Hi all, just a quick update with a couple of pics. I braided my hair around the 8th of January. I originally planned to keep these same braids in until June, which makes this the mid-way point. This is also the longest I’ve worn mini braids without redoing them. I have in the past taken out and redone a braid at time to stretch the total time in braids. But I’ve never gone longer than about 6-8 weeks in the exact same braids.
I started drafting this post prior to deciding to take the braids out. It’s now mid April and the braids are out. I’ve had my hair loose for about a week. The take down started on the 10th of April, which makes it 13 weeks total in the same mini braids.
Overall the experience was what I expected. However, I haven’t worn mini braids for this long in a really long time so I wasn’t fully prepared. I washed my hair at least weekly. I kept the braids in a bun almost every day.
The biggest issue I came across was hair webbing at the root. To avoid this, I made sure the parts were as straight as possible. See my article here are “How to Part on a Grid.” Due to the fineness of my strands, I still had quite a lot of hair that stretched between braids. The danger here was that the stretched hairs were more likely to break at the root. I was therefore limited in the styles I could put my hair in as my hair grew out.
If you read through my ebook, you’ll see that I usually let the ends of my hair unravel on their own. I like the look of curly ends. It makes taking the braids out easier since there’s less length to unbraid. Loose ends are however harder to maintain, especially with frequent washing. As time went on and the hair unraveled, I became less motivated to smooth the ends into clumped curls and coils and just left them frizzy between washes. I think this lead to more tangling than usual.
Here are some pics of my roots and ends at month 3 of wearing these mini braids. Please comment below and ask any questions you may have about stretching protective hairstyles.
roots at 3 months 
webbed hair at the root 
unraveled ends after a wash 
smoothed and conditioned ends
Your hair looks really healthy and thick! Question, for hair webbing at the roots, can you put a leave in conditioner or water to maintain the hair webbing? Thank you.
Thank you! I conditioned then entire length of my braids with a leave-in and added a butter or oil to the ends. There was no fix for the webbing at the roots. The problem was trying to separate the braids would cause tension and breakage. As long as the hair wasn’t manipulated, it would be okay. I’m not sure if using water would’ve made the situation worse actually, as my hair is fine and prone to breakage.
Occasionally, webbing happens and I notice right away. In that case, I undo the braids that are connected. I straighten the part and rebraid them. But this time, the parts were very neat and I only noticed a problem as my hair grew out.
I thought you would braid your hair in 4 sections to wash them to prevent the raveling at the ends.
Sometimes I tie the braids in bands or braid them in 4 to prevent unravelling. But eventually, I do let them unravel because I like the look of the curly ends and it makes them easier to take out when I’m ready. I was mostly working from home when I put these in, so I let them unravel right away. It depends on what look you’re going for and how slick/sleek you want your braids.