Air Dry disaster, where did I go wrong?

[divachyk]

I attempted air drying for the first time last night and it didn't go so well.

Process --
(1) Parted hair in 4 sections, detangled and kept hair in 4 sections for entire process.
(2) D/c with lustrasilk mango/shea butter & ORS replenishing pack for about 2 hours (1 hour with heat).
(3) Poo'd one time with HE LTR.
(4) Applied HE LTR condish & evoo and detangled some more (while in shower).
(5) Towel blotted hair just a little
(6) Applied HE LTR split in corrector, Elasta QP mango butter, evcol as my leave-in and immediately
(7) Braided hair in 4 big braids and went to bed.

By morning, my APL unstretched/BSB stretched hair was still wet. I took the braids out and let it air dry the rest of the way. Now that my hair is finally dry, it's poofy, course feeling and fuzzy. I'm 9 weeks post.

Suggestions?

ETA: Although my hair feels the way it does, it's nice and wavy.

 

[Brooklyn72]

Your hair was too wet imo. It takes my hair a whole day (24 hours) to dry in braids. What did you want your end result to be?

 

[I Am So Blessed]

whats good diva!!!

for me, THATS NORMAL. my hair is always curly/wavy wet and dry. but thats the look i want so

but at least your hair is SOFT!! right? did you want it to air dry straight?

 

[I Am So Blessed]

it takes my hair 3 or less hours to dry in braids.

 

[divachyk]

*smirk* like Traycee's braid outs that she shows in her tutorial (or at least something similar) --- My hair has a wave pattern but I have tighter curls...next time I'll braid in larger sections. Not sure though why my hair is hard....would it have not air dryed soft?

This link shows a good visual of the braid out (although she's talking about braid out maintenance) http://www.youtube.com/user/KISSseventyseven#p/u/31/MxKewQJpUwA
Her hair looks so soft.

 

[Dposh167]

yea your hair shouldn't be still wet. If anything 95% dry. If it's still really damp...u run the risk if it frizzing up and sometimes hair products won't help against humidity

 

[I Am So Blessed]

*smirk* like Traycee's braid outs that she shows in her tutorial (or at least something similar) --- My hair has a wave pattern but I have tighter curls...next time I'll braid in larger sections. Not sure though why my hair is hard....would it have not air dryed soft?

This link shows a good visual of the braid out (although she's talking about braid out maintenance) http://www.youtube.com/user/KISSseventyseven#p/u/31/MxKewQJpUwA
Her hair looks so soft.

i braid my hair in 4 sections with lots of coconut oil and care free curl on the, SOFT CITY!!!!

after dry, i take them out and i look like a dominican aahah

ok i thought that was funny, but anywho. Did you try coconut oil?

 

[divachyk]

whats good diva!!!

for me, THATS NORMAL. my hair is always curly/wavy wet and dry. but thats the look i want so

but at least your hair is SOFT!! right? did you want it to air dry straight?

it takes my hair 3 or less hours to dry in braids.

What's good Adora Squared! Air drying wavy is cool because it gives off the impression that my hair is thicker. Not sure though why it's not soft...it just feels course and a little rough to the touch. My hair was in braids for about 6 hours -- was still wet. I got frustrated and took the braids out and let my hair just hang and air dry that way which probably cause the poof and frizz. I'm juicing tonight and will see if that will make it softer....if not, I'll wash & attempt this again!

Do you braid on wet or slightly damp hair? How many braids? I did 4...too many because my the wave pattern is a bit tighter than I prefer. I think my hair was too wet when I braided (lesson learned!)

 

[divachyk]

i braid my hair in 4 sections with lots of coconut oil and care free curl on the, SOFT CITY!!!!

after dry, i take them out and i look like a dominican aahah

ok i thought that was funny, but anywho. Did you try coconut oil?

Ah, good point....I didn't use the juice as the moisturizer....next time I will. Yes, used evco. And yes -- you are quite hilarious.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

What's good Adora Squared! Air drying wavy is cool because it gives off the impression that my hair is thicker. Not sure though why it's not soft...it just feels course and a little rough to the touch. My hair was in braids for about 6 hours -- was still wet. I got frustrated and took the braids out and let my hair just hang and air dry that way which probably cause the poof and frizz. I'm juicing tonight and will see if that will make it softer....if not, I'll wash & attempt this again!

Do you braid on wet or slightly damp hair? How many braids? I did 4...too many because my the wave pattern is a bit tighter than I prefer. I think my hair was too wet when I braided (lesson learned!)

after i get out the shower i oil, then juice, then braid IMMEDIATELY! its ok to braid while wet! the juice is what makes it soft.

 

[knt1229]

For soft air dried hair you need to put a scarf on your head. As for your hair not being dry, it could be that your braids were too thick. Try thinner braids next time.

 

[divachyk]

yea your hair shouldn't be still wet. If anything 95% dry. If it's still really damp...u run the risk if it frizzing up and sometimes hair products won't help against humidity

Thx for the input. I was afraid to let it get too dry (before braiding) and run the risk of it frizzing. I didn't realize that hair that's too damp with also cause frizz. Do you apply your products when wet or 95% dry. What prods do you use? Just curious.

For soft air dried hair you need to put a scarf on your head. As for your hair not being dry, it could be that your braids were too thick. Try thinner braids next time.

I did the scarf method although I didn't mention it. I even sat under a hooded dryer for ~45 mins (with the scarf on) in an attempt to absorb some of the water.The crown of my hair is laying flat but the rest of my hair is poofy and coarse. Maybe that resulted from me taking the braids out and letting my hair air dry while hanging freely.

after i get out the shower i oil, then juice, then braid IMMEDIATELY! its ok to braid while wet! the juice is what makes it soft.

Good point, next time I'll try the juice as my moisturizer....not sure why I didn't think of that. I juiced and rebraided tonight, only 2 braids this time. My ends are very frizzy from the air dry disaster so not sure what I'mma look like in the morning. Hope I don't go to work and scare nobody.

 

[augiemoment]

i prefer to air dry at least 50% without braids first then i moisturise, seal braid, tie in scarf before going to bed
i absolutely hate braiding my hair when it is very wet

 

[my-everything]

hii!!! I usually braid my hair up as soon as i finish moisturizing and sealing with a butter. Tie a scarf around my edges and nape and i'm done for the day. This allows me to retain more moisture and i retain length so much better this way!!

This is my hair freshly washed and braided. To ensure that my ends stay soft and moisturized, i ball them up and tie with a coated rubberband. HTH

sorry, i don't know how to resize pics:

 

[curlyninjagirl]

Maybe the protein/moisture balance is off.

I'm assuming the ors pak is a protein treatment/light protein? and then u followed up with an instant conditioner and then used the split end protecter which has proteins geared towards reconstructing the cuticle.

Usually many ladies on here will follow up a protein treatment with a moisturizing deep conditioner. I'm pretty sure that would help with the coarseness you're feeling and even with the frizz.

 

[divachyk]

i prefer to air dry at least 50% without braids first then i moisturise, seal braid, tie in scarf before going to bed
i absolutely hate braiding my hair when it is very wet

I'm not good at working with wet hair so I definitely understand. My hair tangles a lot naturally and now I'm 9 weeks post so that makes it even worse.

hii!!! This is my hair freshly washed and braided. To ensure that my ends stay soft and moisturized, i ball them up and tie with a coated rubberband. HTH

sorry, i don't know how to resize pics:

Thx! What do you coat your hair ties with?

Maybe the protein/moisture balance is off.

I'm assuming the ors pak is a protein treatment/light protein? and then u followed up with an instant conditioner and then used the split end protecter which has proteins geared towards reconstructing the cuticle.

Usually many ladies on here will follow up a protein treatment with a moisturizing deep conditioner. I'm pretty sure that would help with the coarseness you're feeling and even with the frizz.

I normally sink wash -- poo, DC and style. This time I attempted shower washing and didn't want to jump in and out of the shower so I DC'd first, poo'd, instant conditioner. The ORS pak is a light protein treatment but thought I'd be okay since it was light not realizing the HE LTR split end protector contained proteins as well.

I'm a newbie and am struggling with building a reggie. I unable to tell if my moisture/protein balance is in check. I read a thread about it, but I just didn't grasp the concept on how to figure this out. Is there a simple method to determine this?

thx