Hello, Fluffsters!

As I’m sure you remember my telling you, I’m not bad at hair braiding. In fact, I frequently rather like putting my hair up. It has many advantages. I have recently discovered, however, that it has some disadvantages…

Advantages of putting hair up

1) It gets it off your neck. Especially if you put it up all the way.  And not having hair on your neck in the middle of the warm season feels a lot better.

2) It looks pretty. Especially if done well, an elegant bun/braid can be quite pretty.

3) It sometimes gets complements. All right, so that ties in with 2. But it still counts as a separate list item, right?

4) Fewer tangles. If put up well, your hair gets less tangled throughout the day if you braid it and put it up than it would if you just left it down for the entire day.

5) It gives practice, like in case of special events. You know. If you put your hair up a lot normally, you are more experienced at it for events that call for fancy hair styles.

6) It’s a fairly inexpensive way of expressing creativity. If you’re good at braiding, you can try using multiple braids, and then braiding the braids together. You can try french braiding. You can try french braiding starting at a different place on the head. You can put your hair up in a semi heart shape. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination! (And the length of your hair. But that’s a given.)

Disadvantages of putting hair up

1) How many Bobby Pins did I put in again? Especially if you have thicker / curlier hair, it’s easy to misplace a bobby pin or three. It might be rediscovered in the shower later on. Or maybe when you’re trying to sleep that night, and something keeps poking you in the back of your skull.

2) Bad hair days are even worse. If your hair doesn’t cooperate, you don’t just have annoying hair to worry about- you have the loss of your accustomed hair-do.

3) It takes a while to put it up. 20 minutes, for me. Of course, that’s a combo of hair & make up. But the fact of the matter still remains that it takes a long time to braid hair that’s as long as mine. Doing between 2 and 4 braids, and then turning it into a bun, takes time. (There’s no way around that.)

4) It comes down easily. Especially if you’re having “bad hair day.” One solution is to use copious amounts of hair spray & gel, but then your hair feels crunchy. I actually sort of like the crunch, but it does detract from “softer” looks.

5) If people become accustomed to seeing you with a fancy “do”, it becomes harder to impress people with your hair. My normal hair style, for example, would probably have worked for homecoming and other fancy dances… if I hadn’t turned it into my “normal” style. Of course, I can still do it that way, but it’s not as special. An easy fix for this is to put some sparkles into your hair, or other random accessories that you normally don’t use. But the fact of the matter is that your hair is still basically in the same style as before, and is thus less impressive.

6) Neck Sunburns. Hair provides valuable protection from the sun. So by getting it off your neck, you are exposing more of your skin to the sun, and thus increasing the likelihood of burn.

7) If done badly, it can lead to disastrous hair consequences. I remember one time when a combination of my dad, my older cousin, and I tried to 4-braid my hair. Note the word “tried” in there- it’s important. The style failed miserably, literally. I was very miserable the next while when my mom removed the “rats nest” in my hair. It was painful. So yeah. If the “do” is not done well, it can cause tangles. If done right, it’s good. If not, it’s knotty. 😉

So there you go, Fluffsters! I hope there’s some information you can use to decide whether to put your hair up regularly, or keep it down.

Happy Saturday!