Home Hair Short Box Braids Review. My Experience

Short Box Braids Review. My Experience

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

I had box braids done sometime in September and this post is a bit late but I wanted to wait till I removed them so that I can do a proper review of the whole experience. And if you are interested in knowing what I am up and about with, you may want to follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook where I update more often though it’s quite brief and the details is what I now include in a proper blog post

I loved my box braids. They were not too long and not heavy at all because they were also not bulky. So ideal for spring to summer weather. It felt like managing my actual hair with some added volume and length. I could wash them without major drama and the drying was also quite fast.

The braiding

My hair was done by Annie in Edenvale CBD by Annie. Her number is [O74 tripple 6 2486] She did not have to wash my hair because I had just washed and stretched it, ready for her to do the installing. I prefer to wash my hair and stretch it myself if I can so that I can take my time to prepare it for the protective style. She used about 2 packets of Xpression braid, colour 1B. She was awesome with my hair. She has a soft hand as well and she does not braid tight. She also asked a lot of questions to make sure she doesn’t end up doing what I don’t want done and she did the braids exactly how I wanted them. Look at the picture of the lady she had just finished doing braids on before mine.

Curly box braids with xpression hair

Curly box braids with xpression hair

Washing and maintenance

I am still recovering from chronic dandruff and a long protective style is really pushing it. But I have been really good with my treatment and diet plus the great products that I have been using to keep it controlled. However, not washing my hair would not work even if in a protective style. I washed them once though in the 3 weeks I had them in. I used the Head & Shoulders Dandruff shampoo, and followed that with the conditioner of the same brand. After that, I applied some Nashe leave-in conditioning styler and that was it. After my hair was a bit dry, I applied the Head & Shoulders hair food to keep my scalp moist and still work on the dandruff. At night, I used a satin scarf to tie my hair away and down. I say down because using a scarf instead of a bonnet helped me to have smart sleeker edges every morning.

Taking down

As I suspected, the take down was the most boring part about having these braids done. Although they did not take too long like more than 4 hours, it was just boring having to do it all. I could have kept them a bit longer than 3 weeks because they were still looking decent when I took them out but I had a string of events to attend that I needed to have my hair out. I have gone to hair events before with my hair in a protective style and some sisters would get disappointed that I had my hair hidden. Somehow they think I need to wear my hair out to such events. I don’t follow that a lot though. I had been to the same people with Havana twists in before and some asked why I had hid my hair and I thought not to appear for the second time with my hair in braids again. So I did it for them.

My hair was not very tangled to my surprise so detangling my hair was not a big issue after taking the braids out. My hair was also fairly clean since I had washed it while in the braids. I even pulled off another week before washing my hair again. which was awesome.

Will I be doing them again?

Definitely. I thoroughly enjoyed my braids hey, like I did not need to do much in the morning. With my school run which entails going to leave 3 boys at 3 different schools, I can’t really deal with more things in my mornings. So the braids offered me that. I only spritzed my hair at night before going to bed. So you can imagine what my mornings were like. Sometimes I would even drive to work in my doek/scarf and only take it off once I am seated at my desk. What bliss. I will do them again really soon. It’s the best protective style I have had in a long time. I would like to compare them with twists though which was my go to protective style for a long time. Look out for that post really soon. Otherwise, thank you for reading this far and I will talk to you soon. Here are some styles that I did with my short box braids.

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God bless you and keep smiling, helping, laughing and loving. We need each other so much. From me to you, peace…

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4 comments

Nozi 17 October 2016 - 06:32

Hi… I been trying to get my edges back since March 2016…. With such a minimum growth showing… Frustrating so much… What am I doing wrong

Ruth Mafupa 17 October 2016 - 07:14

You are probably not doing anything wrong. To grow your edges, you will need patience. Lots of it. SO hang in there. If there is some growth happening, then there is light at the end of the tunnel. Here is a link to a post I did some years back on traction alopecia http://naturalsisters.co.za/2012/07/receding-hair-line-traction-alopecia/ on tips to check if you are doing all the right things.

Lorraine 26 October 2016 - 09:46

Hi
I need your opinion on products that are advertised as cure for hairline weakness , I am growing my hair naturally and i have no idea how to take care of it, i heard about you on Azania@702 show , after some research i came across Ruutos hair and Keitu hair.I saw their Instagram photos and am a bit skeptical because i think there is no quick fix to years of damage but i am tempted as i want healthy hair.

Ruth Mafupa 28 October 2016 - 07:28

Hi Lorraine. Indeed, there is no quick fix to years of hairline damage. Stopping the act that caused the hairline to be damaged is the first thing. Massaging the scalp on the affected area is second. Massaging helps to get blood circulation close to the hair follicle to deliver nutrients, oxygen and help the follicle start producing hair again that is if it’s not dead. Most hairline remedies have antioxidants which fight inflammation on the scalp. They help you scalp to recover back to a healthy scalp and once the scalp is healthy, growing healthy hair is inevitable. So the combination of massaging your hairline plus a good product on your scalp will help with recovery of your hairline. You will need patience as well considering it may take some time before your hair grows back.

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