So, real talk: every morning, I wake up and it’s like—bam, that fuzzy mess clinging to my box braids, mocking me. Static, but somehow meaner. I’ve tried every “miracle” frizz tamer out there—spoiler, most of them flop. Those smoothing shampoos with “advanced polymers”? Sure, science words, but my edges still puff up the second I […]

Let’s just admit it: nobody really wants to talk about the braiding patterns stylists secretly hate doing over and over—those edge-snatching, headache-inducing cornrows, or the “perfect” crisscross parts that, honestly, nobody does on their own head unless it’s for Instagram. All that for what, neatness? Here’s the bit stylists rarely say out loud: if your […]

Here’s what’s been bugging me: I spend half my life trying to get braids right, and every single time, my fingers go numb and there’s this mystery lump behind my ear. Why? No clue. Last week, I sat through a whole hair panel, and—of course—someone had to ask if tight braids actually break your hair […]

So, is it just me, or did box braids get weirdly expensive overnight? Every time I doomscroll, there’s another screenshot—$400, $600, and the comments are just people screaming. It’s not just hype, either. I checked, and yeah, it’s everywhere, not just some “celebrity braider” thing. What’s with this new trend of splitting up every single […]

Why am I still getting panicked DMs about tight braids, like, every month? Didn’t every stylist and dermatologist already yell, “Let your scalp breathe!”? “Protective” should mean your scalp’s chill, not on fire, but here we are. I’ve lost track of people telling me their micro-braids are “healthy,” while a trichologist I talked to last […]

Five tutorials. FIVE. All yelling about “perfect partings,” none of them mentioning that one crooked triangle and your cornrows bail on you after six days. I mean, how is this not basic knowledge? Turns out, the parting pattern—triangle, zigzag, whatever—decides if your style lasts, grows out in a way that doesn’t make you hate yourself, […]

Alright, so here’s what’s wild: nobody actually talks about those weird, pulsing scalp bumps you get from tight box braids. Except, okay, my stylist did, but she kind of muttered it like it was a secret. “Too tight? You’ll regret it.” She was poking at my edges, probably making them worse, honestly. Every time I […]