Hair Evolution: Back to Reality

Well, our 2nd experiment with yarn braids/Jenie Locs has come to an end. Back to life. Back to reality! These braids were a tremendous success compared to our last experiment with them 6 months prior. The first time they only stayed in a few days. This time they stayed in 8 weeks and 2 days--and we could have gone longer!

I have seen a ton of pictures of kids during the process of braiding, and tons of pics of the final product, but not many of what the hair is like upon taking the braids out.

Honestly, I was very fearful that we were going to end up with a bald Kendi. One braid fell out a few weeks ago and there was barely any hair left to replace the braid with. The kids said Bright pulled that braid, so it's possible he yanked her hair out. Still...

I was somewhat encouraged once I took all of the braids out. Easy process. Less than an hour. I cut the yarn to the point where I thought the hair was mixed in. Then I unbraided just the stub that was left.

Spiky!
Kendi wanted to leave her hair this way!

Next step was to detangle the mess, and give it a good "bath" in moisture! As I wetted her hair and started working oils in my hands were COVERED in her hair. It was pretty unsettling to see! I had heard that there would be a lot of this because the hair isn't able to shed what it would naturally lose when it's in the yarn braids. Still, I'm not sure if this amount is normal or if some of Kendi's hair was pulled out from the weight of the braids. [Her hair is way more fragile than most other kids' hair.]

I forgot to take a picture of the mound of hair that fell out. It was probably 3 inches round by 2 inches tall. A LOT of hair considering how little she has to being with!

Here she is after detangling, but before final styling.
At this point I relaxed because I could see that, at the least, we didn't appear to have less over all coverage than before the braids.

Here she is after I added Bee Mine Curly Butter to define her curls a bit more. Yea!
Do you notice anything missing in this picture? The bald spot is gone! That bald spot that has been with her her whole life, and a constant bother to us for the past 16 months!
All in all, the experiment was a success, and I feel it's a good styling choice for Kendi in the future. The amount of hair that came out was hard to see, but I think most of it was the hair that would have normally shed out over the course of 2 months. I don't think her hair grew much (if any) during the 2 months BUT it does seem that she has more hair per square inch of scalp. I will take thicker hair any day!

It's back to headbands, scarves, bows and cute hats for us. All of the kids say that now Kendi "looks Ghanaian again!" We were all sure to make a fuss over how beautiful she is with her natural curls and I think she went to bed feeling good about things even though she would probably choose to always have "long Dora hair" if I let her. =-)