalp of dandruff, my hair felt softer with the first wash.

When prepooing, I aim to saturate my scalp and roots as much as possible or as much as I can handle. Forget that ‘dime size’ story that they tell everywhere. Notice that I keep saying ‘scalp’. It is important to remember that in washing your braids, your main focus is on your scalp and roots; not on the body of the braids. Wrap hair as one would at night and sleep peacefully, while the oil seeps unto my forehead, ears and pillow case.

On the day, I wash at least twice with either black soap or L’Oreal EverCreme Sulphate Free Shampoo. Rinse. I then wash once with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Moisturising Conditioner. After this, I rinse with a mixture of one part Apple Cider Vinegar and one part water. Next, I line my scalp and roots generously with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Moisturising Conditioner and massage evenly. I then pack up the braids and hide them inside a shower cap. Depending on how much time I have, I can either sit around for half an hour or go into the shower and bathe the rest of my body, while the conditioner works its magic. Rinse scalp and body of braids thoroughly and wrap wet braids in a towel like a beautiful damsel. Fin! Are you disappointed? Were you expecting something more technical? It’s quite stress free and gives me such good results that I indulge every week. Scalp and hair are clean sans product build up and hair smells fresh. Like I noted above, one down side to this is that your braids, especially at the roots, start to look old.

Please leave your questions in the comment section and I hope this has touched someone’s life today.

Stay clean and fresh until I have something else to share with you.

Love and Light (or what does AB sign out with?)

Best Fran (Meemee).