As shocking as this may sound, I have never had a professional braider do my hair. My mother has done braids on my hair over the years, but only with my real hair, obviously. Don’t ask me about my braiding skills, because I couldn’t braid my own hair even if I was dared to. Embarrassing to admit, but someone was bound to ask.
After 17 years of drought, I am happy to say that I finally made an appointment to a professional braider. I was happy that I could schedule an appointment for a few days later instead of a few weeks later, because I needed my hair done BADLY.
On the day of the appointment, I was happy about being able to go. I couldn’t wait to have a new hairstyle and look fresh once again. Even so, I had to take down the braids my mother did for me a couple of weeks prior. Thank goodness they were all down before my braider was ready, because she charges extra for taking down hair. I can’t speak about other braiders, but that is why you have to learn to take down your own hair. Although, that’s where all of my ability ends.
The first stage was a hair wash, which did not take long at all. She had to comb it out beforehand (which hurt), but she complimented my natural hair. I was so flattered, because my mother would disagree in an instant for undisclosed reasons.
That didn’t take long at all. But afterwards, she blow dried my hair before getting started on the braiding stage. She provided the hair extensions and turned my hair into long braids. Let me tell you that having my hair braided at the scalp was painful. It caused discomfort that I never had when my mother did my braids. Even so, it was all worth it. The last stage was sitting down under a dryer for a few minutes before having a few gold cuffs inserted as a finishing touch. I felt so pretty afterwards!
I was only expecting medium-length braids, but they ended up being much longer. In case you’re curious, my hair was done in eight cornrows. Braids are time-consuming, and I didn’t want to spend all day sitting on a chair. Excluding the wait time, my style only took around an hour and a half. Here is a before and after of my hair.
As of this writing, I still have my braids up. They will probably last for a few more weeks (maybe), but I definitely need to get my hair redone before I leave for Thanksgiving break.
