Loving the Box Braids!

Hey all!  It's been over a week since I put in V's latest style, sorry for the delay in posting.  But the delay may be fortunate because now I am able to tell you how glad I am about the style I chose!

We decided to go with all over box braids.  That's it!  No cornrows, no beads, nothing!  It is funny because after I did the style I found out that there was a protective style challenge going on at Beads, Braids and Beyond.  Doing protective styles isn't really new to us, but it is a fun challenge that they have put out there.    Part of the challenge states that you may not use beads or rubber bands or things of that nature in your style.    I am happy to say that I follow this philosophy myself.  I like to switch back and forth between decorated styles and unadorned ones to give the hair a break.

My thought process for this style was that box braids might be the PERFECT summer style!  Steph directed you to this summer time post the other day and I am doing it again so that you can see what I am talking about.  Box braids can easily be worn under a bike helmet, a swim cap, whatever!  I can treat them like B's locs by putting in pigtails and ponytails and even french braids or other creative styles.  V is so excited about this style because she really likes to wear headbands and most of her styles don't allow for that!

Love those little curly ends!

After a week of this style I am happy to say her braids are still looking FABULOUS, almost like I just put them in!  I think we will leave them in for about 4 weeks.  Then after I do something different for a few weeks, I think I will put them in again!!!  That is how excited I am about using this as a summer style.  

I actually did a similar style last summer if you recall but I used twists and a few cornrows.  I didn't want any cornrows this time and I decided to go with braids because even though they take slightly longer to put in and take out, they have better longevity.  Besides, I have Miss B to help me take out braids now so that cuts down on time considerably!   

We were out of town this weekend and we stayed in a hotel with a pool.  I decided to be the best-mom-ever and let the girls go WITHOUT swim caps!  I had them soak their hair in the shower before getting in the chlorine and then of course we rinsed like crazy when they got out.  I can see how much the girls love the freedom of swimming sans caps and that makes me smile!  As I have said before, we don't swim that often, so I don't have a firm position on how important I feel the caps are for my girls.  I don't think I would want them swimming in chlorine daily without caps.   But, it just depends on if what you are doing is working and you don't notice damage, then go with it!

Look at those braids fly!

Locs fly too!

Katie