I would like to try some braids or cornrows for a couple of days cause I think they look cool on others, but am worried about the damage and breakage they may cause. Am I being overly concerned.
Your cause for concern is valid. All I've got to say is that I tried cornrows for a couple of days and shedded immensely; any kind of braids will pull your hair and uproot a number of them. If I were you, I'd try each style once, take pictures, and never do it again. That's what I did. :)
I can agree with Dark Elf. I took out my braids about four days ago, and for three days my hair was annoyingly wavy, but its back to normal now. You will notice a lot of shorter hairs when you have braids.
The increase in shedding is largely an illusion. The normal daily shedding of your hair instead of falling to the floor or getting stuck in your brush instead remains in the corn-rows, therefore when you take them out you have many days worth of shedding that appears all at once. Scary at the time but nothing to be over concerned about.
having curly hair, I know what it feels like to shed and have the hairs remain on your mop until the next detangling (which is every 4 days in my case). The excess shedding came from the pulling of hair caused by the tight braids. The cornrows were really good and tight, but at the same time, it was bad for my roots.
Thanks for the info. When you did the cornrows, was the hair you shed more than what you shed with regurlar daily combing or was it allot more.
The shedding was not natural. Uprooting your hair is the main problem, but those with dry hair can also get breakage. If you can get loose cornrows/braids and still have them look decent, then you should get no severe hair damage.
Not sure if is worth tryin them yet. Not an easy decision to make.