I hope that your holidays have been well. As I mentioned the other day, I’m going to share with you my experience with a sew-in weave. Not to deter you but to educate and possibly help you, if needed.
First off, let me say that I do feel that sew-in weaves can be a great means of protective-styling that you can also have fun with. Do I think that it’s for me? … Right now, not so much. Being my first time, I didn’t realize that a tight weave does not make for a good one. My ignorance of this fact resulted in tiny bumps around my edges, pulling on my back edges and an overall scalp tightness that subsided very little, if any, over the course of almost two weeks. Once I noticed a white bump, I was hellbent on getting the weave outta my hair and did so. (I’m not doing an ate up hairline!)
That process was easy. Find the thread. Snip it. And remove the hair. No problem. Except my hair was either in shock or had not been moisturized enough. (I’ll get to that later.) I then heavily lathered my hair with a cheap condish (Suave Naturals ) and proceeded to take the braid down. Having completed that, I washed my hair with Suave Daily Clarifying shampoo. Then conditioned with my beloved Elucence Moisture Balancing Condish (great product that isn’t expensive!). Did an Aphoghee 2-Step protein treatment and then deep conditioned with Jessicurl Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment. Needless to say, my hair seemed lifeless, weak, dry and somewhat brittle. Definitely not what it was before I got the weave. Which left me disappointed because I did this to protect my hair & allow it to rest.
Anyhoo, I’ve been babying it all weekend. I’ve been spritzing with water and adding butters & oils to it. I even baggyed it overnight on that Friday (and will continue to do so) and ,at first, it was still knotting up and drier than normal. It’s not shedding like it was when I first washed it, and it has improved much since then however, I want MY healthy hair back. I wonder if I was not adding enough moisture to my hair under the weave. I really thought I was. I would recommend to anyone with a weave or considering one to use an application bottle to oil your scalp & hair under it.
This is my day-to-day log of what I did and some thoughts:
Saturday Regimen:
I pretreated with oils. Then I conditioner washed with Elucence MB Condish. I did a rough finger detangle. (I really feared this because I didn’t want to see most of my hair on the floor but I knew it had to be done. It wasn’t so bad). I rinsed a little of the Elucence out and then added the Miss Jessie’s Rapid Recovery Treatment (hair felt like buttah. Thank God!) and seriously detangled. Again I used my fingers and a comb only when absolutely necessary. And voila! Knots were gone. I covered my head with a plastic cap and sat under the dryer for about 15 minutes. After this, I did a cool rinse. I probably rinsed out maybe 60 to 70% of the product. Then I gently twisted my hair with Qhemet’s Burdock Root Buttercreme. I topped the twists with a little bit of her Olive & Honey Hydrating Balm. Treated my scalp w/her Tea Tree & Grapeseed Oil Pomade. Then I sealed with Qhemet’s Indian Macassar Oil. I then wrapped my hair in a scarf and called it a night!
Sunday’s Regimen:
In the morning, I sprayed my twists with a little water and topped it with some Qhemet ‘s Burdock Root Buttercreme. I sealed with her Indian Macassar Oil.
During the day, I surfed the web for some info. It really pays to read the hair threads, blogs & websites. I’ve learned more from them than anywhere else. They are great sources that come honestly from folks not trying to push a product to just to make some money. Now, if I had really been up on my game I would have found the information about a weave being too tight, but that’s in the past. I’m focused on getting my hair right at this point. And I do believe that I will. I’ve been checking out Chicoro's fotki and her tutorial on moisturizing. Also, here is her tutorial on sealing the hair shaft. I’m not saying that I will follow it to the tee. (As with anything, blog, web, forum, etc. I think you can only take what applies to or works for you and leave the rest. My own blog included.) But I’m definitely taking notes and using what I feel works for me. Hopefully, you can find something for you somewhere in here.
Before bed, I sprayed lightly with water and topped with Elucence MB Condish. I followed that with the Indian Macassar Oil and then topped it with the Burdock Root Buttercreme. I covered my head with a plastic cap and then wrapped it up with a scarf. This is baggying.
My hair is feeling better everyday. However, I will continue to wear twists through next weekend. I feel that I have to give my scalp time to recuperate. It’s still a little tender. And that’s not normal for me because I’m not a tender-headed person. I will continue to baggy each night and lightly moisturize in the a.m. . When my scalp asks for it, I will either treat it with some more Tea Tree &Grapeseed Oil Pomade or Komaza Hair Nourishment Oil.
Either way, I hope that something in here may help you, enlighten you or give you an idea. I was a bit upset and determined on Friday so I honestly was not thinking about blogging about this until a friend of mine told me that I should share my experience to help someone. She brought me to my senses. I’m hoping this does just that.
Please understand that I’m not trying to push any particular products. The hair products mentioned are simply the ones that I know, trust and had on hand. Something else may work for you. Please believe, this natural hair walk is a trial and error thing—pretty much like life. You gotta do you! And what works for me and my hair may not do it for you. So by all means do ya thing!
** These are the personal hair sites that I look to and am using information from to get my hair where I want it be. Chicoro’s fotki (she has a blog that I’ve linked to) and Teri’s biracialhair.org (linked also). I've also included a link to a youtube page for Ms.Buttahfly. I'm a visual person and she has some great how-to videos and a beautiful spirit to match.
If you have any information you’d like to share, please do. As I see it, we are all here to help one another.
Post Title → My Sew-In Weave Experience
