I am concerned about the stress that adding braids and extensions will cause at this time to your already damaged hair. When clients like such as yourself do come to our salon for help and their hair is in extremely bad condition and damaged beyond what I honestly feel I can remedy as a stylist. I generally recommend that they cut their hair down to a short natural style and start over if it is their wish to have a chemical in their hair. Sometimes we need a break from our hair, and most certainly sometimes our hair needs a break from the ordeals we sometimes put it through. I like them to wear their hair like this for at least 6 months before we reevaluate doing anything to it.

The best thing we can do as professional stylists is to sometimes do nothing to exacerbate any problems. I truly do believe that a good stylist is like a doctor of hair and the first rule or the Hippocratic oath in the medical profession is "to first do no harm".  This is a rule that not only stylists could benefit from in its simple truth, but all people can use as well, as we go about living our lives.

It seems you are ready to find a new stylist, go here to find out how I recommend that people do this.

Asha

In the Caribbean where I come from we have a great deal of women who wear their hair in braids and both men and women who wear their hair in "locs". They are really quite simple to look after in terms of cleansing.

My recommendation is for you to purchase a premium quality shampoo and conditioner designed for Black hair. I would also like you to purchase a large tint bottle at your local beauty supply or you could use an empty flip or pull top bottle you may have around but you will have better results and waste less product with a tint bottle, so it's a good investment.

First start by mixing in the tint bottle about one once of the shampoo and now fill the rest with water. In the shower start by standing directly under the shower head and using warm not hot water start to rinse your entire head well all over. Use the force of the shower streams to get down into the hair and scalp and also through the braids. After doing this for a while, take the tint bottle with the shampoo/water mix and apply it to your entire scalp. Then starting at the base of your braids right from the scalp apply it to the entire length of all the braids on your whole head. Let this sit for a few minutes and then rinse very well under the shower head, again using the shower streams, and repeat. You do not have to manipulate the shampoo in any way the act of sitting will emulsify the dirt and oils on your head. 

Now mix an once of your conditioner as you did with the shampoo, but this time mix one once of conditioner to only three ounces of water and repeat the same procedure, concentrating on applying the conditioner to your real hair, there is no need to condition the entire braid if it is synthetic and not a human hair braid. I can't emphasis enough how important it is to condition your hair even though your are wearing braids in your head. It's also very important that you use quality products as they are in my experience much more concentrated, which is very important when you start to dilute them as I have instructed you to do.

 Finish by towel blotting, not rubbing the excess water from your head. I recommend you do this at least once a week, more often in you are active in sports, dance or workout.

Asha

Straw sets are exactly what the name implies, hair is wet set onto drinking straws. It's a great way of temporarily getting the corkscrew, spirally look that has become so popular.

This set is really best done with help of a friend. You need to start by purchasing plastic drinking straws at you local grocery or department store. You will probably find the larger diameter straws easier to work with than the smaller ones. Now shampoo and condition your hair as usual and towel blot. A salon tip we use is to put a small very amount silicone product such as Kerasoft's Glosify Hair Polish into the hair as well at this point and comb it through. It really helps to later control frizzies and puff in the hair as well as adds a great deal of shine. 

With a tail comb starting at the top of one ear, section out a very small section of your hair and run your comb down its length, the most important part of this set is small sections. Apply a good quality setting lotion or a styling gel that can be used to wet set with to the hair you have sectioned out, carefully following manufactures instructions for product usage and place one end of the straw at the base of this section, angle it downwards and now wrap it around the straw, spiraling it down the end (like the threads on a screw) and secure in place with a clip or bobby  pins (for the shorter hair sections you may use scissors to trim the straw to a correct length to clip or pin easier). You also have the option of twisting the hair before you spiral it on to the straws, this will give a more springy/coily than ribbony look to the finished style.

Continue this down toward the nape of the neck following the perimeter of the hair line repeating the sectioning and wrapping. When you reach the top of the other ear reverse and work your way back the other direction, until the whole back of your head is done. Measured by a line from the top of one ear across the head to the other, this is the back half. Now start the same procedure to the front. Again working from the top of one ear around the perimeter of the front over to the other ear and then reverse back, until the front half is done. This set will take some time and It is important that you keep the hair that is not yet set damp by spraying it with water from time to time until you are ready apply the lotion or gel and spiral down.

You can now air dry the set, letting it just dry naturally (this will take the better part of a day, less if it is hot and dry out), use a hood dryer if you have one or use a diffuser on a blow-dryer to slowly dry your hair, do not use a blow dryer without a diffuser on your hair as this will lead to a poor result. After your hair is dry carefully remove all of the straws and apply a little of the silicone based product as mentioned prior to your hair by putting a little in your palms and scrunching it into your hair. Do not comb or over manipulate your hair as this will lead to separation of the spirals and take away from the look you just went through a great deal of time and effort to achieve.

Asha1