My sister and I both have thick, somewhat wavy hair - mine is down to the middle of my back; hers is down to her tailbone. I spend maybe two minutes on my hair in the mornings (just brushing it and maybe throwing it in a ponytail - I hardly ever do more than that). My sister does one or two braids all the time, sometimes coiled and sometimes not, and she'll french-braid it into the shape of a swan because it's a Tuesday, so I'm going to try to give some observation about think+wavy hair from both sides as well as I can:
1) if you shower in the morning, your hair WILL be at least a bit damp for hours. Blow-drying it gets the top layer, but the underlayers will still be damp. (I usually shower mid-day or in the evening for this reason.) Brushing it while wet is vital, but then you have to brush it again 30-60 minutes later or it will dry in a weird stringy look with flyaway frizzy bits.
2) If you braid your hair while wet, it will make some really sleek, nice-looking braids even without product in it. However, then it will be *really kinky* when you take the braids out - even if it was just a single, fairly loose braid to start with. Braiding while dry makes it harder to get a tight braid, but it comes out more easily.
3) Sleeping with a braid isn't so bad - I prefer mine loose, but my sister always braids her hair before bed. The key is to do a single loose braid without pulling your hair into a ponytail first, so you're only using one elastic (at the end of the braid) instead of two (one at your scalp and the other, smaller one at the end). Your hair will be messy in the morning, of course, but it does cut down on flyaway hair getting in your mouth (or your partner's face) while you sleep.
4) Braiding takes practice, but it goes really fast when you're good at it. It takes me several minutes to get my hair into some somewhat-lumpy-looking braids; it takes my sister less than two minutes to do hers and it comes out looking perfect every time.
5) Long hair is HEAVY! I go back and forth between ponytail and loose all day because over time, a braid or ponytail really pulls at your scalp and gives you a headache. (That's part of the reason I don't bother with a braid.)
6) Corollary to that: braids can get in the way. It's not comfortable to wear a ponytail-style braid or even a regular ponytail when you're driving long distances (can't lean your head back against the headrest) or riding a roller coaster. On the other hand, though, braided hair doesn't get stuck in the seatbelt mechanism whenever you unbuckle your seatbelt, and it doesn't fly up to stick in your face if you drive with the window open
7) Depends a lot on genetics, of course, but longer hair doesn't need to be washed as often to look good. I shaved my head a few years back (donated 18 inches of ponytail, then cut everything else to <1") and I was really surprised at how greasy my hair looked/felt if I skipped a daily shower. Some women with longer hair use shower caps so they can shower in the morning and not deal with the wet hair thing; others just don't mind a less-than-daily schedule.
So yeah, there's a bunch of info you probably won't find helpful but now you know anyway. (And knowing is half the battle, right?)