Are you team braid and band or 👀👀? Let me know your thoughts!

In the beginning after some months I wanted to skip the braid and band. Just one wash was enough to unravel my ends. After some time I had bunching and fat ends. I had to correct them and after that I braided and banded for 3 years straight lol. I decided not to be lazy with it, because it still beats a loose natural wash day. I braid at night and hop in the shower in the morning. I washed on my off days so there wasn't any need to go outside. Plus in the beginning my hair was almost dry after 2-3 hours. So it's not like you're stuck in the house the whole day. As a loctician now all I can do is give advice. Of course some clients still do their own thing and that'sfine. Some are lucky, but many are not. And the repairs will cost them more than just 15 minutes of braiding and banding.

Tell folks to mind they business if they don’t like what you do with your hair 😂. But, I braid and band still and I am over 2 years locked. I am paranoid and it’s still quicker than my loose natural hair washes. I wash before bed and put a T-shirt over my head. Once my hair is dry enough I put my bonnet on and go to sleep. I wake up in the morning with a cute braid out and clean hair.

I definitely braid or twist and band. My hair is fine and low density. I’d rather proceed with caution so I’ll braid and band until I’m advised I don’t need to. I’ll probably still do it because I’m trying to get volume. To each its own I just want to avoid the possibility of needing costly repairs.

I have micro locs. So it’s not required for us but I did it for 3 washes. But my rubber bands kept breaking and my braids unraveled. So I said forget it. I stopped doing it and surprisingly my hair locked faster. I still had slippage but I just retied them. It wasn’t many locs that unraveled. Some locs just didn’t like the direction I had it going so I had to figure out which direction it needed to be in. Or if I needed to interlock it. The ones I twisted in the direction my hair spiraled they stopped unraveling after every wash. Now they are just locs with curly loose ends.

I totally agree. I take so many liberties with my hair, and it is thriving. I think whether or not you braid and band just depends on your individual hair situation and your tolerance for repairs if needed. I am a little over 4 months in now and unraveling or slippage is not a thing that I worry about at all. My hair is starting to lock and what is not yet locked is not going anywhere. I do, however, have loose ends that will frizz if I don't braid and band, and I don't like that at all. I do not want my ends to lock fat, and I do not trust that the fat ends will work themselves out plus I don't have pain during reties and don't want it. The rules are great to have as guidelines, but hair care is not a one size fits all system. If it was, we would not have 10,000 different brands and types of hair care products.

I stopped at 6-7 months and haven’t had any issues. My hair is type 4 b/c.

First❤