Hey, I wore braid extensions for years before doing away with them. I used human hair so that I could have styling options, including the use of heat on the extension hair, not mine.
I would put my braids into French braids on either side of my head crossing the ends over in the back and tucking them under. I thought the look was very neat and becoming, and so did everyone else at work:
Because I usually did that do on wet hair, I could undo the French braids to get a micro braid-out after a couple of days...or just when I wanted a different look:
And then I could always just put my braids back in a ponytail, or pony-plait/bun.
Those dos were my only options when my hair grew to about the length of my extensions. When I got a longer piece, I could again use heat at the ends (beyond my hair) in addition to the styles I just mentioned:
As a precaution to protect my hairline (which I really never had a problem with since I do my own extensions so I'm careful not to pull my hair or put too much extension hair per braid), I started to do mini-cornrows at the front:
One day sth possessed me to extend my cornrows farther back, test my hand at cornrowing a little more. I didn't like how my few micros looked together with the longer and much thicker cornrows so decided to undo my micros with the intention of doing them bigger (some jumbo braids). Being a little /images/graemlins/nuts.gif I was making decisions as I was going along. My previously bald patches hadn't filled in fully so wearing my hair out or in single plaits was not going to work. Besides, like you, Options, my
hair shrinks sth awful so I would not have been able to disguise my previously bald spots in the back (remember the ones?) well, with my constant washing. So I considered a puff. Only without any in sight...and after being misled by Sally's staff and buying weaving hair thinking it was a curly puff, I had to think fast. (Don't forget, I was coming up with ideas when already in the middle of the process /images/graemlins/nuts.gif ) Enter my pantyhose to the rescue -- Who said necessity wasn't the mother of invention? /images/graemlins/grin.gif -- (I cut the legs off and sewed the panty section leg holes up to make a cap). Then using my stuffed bunny as a dummy, I put the cap on its head and sewed the tracks on to it make wig. Since the tracks were not enough to cover the stocking cap fully so that one could tilt the head without revealing the stocking secret, plus the hair was too long to look or feel natural to me -- looked more like a drag queen's wig /images/graemlins/rofl.gif -- I put a net over the hair to create a more realistic puff and hold the hair together. I LURVED the results and it's the creation I'm most proud of to date. Compliments came flying from everywhere when I wore it to work:
I later bought a real puff that better matched my hair and sported that for a few weeks, changing my cornrow style every week. It was much smaller than my makeshift one, so I had to do longer cornrows. I didn't part very straight towards the back when I did my cornrows coz I didn't use a mirror to see the back, but no one seemed to notice, and if they did, they said nothing, so I didn't let it bother me. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Eventually, I moved to twists. Which I've been sporting for at least three weeks now. I had my hair pressed when I first wore them then put on curlers when I went to bed to get a wavy-bob do. When I washed 'em, they shrunk to a dredlock look, and were not long enough to put into a bun...or let's just say I didn't think of that at first. Instead, I put them in rollers while wet and in the morning had a cute li'l do which again I've gotten compliments for:
And a close-up:
For variation, I have twisted my twists together to form rows (flat-twists) then clipped the braided the ends together and put on a fake puff. (This doesn't require your hair to make it all the way back as the twisting (flat-twist style) helps ensure you tuck in the shorter twists.) Or I've pulled them back without twisting them around each other then worn the puff...and if you make a puff like my 3/4 one, then you don't need long hair for that either. Today I was crazy enough to wear pigtails although that wasn't the plan. /images/graemlins/lachen70.gif I used different rollers from my usual ones in preparation for my curled twists -- a satin set I found at CVS that was much smaller than my usual bendy kind -- but I didn't like the tight curls outcome that greeted me in the morning. So I tried to spritz my twists to loosen them a bit. /images/graemlins/nono.gif Didn't work as I'd hoped; I completely lost the curl and wound up with my dangling "dreds". Although I love that look for the weekends, I wasn't sure it would be acceptable at work and I was running late so wasn't being very creative or thinking hard (I didn't even remember the puff /images/graemlins/whyme.gif ). Granted it was a very awkward do, but no one said anything... /images/graemlins/sekret.gif and I survived the day. /images/graemlins/grin.gif
My conclusion: if you exude confidence, you earn respect, and everyone accepts you as you are. So try out the different dos suggested. Before you know it, ideas will be flowing out of you, and you'll wonder how you could've ever felt overwhelmed or helpless.
No one had mentioned cornrows when I started typing this ramble so that's another do you could pull off nicely, and I really don't think flat-twists are bad at all. Personally I think those two dos are the neatest natural dos ever, besides putting your hair in a bun or puff, and if I wasn't so stubborn such that I didn't want anyone doing my hair, I'd be rocking some very neat, designer cornrows week-in, week-out, with no puff needed to disguise a poor parting job in the back. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Before you consider texturizing, read more about it from those who have. Brownie who is transitioning from a texturizer wrote she wouldn't have done it if she'd known what she knows now. But perhaps her reasons aren't, to you, reasons enough not to? Curlycrly is texturized and so is ModelChick and they love their hair. Be open-minded to the fact that a texturizer could be badly done (Den's first experience) but that doesn't mean it can't be "fixed". Just research on it like you would a major life change so that you don't get any surprises. We'll be here for you whichever way you go...no matter what. /images/graemlins/wink.gif
