Ugh, My Chunky Braid Challenge...

Me: Brb babe, about to hop in the shower.
BF: Ok
One hour later...
BF: Well I guess you got busy, so I'll talk to you later
Fifteen minutes later...
Me: I'm sorry babe, I JUST got out the shower.
BF: You were not in the shower for a whole hour, lol
Me: Dude, yeah I was. Most epic detangling session EVER.
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That pretty much sums up my Monday morning. What I thought was the beginning of a Monday wet detangling sesh resulted in me challenging myself to do something different.

Armed with coconut oil, Infusium 23 Renew & Repair Leave-In and Tresemme Split Remedy Conditioner, I thought I was ready to show my hair who was boss. My hair was all like:

Get that ish outtaaaa here!

True story. I don't know what I did to my hair the day before, but the next morning... my hair was a whole different animal. I even had to go into the recesses of my hair drawer and pull out the last of my Kinky Curly Knot Today. I soaked my hair. I drenched it in every slippery product I had. Something that normally takes under half an hour in the shower ended up taking longer than a drive to UCLA via the 405. Go figure.

After I had finally wrestled my hair into quasi-submission, I emerged from the shower with a newfound sense of resolve. I was not going to toss my hair into the normal protective bun. Besides, getting my banana clip to stay closed has been a challenge as of late. I was not going to go through this again. But what on earth was I going to do with this transitioning hair?

Poetic Justice-esque...

Enter: Chunky Braid Challenge. I know, I look crazy. Maybe even a little bit hood. But it was necessary. At this point in my transition, my new hair is a force to be reckoned with. It's thick. It's massive and unruly. It tangles, just to be disrespectful. It laughs in the face of any banana clip or scrunchie that dares to come its way. Truth be told, I'm excited about it -- but I still have these heat damaged ends to deal with. Chunky braids aren't the most flattering look, but when faced with another marathon shower detangle session, I am willing to take that chance.

So here's the deal: for the month of  October, I will wear my hair in chunky braids (or twists) for the week, and enjoy the twist or braidout on the weekends. I'm not sure how this is is going to play out, but I need to do this in the interim to buy me some time while I plot and scheme on my next protective styling mainstay.

This pretty much sums up how I feel about my chunky braids. But, I gotta do what I gotta do, son.

Maybe if I squint, it will look better...no?

Have you ever endured a less-than-flattering hair style, just to get your hair through a tough time? Share your story with me at tinapatrice@gmail.com, and I will feature it on The Mane Objective!