A busy week is coming, you have no patience left for negotiating with a comb every morning, and a few hours in the chair will buy you weeks of peace. That is a good reason. It is not the most important one.
There are ten, and every one of them depends on a condition people prefer not to mention: a braid protects nothing on its own. It protects when it is put in without force, looked after while you wear it, and taken out before the new growth starts working against it. The rest of the time, it costs you length instead of saving it. To prepare the hair fibre before your braids go in, our step-by-step tutorial walks through the six steps of the Rituel Texture®.
Reasons 1 and 2Length is not gained, it is kept
Let's start by setting aside the promise you hear everywhere. Braids do not make hair grow. Nothing in a braid acts on the follicle or on how fast it produces hair. What varies from one woman to another, and from one year to the next for the same woman, is how much length survives. The difference in length comes mostly from breakage and shrinkage.
That is the first reason: once braided, the fibre stops being handled. No more daily detangling, no more restyling every morning, no more ends rubbing against a coat collar. Every move you avoid is one less chance of breakage, and over several weeks it starts to show.
The second is about the ends, the oldest and most fragile part of your hair. Tucked inside a braid, they no longer catch on anything. This is exactly what is meant by length retention: not growing more, but losing less.
The distinction is not just a matter of words. It changes what you expect from a set of braids, and so how you judge them. A style that leaves your edges thinned out has protected nothing, even if it lasted two months.
Reasons 3 and 4The time braids give back to you
The third reason is the one people mention first, and it is entirely legitimate. In the morning, there is nothing left to decide. No detangling, no styling, no product to work through section by section. On rushed mornings, that is half an hour back every day.
The fourth follows from it: braids last several weeks, which makes them a solution for particular moments. A house move, a trip, an intense stretch at work, a recovery: these are times when you have neither the time nor the headspace for a full Rituel Texture®, and when a style that holds by itself is better than hair left loose and neglected.
This comfort does come at a price, though, and it is worth naming straight away. A style that asks for nothing ends up getting nothing. Your scalp, meanwhile, keeps producing sebum and building up flakes under the braids. Washing does not stop just because the braids have gone in.
Reasons 5 and 6A whole repertoire of styles, and what it changes
The fifth reason is the repertoire itself. Box braids set on square sections, cornrows braided flat to the scalp in patterns, Senegalese twists made by wrapping two strands around each other, Fulani braids that mix clean partings and beads, and finally knotless braids, which go in without a starting knot. Each has its own shape, and none of them asks the same thing of your roots.
That last point is rarely explained in salons. A classic braid starts with a tight knot around your natural hair, which puts all the tension on a single point from the very first minute. Knotless braids feed in the extension gradually, which spreads the load. If your temples have already thinned, this is the option to ask for.
The sixth reason is personalisation. Beads, copper rings, coloured thread, geometric partings on the scalp: the details transform the style and make it yours. Just keep in mind that every accessory has weight, and that weight travels down to the root. On the temples and the nape, where the hairline is finest, it is wiser to keep things simple.
Reason 7A hairstyle with deep roots
Before it was a look, the braid was a way of saying something. In many African societies, hairstyles signalled age, marital status, rank, and sometimes membership of a group. Wearing braids today is not just choosing a shape, it is taking your place in a very long line. We have devoted a whole article to the history of African braids, from prehistory to today's styles.
Reasons 8, 9 and 10How you see yourself
The eighth reason is the least technical on this list, and probably the one that matters most. A hairstyle changes the way you carry yourself. Many women describe, after getting braids, an ease they did not have the day before: they go out more readily, move more freely, and stop checking their hair in every shop window.
The ninth is the time spent braiding itself. Three hours, sometimes more, sitting down while someone takes care of your head. In the Caribbean as in West Africa, this has always been a time for talking as much as a time for hairdressing. That has not gone away.
The tenth is more down to earth: a professional eye on the real condition of your hair. A hairdresser who parts your hair into sections sees what you cannot, starting with your edges and your ends.
The condition that decides everything
The ten reasons above all assume the same thing: that the braids do not pull. Repeated traction on the hairline wears out the follicle, and this is the mechanism dermatologists call traction alopecia: it has been described in women and girls who regularly wore braids, cornrows and weaves (Khumalo et al., Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2008). As long as the follicle is only irritated, the area fills back in. Once the damage has set in, a thinned hairline does not always grow back.
I never advise against braids, or against cornrows. What I advise against is braiding them tight, and keeping them in past the point where they are still doing you good. In the salon, I look at the edges and the new growth first: they are what tell me whether the style is still working for the client, or against her.
Ghana Elin, founderGet them loosened, without waiting until it is time to take them out
- The braids still pull when you wake up the next morning.
- Small bumps appear at the base of the braids, especially at the temples.
- You can see the roots lifted and fanned out around the starting point.
- A headache sets in the same day or on the evening of your appointment.
None of these signs is the price of a beautiful style. Ask for the edges to be redone the same day, without waiting until the braids come out. If part of your hairline is still sparse after removal, it is a dermatologist you need to see, not a salon.
Looking after them, and knowing when to stop
A braid protects your length, never your scalp, which stays exposed and carries on living under the style. Cleanse the roots every one to two weeks with diluted Le Shampoing Réparateur, applied with your fingertips between the braids, then rinse thoroughly and dry without rubbing. A sulfate-free, low-lather formula rinses out more easily without disturbing the braids.
As for how long to keep them, there is no answer in weeks. There are conditions. A style without extensions lasts less time than braids with extensions, simply because it comes undone. Gentle braids can be worn longer than tight ones. And in every case, the new growth gives the signal: as soon as the base of the braids starts to mat and knots form at the root, taking them out will cost more than the style is giving you. We go through these signals in when a protective style damages your hair.
Taking braids out is the second moment of breakage, and it is often underestimated. Take your time, section by section, on hair coated with La Crème Coiffante, switching back to your fingers as soon as you feel resistance. Then give your hair a full Rituel Texture® before thinking about the next set.
Frequently asked questions
Do braids make hair grow faster?
How do I know if my braids are too tight?
How long should I keep braids in?
Can you wash your hair with braids in?
Do synthetic extensions damage hair?
Further reading
Sources
- Khumalo N. P. et al., “Determinants of marginal traction alopecia in African girls and women”, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2008.
