my box braids

about 3 weeks ago I got frustrated with my hair and decided I needed to do something to help me manage my 11 week old new growth from hell. My options were 1) give in and relax 2)pay a professional about $150 to braid it or 3) attempt to braid it myself for about $40. I settled with option 3, so off I went to Sally's to get the supplies. Talk about a leap of faith - neither have I braided anyone's hair with extensions before nor had I a clue how I was going to make it happen on my own head but I was definitely optimistic. I bought the Kanekalon, some hair gel and moisturizer and came home to tame the mass. At first it was really exciting, here I was undertaking a great challenge - eager to see the final results. I took me about 2 rows before I really got the hang of it, but after that it seemed so simple, I seriously wondered why it never occurred to me to do this for myself before.Halfway through, I was admiring the rows of hair as they feel perfectly layered so that no scalp was exposed. "I'm so proud of myself" I silently thought to myself.Fast forward to day 2 - half my head was still to be done and I really just wanted to be doing other stuff. Everytime I thought of doing something else it dawned on me that my head was half done and I sure as heck was not leaving the house looking like this....I was definitely committed to finishing whether by choice or not. So I sucked it up and some 18 hours in total later I had completed my final plait and swore to myself that I would leave this job to the professionals next time lol.Honestly, I would probably do it again, but I would do a couple things differently: 1) start as early as possible in the morning after the halfway mark my hands got tired and my braiding sloppy 2) braid the ends tapered instead of using rubber bands 3)curl the ends and last but certainly not least I would reserve doing this kind of "project" for long holiday weekends.They've lasted me 3 weeks but I think this is the last week for me and these extensions, my hair is getting really thick and replaiting the edges is no longer working (it's just way too THICK!). I feel as though I have no choice but to have it relaxed sometime next week....so this weekend i will bid "fare-the-well" to the extensions, but I'm glad I went ahead and did them myself, I realized that I can accomplish anything once in the right frame of mind :)Check out a pic of the results of my box braid extensions.