Where have I been + Protective Style out

Hi there! It has been an awfully long time since I updated my blog. I missed all the awesome wash day themes this month :-( So much has happened this month, including travel, lots of work, and a few personal projects that have come up. There is one that you may be interested in, which I will be sharing very soon, so stay tuned...

I had my crochet braids for 6 weeks, and I could have kept them longer but I could feel my hair was crying for moisture. And I was right! After undoing my hair, my ends were not looking good at all! Was it the dry weather we have been experiencing? Or the fact that I may have accidentally dipped my hair in hot water when I curled my braids a few times? I am not sure, but the only thing I know was that those ends had to go. I got rid of about 1.5 inches in total, which I would call a mini set-back, since I had religiously moisturized my corn rows underneath, and even washed them twice during this time! But anyway, lesson learnt: Listen to your hair always! 

Wash day routine:

1.) After undoing the crochet braids and cornrows underneath, I used my tried and trusted Mane 'n Tail Detangler.
2.) I did a protein treatment with my ApHogee Keratin Reconstructor, 
3.) Shampoo'd my hair with ORS Creamy Aloe Clarifying Shampoo. 
4.) Deep conditioned overnight (yasss!) with a mixture of Creme of Nature Argan Oil Intensive Treatment + (lots of) olive oil. My hair felt very soft and moisturized the next day after washing the conditioner out. But there was so much shedding. I thought I removed all the shedded hairs before washing my hair, but I came out with almost the same amount of shedding after washing out the deep conditioner and detangling my hair.

Was this protective style a success? I wish I could say yes, but the fact that it defeated its purpose of retaining my length as much as possible, I cannot say yes. Although I have always had issues with my ends even with the regular trims, so maybe I need to figure out exactly how to keep them in tact irrespective of the style I am wearing.

Here are a few tips I learnt that may help you when you do your protective style again:

1. Do not keep your protective style for longer than your hair can handle. If your hair underneath feels dry even after moisturizing it, it is time to remove the protective style and give your hair a good deep condition. 4-6 weeks is probably your best bet, but this will differ for everyone.

2. Ensure that the plaiting/ cornrow pattern underneath protects your hair as much as possible. Beehive pattern is probably the best as it only leaves one small part of your hair exposed. At some point some of my hair was sticking out because the stylist did straight-back cornrows and sowed the ends together with a thread. The ends unfortunately unraveled before I removed the protective style.

3. Stay away from hot water styling if you cannot tell the difference between your hair (the cornrows/ plaits) and the synthetic hair that has been sown on to your hair. 

4. Always moisturize + seal your hair under your protective style - it will save you a lot of unnecessary split and dried up ends when you take your protective style out.

Any more tips you can think of that have helped you get the most out of your protective style?