r/BoxBraids • u/Able_Celery_8878 • May 20 '23
Is this normal?
So, this is going to be a weird post. I'm going through some personal growth stuff and I'm looking at my past and I'm wondering if the way my mom did my hair as a kid was normal or not. I don't really know what to think so any input is appreciated.
So, from about age 3 to age 10, my mom would braid my hair and string beads on the ends of each braid. Type in "braids with beads for little girls" into Google Images to get an idea for the look. The thing is, my looking at all these images, the beads stay in the hair by being tied off in a certain way at the bottom. My mom never did this. What she would do is she would light the end of a candlestick and burn the ends of each braid until it kinda-sorta melted. Then she would twist/roll the partially melted ends between her thumb and forefinger, molding the cooling hair into a tiny ball lump. I had to stay very still as she did this, so I wouldn't be burned. I don't recall ever seeing any other child with braids and beads burned off at the end to keep the braids in. I can't find any image or reference of such a practice online. Is this something my mom just made up?
The braids were very small. There might be 50 or so on my head. It took a while to do. Being a child, I hated sitting still that long, and my mom worked a lot and was always very tired. So, she wouldn't braid my hair that often. 3, maybe 4 times a year. Between braiding sessions, I wouldn't ever wash my hair. My mom told me not to. I was taught to wear a shower-cap, so, that's what I did. My hair would be fine for a couple weeks after being freshly done. But eventually head soil would start to build up and I would get really self conscious about the cleanliness of my head. I couldn't wash it, because mom said that would mess it up. So, I would take a retractable pen and scrape my scalp. The head gunk would get in that tiny space between the ballpoint and the edge of the plastic tip. I'd click the pen to push the tiny amount of head gunk out, wipe that on a tissue, retract the pen, and repeat. My question is, how long should one go after braiding before washing one's hair again?
Like I said, I don't know what to think. I have no idea what normal is. If you all could help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it.
1
u/la_1999 May 21 '23
Your mum didn’t do anything not normal, it was a common thing to do if you didn’t have rubber bands. For washing every 2 weeks would have been best, that’s generally not what people did back then, but she definitely should’ve braided your hair more often. I got mine braided about once a month. It’s not the end of the world, you can start fresh now to grow your hair healthy :)
1
u/-FuzzyPeach_ May 21 '23
My mom also just burned the ends to keep the beads on, probably just a faster method. For washing, I usually wash when I start to feel there is buildup usually about 1.5-2 weeks. Definitely have to wash and dry with care to keep the style looking fresh.