My Patra Braids!

Here they are :). I got these done on Sunday and it only took about six hours in total. After they were done I dipped them in boiling hot water to seal the ends. I chose to dip them as opposed to burning them because I think they look more natural this way. Also, we only used eight of the ten packs of hair I bought. I love them! As you can see, they're pretty long which means they're heavy. Like... really heavy lol. It feels like my head moves first then the hair follows. At night I put it in a high bun and tie it up with my silk scarf. I will say that sleeping comfortably with these things is a real task. Hopefully it wont be so bad once I've adjusted to them.
As far as caring for my hair goes, it will be very simple. I'll wash every two weeks, oil my scalp with JBCO nightly, and for now I'll be spraying the length of MY hair with leave in conditioner. I don't have a braid spray yet so this will have to do.
I'm planning to keep these in until February 1st. Then I'll decide if I want to do a relaxer or not. Right now I'm thinking that I will take them out, let my hair breathe for a week, and have them redone. If I go that route, I'll be taking the second set out in April.  The main reason I'm leaning more towards that option is because that will take my relaxer stretch to 24/25 weeks. That would definitely benefit me in this second hair journey. Besides, it will still be the cold winter months and our hair needs as much protection as possible.
My main focus during these months is to continue caring for the hair underneath the braids. Too many people think they can get extensions or weaves and not touch their hair at all. I've even seen people keep box braids in for almost four months without washing at all. Then they wonder why their hair is the same length or shorter than it was when they put the braids in. I'm not about that life! I'll be doing all I can to retain a decent amount of length. With that being said, I'm gone :).