African-American women are blessed with thick dense hair that can be shaped in any hairstyles. However, the natural dryness and brittleness of kinky hair is the mean side of that beautiful hair.
Protective hairstyles are one of the most common and effective ways to grow hair. Protecting your hair from damage, maintaining hydration, and retaining length. A protective style is any hairstyle that keeps your ends tucked away to protect your hair and minimize damage. Since this is the most fragile part of the hair. It can be cornrows, box braids, crochet braids, wigs or in silk bonnet/scarf.
Protective styles protect your natural hair from tugging, pulling, and breakage, due to manipulation, heat, and environmental factors. Extreme temperatures in the summer and winter can cause damage to the hair, so protective styles are perfect in any season. Protective styles are perfect for maintaining your hair while it is growing out. In addition to retaining length, some added benefits include protecting edges from thinning, maintaining moisture, and the styles require low maintenance.
To help get your hair in the healthier state, make sure you load up on moisturization while your hair is in a protective style. If you are wearing braids, using a hydrating product on both the scalp and throughout the length of your hair. Recommend Fenugreek Spray and Oil.
During winter, thinking about the protective hairstyles that'll keep your hair hydrated and well cared for as temps continue to drop. Cold weather can be especially drying for 3A-4C texture hair, as the wind dehydrates our kinks and curls and leads to breakage. That's why protective styles like box braids, Senegalese twists, and Fulani braids are so essential.
Whether you choose protective styles or low manipulation styles, like box braids and Senegalese twists should not be worn longer than 6 weeks. To be more specific, protective styles are worn for at minimum a few days, up to about 8 weeks. We recommend keeping most styles in for about 6 weeks. You don’t want to keep a style in for longer than two months because your hair can become dehydrated, and cause you to have increased scalp tension. For this reason, it’s important to learn how to moisturize your scalp and scalp massage properly to maintain healthy hair and promote growth. For example, spritz your scalp with a tea rinse or water to keep it healthy and reduce itching, and dryness.
It’s better to get a good cut or trim before braiding so your hair can withstand having any tension. This part is the most important in installing any type of protective style, you have to make sure that your hair is in great health before tucking it away in braids. Here are some healthy steps to prepare your natural hair before styling it:
Trim: Get rid of any split ends. Even if you haven’t noticed any damage to your ends, getting a trim every 3-6 months is an important healthy hair habit. This trim is going to promote hair growth before your style is installed. If your hair is not trimmed, it can cause more breakage and damage to go up toward the shaft of the hair. Getting regular trims will not only look and feel good, but your hair will be easier to detangle.
Wash: To get the most out of a protective style, your hair must be thoroughly washed, not only shampooed, you must conditioned, deep conditioned and moisturized before the style is installed. Deep Condition should be a staple on your weekly wash, most importantly on your protective styling.
To keep your look hydrated, healthy, and fresh, you will need the right products and to protect your hair at night. Wear a satin or silk scarf around your head to maintain moisture and keep the style frizz-free or use a silk pillowcase. Each morning, you will need little product and manipulation to get ready for your day. Hence, our Fenugreek Spray and Oil. Applying oils directly to your scalp and your edges and give yourself a nice three-minute scalp massage. Do this at least twice a week and your scalp will thank you later.
Once you've settled on your look, you'll want to be mindful of scalp tension and ensure the braids aren’t too tight. Otherwise it may lead to traction alopecia, headaches, and scalp soreness. While many of us grew up believing that tight braids last longer,
we now know that overt tightness can actually cause hair loss to long term alopecia, the exact opposite of what you want when choosing protective styles.
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