Can Heavy Braids Damage 4C Hair?

Bonjour tout le monde!

So I am back after much deliberation to talk to you about my favourite protective hairstyle - braids! As many of you may know, I absolutely love love love braids. They're inexpensive (when compared to weave) and are extremely versatile. Not only that but it also has a very Afrocentric vibe to it. You can wear it up, down, with a headscarf, however you want!

HOWEVER, I realise that a question that comes up very often when talking about braids is 'how big is too big?' 

What's the answer? Personally I think it depends on your hair. I love having chunky, jumbo braids which I'll picture down below. I typically use 7/8 packets of expression braiding hair when doing my braids. This is A LOT for the average person I know. Barring the fact that I have a big head, the average amount of packs used on a head is 4/5 packets. This is usually used when having medium sized braids which is a perfect size for most people. I personally don't like medium sized braids as they don't seem to suit me but I love seeing it on other black girls! 

Braids are great protective hairstyles when done correctly and are a reasonable size. For me I think a reasonable size depends on the health of your hair. For example, when my hair was damaged back in January 2016, I couldn't wear any other than small/medium sized braids. Reason being, my hair was super damaged (my ends were dead straight) which made my hair extremely weak and fragile. Any little bit of weight or slight agitation from my braids would've caused it to become further damaged and the ends of my hair would've snapped. I was having a dilemma between wearing braids to aid my hair growth and making sure my braids wouldn't damage my hair. 

Now a year and a half later after having cut off my damaged ends, I am able to wear bigger sized braids because my hair is stronger. HOWEVER, I am still mindful that heavy braids can still cause damage to my edges and hairline. So how do you combat this? The best way is to just get medium sized braids, not too big to weigh down your hair but not too small either. This is probably what you would class as normal sized braids. Make sure to pay attention that the person doing your hair isn't pulling and tugging and your hairline causing damage. BUT if you do end up getting the same jumbo sized braids that I rock, then be sure not to have it in for too long and make sure there is a decent amount of time in between to allow your natural hair to rest and breathe.

Long story short, braids can only be damaging if done incorrectly especially on 4C hair, other than that it is a fab protective hairstyle!

If you have any questions, feel free to message me other than that,

Au revoir x