I Like A Long Haired, Thick Red Bone: My First Braiding Experience

 Today I went through the long and semi-painful process of getting my hair professionally braided for the first time.  I went to a new shop in Augusta called Hair Garden owned by Melissa, a beautician I met via Twitter. I had asked her last year about getting braids and never contacted her after that first tweet.  This year I said I would do it and I did.  So I bought 5 packs of kanekalon hair, some money, and my A Belle In Brooklyn by Demetria Lucas (Essence Magazine relationship editor) to make the process happen.  Melissa washed my hair and in true beautician fashion put me to shame when it came to how easy she detangled it.  After blow drying and separating my hair into four parts she and her assistant Cassie (we were friends in high school so I was shocked and glad to see her after four years) went to work.  From 11:39 A.M. to 5:09 P.M. I had two beauticians braiding my hair...at the same damn time.  Whenever Melissa began twisting my edges I thought I was going to break her chair from how hard I was pressing against the foot rest on it.  Honestly, when I felt her parting a small section of hair on my edges I felt like a child who knew they were about to get the worst whipping from their parent ever, no Creflo Dollar.  Yes, that is how I felt.  Anyways after what I believe was 6.5-7 packs (the other 1.5-2 packs were courtesy of Melissa) of type 2 kanekalon, a few hair rods, and 5.5 hours my hair was completed.  My first reaction before seeing it was, "OMG this is heavy!"  I felt like I had a whole new person on my head as odd as that sounds.  I concluded that this is how white tourist feel when they get their hair braided in the Bahamas as young girls call out to them, "You want your hair braided lady?"  

I've never had THIS much hair on my head so it will take some time getting use to it.

I have horrible posture! 

When Melissa told me her assistant was a white girl she said, "Don't worry, she can braid some hair."  She told the truth and the most interesting thing is her assistant and I went to high school together.  If I had known she could braid back then I would have been asking her to braid my hair all the time.

She recommended that when it came to the upkeep to massage some shampoo (I'll dilute it with water) onto my scalp, but not vigorously rub it.  I should be able to wash it once a week she told me.  She said I need to put a light oil on it, coconut oil for me, every other night as my scalp is exposed a lot more than usual.  I'd like to keep these in at least six weeks and look up some wash to style them when I'm not at work.  If you are in the Augusta, GA or CSRA area you can find Melissa's shop at 138 8th Street downtown.  Her Facebook page can be found here.