First hair blunder of the year

My hair has been out for the past 8 weeks, and I felt that it needed a well deserved break from my daily manipulation.

I decided to go for crochet braids again, but this time I bought a different brand of hair: Virgo Marley Braid.

I found a stylist on IG, you can check her out "hairbycassandra_kenya", and asked her to come to my house to do the crochet braids.

When she arrived and saw the braids that I bought, she looked a bit worried but continued to do my hair as was planned.

When she finished doing my hair, I was not that happy, but not that sad either. It just did not look like how I wanted it to look. Anyway, I told her that I would try to curl or straighten it and let her know how it goes (YES! Apparently crochet braiding hair can be straigthened!).

This is how it looked after she finished:

Next day I woke up with my crochet hair being twice as big and very rough in texture. I did everything I could to save this hair: combed it, applied a moisturizing butter mix to soften it, tried to make it lie flat on my hair so that it was not too bushy. Nothing worked! It remained stiff (and almost felt like plastic texture when it is burnt). I was now more worried about how my actual hair would react to this hair, given how rough in texture it had become.

I had to unfortunately appear at work like that, and luckily it was a Friday, so everyone was a bit more forgiving. That evening, I tried to put perm rods in the hair, and dipped them in hot water like usual. After letting the hair dry, and taking the perm rods down, most of the hair did not curl at all!

I am so disappointed in this experience, because it cost me a lot of time and money. Anyone who is looking to do marley crochet braids, please DO NOT buy this brand. I have even tried to google this brand of braids and I cannot find it on the net, not even on alibaba.com. So I am assuming that it is an imitation product.

I have since removed the crochet braids and I am hoping to get my usual stylist (who pulled these ones off) to do the crochet braids with a much better quality marley hair.

What would you have done in this situation?

Hair Stats

Current Hair length:

Armpit length

2019 Hair Length Goal:

Thick and healthy ends, Retain at least 4 inches

Ultimate goal:

Thick, healthy Mid-back length hair

Last relaxer touch-up:

10 February 2019 @ 14 weeks post-relaxer

Next relaxer touch-up:

Aiming for 18 May 2019 @ 14 weeks post-relaxer

Last use of direct heat:

9 April 2019

Favorite product at the moment:

Olaplex No. 3 at home treatement

Needing:

Nothing

Recent purchases:

ORS Replenishing Conditioner, Jamaican black castor oil, Keracare Humecto Conditioner, Spray bottles

10 comments

Lungi5 February 2016 at 14:58
Hey Becca, this sounds like a frustrating experience, especially with so much money going down the drain. At least you have a back up stylist who you know will do a good job.
Yvonne - Diary of Anotha Chic5 February 2016 at 18:05
oh i hate it when stuff like this happens. Marley hair is hit or miss at times.
KLP @ SavingOurStrands5 February 2016 at 20:28
UGHHHH!!! I'm frustrated for you chica! Time and $ down the drain. Fingers crossed that you can find a hair that works better for you the next time. Lesson totally learned!

KLP @ www.savingourstrands.com
Tomes Edition6 February 2016 at 06:19
Oh no, sorry it didn't work for you. I can't remember when last i did a long term protective style. I hope the next one is exactly what you want.
Naturally Kinky Me8 February 2016 at 13:16
The thought of buying something and have the picture perfect image in your mind, and wake up the following day in a different image. I am sorry for you for having to part ways so soon with the crochet braids.

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