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I'm posting this for a long haired good friend of mine.
He has almost waist length hair, thick straight blonde hair.
Given his work schedule, it is easier for him to leave it in a braid for a week M-F. He and myself personally are wanting to know if this will cause damage now or in the long haul? Thanks in advance :)
My first question would be how well it will stay braided for a week. On occasion my wife braids mine for me, and the next day there are always way too many "escapees" to maintain a neat appearance to it. The only times I've left mine braided for more than one day was if I wasn't going anywhere on the later days, and therefore wasn't really concerned about my appearance.
Frodo
I only get a couple of hours before I start to get the dandelion fluff look. I think it's a fine hair/static thing. Some hairstyles only work for certain hair textures.
> the next day there are always way too many "escapees" to maintain a neat appearance to it.
Braiding won't do any damage, and in fact it will protect the hair, because
1) It can't get tangled.
2) Individual hairs won't get caught on things.
But when you undo the braid, you may think damage was done. That's because a normal head will lose up to 100 hairs a day, and those hairs will be trapped in the braid, and all come out when you undo it.
I've never heard of anyone leaving their hair in a braid for 5 days in a row -- I can't imagine doing that myself, at least... my braid would look like shit by then! (and besides, I enjoy brushing it out at night, and would miss that ritual if I didn't do that.)
The only possible damage I could think of it causing, though, would be if the original braid had been done when the hair was still too damp (and the hair was braided too tightly for it to properly dry).
- Ken
I agree with the others, after a day and especially a night having my hair in a braid it'll look like crap. I will redo mine daily.
One bonus of leaving it braided overnite is that brush out in the morn is twice as fast!
Bruce
As others have said, I think your friend would be lucky to get a braid to stay in that long and still look good. It could work with cornrows or multiple braids, but they have their own disadvantages as they can cause damage.
My own hair's just long enough to sit on, and I wear it in a single braid which I redo every morning and evening. It takes about five minutes to brush through and braid, because it doesn't get tangled.