Hair Braided Abroad?

[boofles]

Hi everyone!

I'm off on holiday at the end of next week, and my husband told me there are always people there offering to braid your hair (lots of little ones I presume) and I have to admit - I'm tempted!

However, I have heard stories of peoples hair being ripped out through this, and I also worry I won't look right with this done, so I was wondering if anyone has had this done before that could share their experience?

I was thinking mostly that if it is cheap and easy to take out again, I may just have it done for 1 day and then let them out again, just to say I did it :)

[DarkCurls]

Um, where is "abroad"? :confused: And what kind of people? The only thing that springs to mind is, when I was in Spain or Crete or whatever (hey, I've seen a lot of them actually...), the stands lined up by the beach offering to braid your hair. And they used tiny elastics (the real elastic kind, not fabric-covered) and were doing very small cornrows or microbraids, and I know some people like to pull those braids tightly...
It depends, I guess. You might find someone very gentle... but as a general rule, they like to go fast and they pull tightly.

Have never had my hair braided by them as I don't like having my hair handled and I'm not letting a stranger go through my tangles I could probably do this by myself anyway. :p But I used to look enviously at the people having their hair braided because wow, it turned out pretty.

If the braids are really small, they could be a pain to take out, but you can ask for what kind of braids you want.

As for looks, these kinds of braids look gorgeous on long-ish to long hair, in my opinion. :)

If it's a one-time thing, I'm sure it couldn't hurt. It's kind of like straightening your hair once a year (although probably less damaging); it's not going to wreck your hair forever and ever.

Can't remember the price, though.

[boofles]

Um, where is "abroad"? :confused: And what kind of people?

In this case, Tenerife is the location so the rest of your description is the situation I'm thinking of.

I read somewhere whilst looking for info (which is hard to find!) that some places will braid some extra hair in for you for length... that could be nice :)

[pepperminttea]

If you want super low maintenance hair for a week or two, micro-braids are definitely the way to go as long as they're put in gently. :) I wouldn't recommend longer than a fortnight; I left mine three and a half weeks for a holiday, and my roots had begun to dread by the end, which wasn't fun to untangle. But up until that point, it was wonderful. Take a headscarf or two, and a good sun hat though - your scalp will be more exposed and can easily get sunburnt. You also might want a product with you just to smooth down flyaways, and a few spares of the tiny bands at the ends just in case.

For when you take them out, don't be afraid to use a lot of conditioner to help with slip, and wash immediately afterwards (tiny combed out braidwaves are devilish for tangles).

[boofles]

I wouldn't recommend longer than a fortnight; I left mine three and a half weeks for a holiday, and my roots had begun to dread by the end, which wasn't fun to untangle.

That's one of my worries is that it would be near impossible to take them back out again! However, I think I would probably only do something like this at the later end of the holiday (which is only 1 week) and keep them for 1 or 2 days, unless I really like them of course :D

I did also worry about my scalp being more exposed if my hair is all braided away, but I guess a hat would fix that :)

[Ishje]

ask them to not braid to tight :) it should be a nice change for a little while :)

[jojo]

I was tempted when i recently went on holiday, but at £60 a pop I thought differently. As long as there not too tight, i cant see a problem. Maybe they will be cheaper in Tenerife so grab you a bargain.

BTW I totally knew what you meant by abroad ;) its an English thing!