Ally's big braidout, and our last minute rush to prepare for swim class.

At about 7pm, Ally was nice enough to let me know that her regular gym class switches over to swimming class. Tomorrow. Her hair was still in the  beaded style I did last week, minus the beads. My plan was to keep them in until Friday night even though they had begun to get a slight bit fuzzy. However, with swim class tomorrow and no time to prepare, I worried what the chlorine and water and showers after would do to her braids. (We could not find her swim cap, or the bottoms to her swimsuit. Really, no time to prepare.) So we decided it best to remove her braids. Here is her awesome braidout:

(In the top picture, she was in her swimsuit. The girl grows so fast, we had to make sure it still fit. Then she changed into jammies. :)

Ally actually loved the braidout so much, she was upset she could not wear her big hair  out to school tomorrow.

Instead, what we decided to do was put her hair in 2 cornrows, super moisturized and conditioned, so she could swim that way. After swim, she will shower, take the braids out, co wash her hair and pony it up until she gets home. Here is how I prepared her braidout for the corn rows:

• First, I parted her hair down the middle, and sprayed one side with a water bottle.
• Next, I sprayed on some "Turn Me Loose" leave-in conditioner by Its Perfectly Natural, and worked it through her hair with my hands.
• Then I added some Shea Moisture's "Curl and Style Milk", and worked that through the same way.
• To seal in all this great moisture, I added It's Perfectly Natural's "Splendid Hair and Body Oil".
• I did the same thing with the other side, and braided. :)

I used a LOT of product in her hair, but I am she is going into some heavily chlorinated water tomorrow unprotected, and I will not be there afterward to make sure her hair is ok. After school, we will wash and deep condition and restyle. We will definitely be more prepared for her next swim class. This child always seems to remember things like this last minute.