My Box Braid Installation #2

I'm still on my protective styling til the end of the year challenge. So my hair was out for about a week or so before I started installing my box braids. Initially, I planned to do them crochet style, but that ended up not working out the way I wanted so I just did singles. When I was putting the braids in around the perimeter of my head, I had a moment where I felt like my hair is actually getting pretty long. Am I the only one whose definition of long hair has progressively changed during this hair journey? Yes? Oh... ok. Well most of the time, I don't think my hair is actually that long. However, when I was able to compare it to the braid I had just installed, which is clearly long, I was like wow! my hair IS getting long! :-D Of course I had to take a pic to share!

I used my usual X-Pression Braiding hair (some of which I used again from my twists) in 1B and 1B/33. After the perimeter of my hair was done, I started installing braids crochet style and I was just.not.feeling.it! I didn't get too far before I realized this either. So, I took them out and started putting singles in. It actually made for a really easy process since my hair was braided straight back. I would take out one cornrow, put all that hair into box braids, and then move onto the next cornrow. Not a lot of fighting with my huge hair for parts and such. 

People always ask me how long it takes me to complete a style like this on myself and I can never give them a real answer. I don't like to sit and do my hair straight through for some reason. I'll do the perimeter of my hair first so that I can hide the unfinished part with a bun until I'm ready to finish. I would guess I spent 5-6 hours on it total? Who knows.

I've had my braids in for a few weeks now. I actually don't remember when exactly in September I put them in. That's how I know I'm really enjoying them. I haven't been counting down the days til I meet a goal and can take them out or anything along those lines. I'm loving them! I think the ease of protective styling is allowing me to hold on to them for longer. It's so awesome when you don't have to worry about what you're going to do with your hair in the morning.

Before I gave up on the crochet idea

When I put these in, I was coming up on 14 weeks post. I definitely could have relaxed my hair, but I chose not to because I knew I wanted to put another protective style in quickly. I would have had to wait some time after relaxing before I could put these braids in and I was not up for waiting. So, I'm thinking by the time I take these out and am ready to relax my hair I'll be around 20 weeks post. Eeek! I'm a little nervous about that. I've only stretched that long once before (25 weeks to be exact) and I really had no desire to ever do it again before transitioning. But I will be excited to see how much of a difference protective styling for the past few months has made. The comparison pic makes me feel like I've made some good progress!

13 comments box braids, protective styles

Share: