How long can you wear braids?

[marjosc2]

I went to renfest on Sunday and had my hair braided including in little tiny ones. They still look good (as long as you wet down the whispy ones), but I don't know how long it is healthy to keep them in. Does it pull on the hair too much if you leave them in for days? I know you can go a few days without washing so that shouldn't be a problem...? Thoughts?

[Nadine <3]

If you can keep them looking nice you should be able to leave them in for quite a long time. I can't leave mine for more than 24 hours because my scalp gets itchy underneath and they start to look not so nice on me.

[Madora]

Guess it would depend on:

how your scalp feels (assuming the braids were not pulled tightly)
how "frazzled" the braids look after several days

If you feel that the braids are "pulling", then I'd definitely undo them and be done with it.

[Esperada]

I had my whole head braided once when I was in Spain, Kept them in for around 6 weeks, Still washed my hair just had to do it very gently and made sure to rinse thoroughly. There did not seem to be any damage when I did take thm out.

[marjosc2]

Thanks guys! My scalp feels fine, and the braids still look pretty good...though I might have to take them out tonight because I have a formal-ish meeting tomorrow and I am not sure if I can get away with fun renaissance in a professional environment if they are a little frizzy lol! I would love to try though! At that though, it will have been 3 days of braids. I never thought about washing them in braids though, that might work. it would probably wash out the bit of hairspray that is still present, but that isn't all bad...less chemicals can't be a bad thing.

[Timea]

I braided my hair in tiny braids last summer and it was a good thing too because a couple days later i had to have surprise surgery on my thumb and wear a half cast on my hand for a few weeks and it was a big ordeal and i couldn't use my thumb for a while after that so it was really good that i didn't have to deal with my hair. i kept those braids in for about a month and at the end they looked pretty fuzzy but i could still slick them down with water and look somewhat presentable.

you can wash your hair with them in, just be very gentle and use only a tiny bit of diluted shampoo and massage your scalp slowly and carefully. keep them in as long as is comfortable and then take them out.


when you do take them out, you will notice a lot of shed hairs but don't panic! if an average hair shed is 100 hairs per day and you wear them for 10 days, that will be 10 * 100= 1000 hairs that you appear to be losing all at once, when really you lose them at a normal rate they just couldn't fall out because they were in the braids. if you count them it will probably be less than 100 per day anyway because braids is a protective style and the individual strands won't be pulled on as much and they won't have been through brushing or combing.

[meteor]

I agree with everybody above. :)

If you choose to wash hair in braids, dilute the shampoo very well so it's easier to apply to scalp and rinse out.
Here's a video that might be helpful: How to wash hair in box braids without creating frizz - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zjWTENmSh0

[HaMalka]

After I get braids done up in my hair fancily I usually keep it in until the next Friday when I wash my hair. If the style is hurting me I take it out sooner. I have never noticed any problems from doing this.