Braid looks hairy after a few hours.

[Ponytale]

Hi, I have fine blond hair, and now that I am gaining some thickness, I have felt better using braids.

The problem is, after a few hours, they look hairy. Yesterday I made a perfect 5-strand (inspired by someone on the boards :wink:), I braided while the hair was damp, added a touch of oil, and despite this, it became "hairy".

Am I just destined to messy braids--or does any one have a good method to prevent this?

Thanks!

[Riot Crrl]

Is it rubbing on your clothes, chair, car seat, etc? Are you in the wind?

[Gumball]

That's actually pretty common. Lots of us have braids that go furry after a while. It's just a byproduct of the day's wear and tear. Sometimes the braid rubs against something and that exasperates the issue, but sometimes hair just finds ways to unbraid itself strand by strand. I get it a lot partially because I know my braid rubs against my back, but also because I have curly hair so it likes finding ways to escape anyway. There are tips and tricks to help try to maintain a neater looking braid for longer, but ultimately hair is hair. Some people just decide to rebraid then. Hehe. A few hours of a neat braid is pretty good though! :flower: Sounds like it looked fantastic.

[Nat242]

This is just what braids do - don't worry about it!

You could take some steps to minimise it; smooth a little oil over your braid (although it sounds like you do this already), mist it a little before you braid and when it starts to get hairy (not too much though - when hair is wet it may over-stretch when you braid), use some aloe gel before /after braiding, maybe pin your braid up before driving so it doesn't rub against the headrest, and if it's windy outside, maybe tuck it into your shirt. Of course, then it will rub on your shirt. Hmm....

Good luck! And congratulations on the 5-strand, I've never even attempted one!

-- Natalie

[joyful373]

Having fine blonde hair myself, I can totally relate. I would second the comments that were made about oiling your hair, or braiding while damp. My hair and updos look better with dirty hair, and tend to stay more secure then too. Eh- such is life. :) Hope that helps.

[froglet]

My braids are terrible about this. I used to have some pretty severe shed cycles so much of my individual hairs lengths are all over the place.

By the end of the day they resemble bottlebrushes more than braids.
:lol:

[CountessDeJager]

Tight braids with hair damp or oiled helps but just delays the inevitable like you have found. If a single braid I get the worst tangles at the nape so have used a Flexi-8 to hold it there after braiding and that helps a little as do slicker clothes. Still, as already expressed, it is what braids do. People who wear braids themselves will know it is unavoidable so won't think anything of it. Keep in mind it is not as noticeable at a distance anyway. One handy thing about that shaggyness though, at the end of the day it makes slpit end snipping easy as the hair that got out is all spread out along the braid and easy to look over.

[spidermom]

Yes, definitely; I get fluffy braids, too. Sometimes I squirt some gel out on the side of the sink and renew it as I braid down, keeping it all nicely jelled. It lasts longer that way but will always be fluffy in the end.

[AJoifulNoise]

Unless I use a palmful of AVG, my braids get really fuzzy by the end of the day. I tend to only do braids on shampoo day which makes matters worse because my hair is sooo slippery. But, I love clean, shiny braid waves!

[kwaniesiam]

Its pretty much unavoidable. Depending on how many broken hairs of shorter ones thrown in with the length, taper, layers, etc. it'll either be fuzzier or not. Sounds like yours help up really well, congrats! Do we get pics of this 5 strand? I wish I had the skill to do one.

[Cinnamon.locks]

Same thing happens to me even when i braid totally dripping wet, it's just normal. since braid rubs against clothes and chair back i just learned to live with it.

[yldchyld]

you are not alone. I braid mine the same way with damp hair and oil and it still finds ways to become a furry rope by the end of the day.

I do like TiGi Control Freak Serum.

[Sceleste]

My braid looks like a dead rat after a few hours. I don't want to use any gels, and misting/wetting doesn't help. Oiling helps but I need to use a lot, a few drops don't do the trick, so unless it's wash day I won't use oil. I just live with the fact that my braid gets hairy and have to redo it once in a while.

[anna1850]

I just resign myself to the fact that if I'm wearing braids, I'll need to redo them every couple of hours if I want to look like I haven't been dragged through a hedge backwards.

[Anje]

It's quite normal. The braid rubbing on clothes that drag on it (like cotton in general) seems to make it worse, as does being out in the wind, but I think anyone with straighter hair is going to end up with fuzzy braids sooner or later. It does seem that people with very curly or kinky hair don't have as much of an issue with this -- their hair seems to stay nice in braids and cornrows about twice as long as works for straighties and wavies.

[Finoriel]

Yes, that´s what braids do. Annoying I know :wink: all the time for creating a neat braid and then it refuses to stay as it was. I think the more strands are used in the braid, the worse it gets. Regular English braids fuzz later than four or five strand ones do. The Herringbone is the worst of all the braided / woven ones, it starts to get hairy just while looking at it. Twisted braids = rope braids tend to fuzz out even faster. A four strand rope braid fuzzes out within an hour for me.
:rolleyes: I just ignore that if I wear the braid down or I pin it up into a bun, fake crown or fold it, then it stays neat longer because it does not rub on my shirt... no solution for windy days though. Oily hair helps, too.

[yldchyld]

My braid looks like a dead rat after a few hours



I just resign myself to the fact that if I'm wearing braids, I'll need to redo them every couple of hours if I want to look like I haven't been dragged through a hedge backwards.


heh heh....great analogies!!

[Pikkukala]

I really wish my braids wouldn't go hairy. The best thing I've found for stopping them fluffing out all over the place is to do braids which involve smaller braids - making up one or two main braids with each strand being a smaller braid. They seem to stay in place a lot better then.

Otherwise, I just use oil - quite a bit of it seems to work fairly well - I then just have problems with the oil building up in my hair.

[hurricane_gia]

I just resign myself to the fact that if I'm wearing braids, I'll need to redo them every couple of hours if I want to look like I haven't been dragged through a hedge backwards.

You say that like crawling around in hedges is a bad thing? I frequently look like I went through a hedge backwards . . . because I did. :D It was the only way I could get to the weeds to pull them up.

I have just accepted the fact that I will re-do my hair every day at lunch. It's so much a part of my daily routine that when I try out a new hairstyle and want to test its durability, I almost have to sit on my hands to keep from undoing it at lunch.

[Cantabile]

There's just no helping it. The braid's rubbing against your back, coat, shirt, etc. and random hairs pop out, giving you that lovely slightly-crazed look. :laugh: I'm afraid redoing the braid, or maybe adding some gel to smooth down the hair and slow down the flyaway look are the only solutions.

[Ursula]

There are some techniques that can help keep braids stable for a longer part of the day, but as others here have said, it is the nature of even perfect braids to gradually go fuzzy.

I wrote an article a while back on braiding techniques for greater stability. It is in the archive as "Ursula's Braid 911" and I just submitted it to the new articles section, although I don't know when/if it will be approved. You may find some of the techniques there helpful.

[Ponytale]

Wow! I am surprised by all the replies. I honestly thought everyone else was getting this and I was the only one with hairy braids! Thanks!

As to the five strand. I used the instructions here,
http://www.dreamweaverbraiding.com/braids/5strand.htm

...But I cheated. If you put your hair in a low pony tail, and then separate into five stands and do the following:
1. Drop the outer 2. Then braid the first 3 as normal,
2. Pick up the outermost and say "Under, Over, now its in the middle"
3. Pick up the other side outermost and again, "under, over, now its in the middle".
4. You are now holding five, but after a few turns, it is almost as easy as a 3 strand braid.

The "french" version works the same, but its just hard not tangling on your way down.

[Phalaenopsis]

Actually, sometimes, in a way, I like the fuzzy braid look, especially when it's a french. Makes me feel like a european farmgirl, dancing in the valleys with flowers and such :silly:
:p

[FrannyG]

I have very fine hair too, and no matter what tricks I do, my braids get fuzzy after a while too. It's just normal, and I like to think that my braids look "romantically dishevelled" when they get like that. :) It puts a whole different spin on it in my mind. You just need to shift your thinking from what you think your braids are supposed to look like.

Perfection is usually only in photos in magazines. Not in real life.

[Saranne772]

Mine do this attrociously!! And it drives me crackers. Mine have always done it and it was a pain as a child because my mother made me wear a plait to school every day and at the end of the day my hair was a total mess!

[jesamyn]

Yep, you are definitely not the only one. If I have a special event to go to, I'll gel mine into compliance. Otherwise, I just braid it while damp and use some gel to help. My wavy hair will quite happily shed or just flat start unbraiding itself at random. The layers don't help, of course, but I've accepted that my hair just attempts to escape. :)

[Ponytale]

Phalaenopsis~ I am kind of liking that analogy. I am a farm girl--just nt European :). Maybe I just need to change my attitude (great 5-strand BTW).

[SimplySmile]

I thought I was alone on this!!!

When ever you see photo's on instagram everyone's braids look beautiful. I was wondering why my look so disheveled a few hours after I get to work. I sometimes will unbraid it and wet down my hands then run them through my hair and re braid it. That seems to tame it for a few hours, but this can get awfully annoying to keep doing through out the day.

I think I am just going to embrace the fuzzy look.

:cool:

[MusicalSpoons]

Few hours? Mine are fuzzy after a few minutes, once the hair's settled, unless I bun it *immediately* (no time for deciding what bun or hairtoy - it has to go up straight away) and even then it's fuzzy within the hour :shrug: For such compressible hair, it really doesn't enjoy being next to itself :hmm: :laugh: