Mini Braids Styles

Back before Christmas 2011, I put mini braids in Des' hair. Prior to putting her hair in mini braids I washed Des' hair with Kinky Curly Come Clean. Once she was out of the shower I squeezed her hair in a t-shirt to remove some of the excess water. I then began parting her hair and adding a mixture of Kinky Curly Knot Today and some oils mixed together to detangle and moisturize her hair. Once I detangled each section. I then began parting her hair and applying Kinky Curly Curling Custard to braid her hair up. I parted her hair in a subway tile pattern. I did this to her whole head until we were done. We ended up with over 150 braids. 

Subway Tile Pattern

I have done mini braids on Des back in Feb and they only lasted about 2 weeks before they were a mess. So when I decided to do them this time I sought help from a fellow blogger and friend, Shay from Mainly Braids, for tips. I truly feel like her input played a huge role in how successful and long these mini braids lasted. In addition to her help, I also feel like the products I used helped tremendously. For the majority of the time after Des rinsed or co-washed her braids, we applied It's Perfectly Natural Root Food and spritz the braids with It's Perfectly Natural Turn Me Loose for daily moisture. There was one week were we used Bee Mine Hair and Scalp Moisturizer and Juicy Spritz for moisture. While she was in her mini braids we received a Curls Like Us Curl Cloth which we used to help dry her hair after showers.

Des wore her mini braids in various styles. I am going to share a few with you here.

One side up in a bow with the rest down.

Curlformers applied on mini braids after a little bit of water was spritzed on them and KCCC was applied for hold.

Mini braids were in a goddess style braid, see pic below.

Goddess style braid with the mini braids. 

Curlformers left in over night on damp mini braids with KCCC for hold.  (week 1 of KLK PSC)

Just down with a headband, a couple of days after mini braids were done. 

Inverted French braid this is towards end of the time her mini braids were in. (week 2 of KLK PSC) 

As of January 19, 2012, Des has been taking part in KandyLand Kurls' Protective Style Challenge. There are two weeks worth of styles in the pic above before we took her hair down out of her mini braids. These mini braids lasted us 6 weeks and we saw a lot of growth. 

Growth varied on different areas of head, approximately 1 inch or more. 

I will be doing updates on the other protective styles we have done in this KLK PSC in the near future. Hope you enjoyed, would love to hear your thoughts. Till the next time... Stay Blessed.

Update on Mini Braids: Going on 4 weeks

It seems like forever since I posted anything about Des' hair, but rest assured it is all there. Before Christmas, Des and I decided we wanted to try and do mini braids on her. I must admit, this is the first time I have ever kept a style in for this long. Typically Des' hair is crazy frizzy and is attempting to lock up after a week and a half. I consulted a friend/fellow blogger prior to attempting to do this set of mini braids cause I wanted to see how she was successful. I decided which products to use and decided not to rush, we did this set of mini braids over two days time about four hours total each day (that is including breaks and such). This is how the mini braids looked once we were done. I did do a side part in case Des wanted to wear her hair down.

Since then about once a week, Des co washes her hair and blot dries it with a Curl Cloth to keep the frizz down. Then I go through and "grease" her scalp with some kind of conditioner. We have been using either Bee Mine Hair & Scalp Moisturizer or It's Perfectly Natural Root Food. I then make sure I moisturize the braids themselves and seal her ends as well. On an as needed bases, her hair will be spritzed with either Bee Mine Juicy Moisturizing Daily Spritz or It's Perfectly Natural Turn Me Loose depending on which line I used on her hair already. 

As far as styling these mini braids, Des has kept it pretty simple and done most the styles herself. I did however do a kind of Goddess braid sort of 'do over the weekend. Des has stated she wants to see how long we can keep these mini braids in, she has a lot of new growth which is kind of great to see. Des does have a goal of having hip length hair (not stretched) by the end of this year. Only time will tell. Until the next time... Stay Blessed.