Braiding John's Hair

John has been growing his hair out since about last summer and I must thank my friend Kristy for all the hair knowledge she has passed on to me in our process.

First we did twists thanks to a wonderful product called NuDred - although we used Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk instead of the nudred cream.  It worked just fine for us.  We'd spend between 5-10 minutes each morning.

Twists done with the NuDred

Then we were ready to try braids and with good advice again from Kristy, I set aside an entire Saturday.  The key for us was to use TONS of conditioner, again a Shea Moisture product, and wet down a section of hair and load it up with conditioner so much so the hair looked white (it all soaks in).  Then I started at the end of his hair (not the root) and combed the tangles out with a rat tail comb.  I also used detangler which I'd spray on and leave for a few minutes before starting to work.

Adding conditioner

First hour of progress

Are we having fun yet?

second hour of process

about 3 1/2 hours into the process

Six and a half hours or so later

The finished product!

 So we watched Saturday morning cartoons and a movie, took a break to eat lunch and play outside, watched another movie, went to Gramma and Bompa's house to play with the cousins for a bit, home for another movie, dinner, and then the special features to the movie while I finished the last row.  All in all it probably took about 6 1/2 hours.  But the second time I braided them it only took 3 1/2 hours - less tangles and I kind of knew what I was doing this time.  They stay looking nice thanks to sleep caps the boys wear at night.  I re-braid John's hair after 6 weeks but every 4 weeks would probably be ideal.  And as we jumped for joy when I finished braiding it the first time, I told the Lord I'd be able to handle a little African American girl's hair now!  HA!

Hope this post was helpful!!