Patra Braids Take Down

Hello Beautiful People!

I have taken down my Patra Braids. I know that I said I was going to take them out the end of this month, but my mom kind of scared me when she reminded me about hair breakage. I didn't want to leave my hair in the braids for a long time and risk my hair breaking. The take down and the wash wasn't too bad and my hair didn't break as much as before.


Braid Take Down Process
1. Section braids into fours

2. Work on 1 section at a time: Remove the braids and detangle with a wide tooth comb a long the way. Use a finer comb or denman/denman-like brush to detangle the roots.

3. Place hair back into the section after all braids have been removed.
Note: For the braids at my edges I sprayed them with Sta-Sof-Fro and detangled with my hands. I did this only if there was a lot of product build up because the comb didn't want to go through and I wasn't about to rip out my edges.


Shampoo Process
1. Work on all four sections separately. Apply shampoo to roots and hold hair midshaft with one hand while the other is massaging the scalp. (If you have long hair then adjust the placement of your hands to a position that is more comfortable. Another thing you can do is braid the hair into a plait.) Periodically run the shampoo throughout the length of the hair to allow it to also be cleaned. I find this useful because it helped prevent my ends from tangling up, which would then cause more breakage.
Note: Shampooing my hair in sections is best option for me because at this point in my hair journey have 3 different hair textures (natural, texlax, and bone straight) and 2 possible points of breakage (both lines of demarcation)

2. After shampooing all four sections use a conditioner of your choice. Gently remove knots using your hands.


Deep Conditioning Process
1. Apply your protein deep conditioner to all the sections of hair and allow it to sit for the recommended time. I used the original Silicon Mix Deep Conditioner and had it sit in my hair for 2-3 minutes. At this point I combined the back two sections of hair because Silicon Mix makes my hair easier to detangle. I still wasn't using a comb to detangle and remove more knots, only my hands.

2. Rinse out your Protein Deep Conditioner and apply your Moisuturizing Deep Conditioner and allow it to sit on your hair for as long as you want. Mine sat in for 2.5 hrs under two plastic bags. You can use only one if you would like.

3. Rinse out the conditioner. and remove hair from sections while also continuing to remove knots that formed from the extension braids.

4. This step is optional: I have porous hair so I bought a new products that I hope would help. I applied a generous amount of French Perm Stabilizer Plus and let it sit in my hair for 1 minute. Rinse out and towel dry hair.
Note: French Perm Stabilizer Plus gives no slippage to the hair so do not use a comb in this process. You may add conditioner to help detangle the hair. When applying French Perm Stabilizer Plus use your hands to run it down the hair shaft and do not rub hair vigorously, otherwise you may cause tangles and ultimately breakage.


Drying
1. Apply your leave-ins. I used ApHogee Keratin and Green Tea Reconstructurizer and Garnier Fructis Daily Care Conditioner

2. Optional: Apply a Straightening Balm

3. Air dry your hair using any method. I just let my hair out because I was going to straightening it.

Straightening
1. Section hair into as many sections as you would like. I used four sections.

2. Apply a heat protectant.

3. Begin straightening small sections of hair with your flat iron and comb. I used both a comb and conair styling brush (depending on the section of hair) to detangle the hair as i ran the straightener through.


Products Used (in the order I used them)
1. Sta-Sof-Fro Moisturizing Spray
2. Cantu Shea Butter Moisturizing Shampoo
3.  V05 Conditioner
4. Silicon Mix
5. Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Fortifying Conditioner
6. French Perm Stabilizer Plus
7. ApHogee Keratin and Green Tea Reconstructurizer
8. Garnier Fructis Daily Care Fortifying Conditioner
9. Garnier Fructis Blow Dry Straightening Balm
10. GVP Silk Remedy
11. Straightener: Infinity Pro by Conair