Let's see.
I was in braid extensions from mid May 2008 until mid July 2009. Straight. No real breaks, maybe about 2 or 3 days between sets.
I cared for my hair while in the extensions, but not meticulously so. (Spritzing with water maybe 3 times a week, occasional braid spray, NOT braiding my edges).
I decided one day that i needed to let go of the fake hair, despite the uber ease of upkeep. I did not have any particular style set or regimen in place set up to dive into when i took the fake hair down. One day i was bored and decided to take the braids out and two strand twist my own hair, but i was scared, LOL. When i was natural YEARS ago, In high school, i remember two strand twisting my hair and it coming out horribly (like one poster put it so eloquently, the twists looked like "shoe strings on crack"
)..Very thin twists, you could see my scalp, the twists would hardly stay twisted at the ends. Imagine my surprise when my two strand twists actually came out really good this time...plump, thick. The shoe string debacle was due to years of heat straightening my hair. My hair had become so straight and heat damaged that i couldnt even do a decent set of twists on my hair
.
I am also amazed at how much better i look (imo) and feel w/out the extensions. I actually think i look 100X better sans fake hair.
My regimen since ive taken out the fake hair: Two strand twist, leave in for 2 weeks. I tie my twists down with a scarf at night. When i wake up, i spritz water on them to plump them back up, dab on some coconut oil, and i am out the door! When i initially twist, I twist wet. I combine equal parts water and infusium 23 leave in, spritz my wet hair with this mixture, then add either grease (run of the mill petroleum-based grease) or Garnier Fructis leave-in conditioning cream.
Experiment and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised at the outcome
Good luck!