Today, we would be talking about protective styling, the benefits, and pitfalls and the most effective ways to groom your natural hair while its in a protective style.
Please note whenever i say natural, i am referring to both virgin and chemically processed hair which is usually referred to as 'relaxed' or 'texlaxed' hair.
Happy new year everyone, as we begin the new year its beneficial to protect your hair most especially the ends from the drying effect of the hamattan season.
A protective style can be said to be any form of hair style that keeps your hair and ends tucked in a way that it reduces the time spent touching and toiling with the hair.
Examples of protective styles include but are not limited to :
SINGLE BRAIDS
SINGLE TWISTS
CORNROW
WIG
WEAVE
and NATURAL HAIR PROTECTIVE STYLING
Below are the benefits and pitfalls of the aforementioned protective styles without compromising your healthy hair grooming
BENEFITS
braids and twists with synthetic extensions can tolerate water hence it allows you keep them for a longer period of time as you can wash the braids/twists between intervals without having to worry about odour or dirt unlike weavons. For some, the hair cleansing habit could be an interval of three weeks, while for others it could be an interval of one month depending on what you are most comfortable in
braids and twists allow you the opportunity to oil and moisturise your hair regularly without having to worry about buildup of dirt and itchy scalp unlike weavons.
braids and twists also allow you to switch up styles in which ever way you choose to repack/style it. thus giving you more styling options to choose from.
This form of protective style also helps combat hand in hair syndrome [braids helps to keep your hands away from your hair for those who always like to touch their hair every minute
POSSIBLE PITFALLS TO AVOID WHEN OPTING FOR A PROTECTIVE STYLE IN BRAIDS, TWISTS AND CORNROW
AVOID OVERLY TIGHT BRAIDS , twists and cornrows [if the hair is overly tight, it is rather damaging than protecting because tightly braided hair will only put too much tension on your hair follicles thus causing it to break off] so instead of retaining hair length your hair will be reducing in length as a result of having to deal with hair breakage.
AVOID HEAVY BRAIDS AND TWISTS [if your single braids or twists are heavy on each section of braids it will weigh the hair down as a result the weight of the synthetic braids will pull your own hair down causing it to break] therefore its beneficial to braid the synthetic hair in the same proportion as your hair] for example if each of your sectioned hair is as thick as your little finger then its just right to either use the same proportion for the extension or you can up the extension to not more than your index finger or a maximum of your thumb size.
AVOID RUBBING THE BRAIDS/TWISTS when cleansing [in other not to roughen the braids to keep it neat] its beneficial to just dab the water through the braids by using your palm to slap the water through the braids as you rinse through. once done you towel dry or use a t-shirt to dry the excess water by using a touch and squeeze method DO NOT RUB, allow it to air dry after using the touch and squeeze method.
AVOID OVERLY RUBBING THE BRAIDS/TWISTS when moisturising or oiling [in other to keep it neat] it is best to avoid rubbing in the oil or cream back and forth this is because rubbing in back and forth motion will only end up causing a rough surface on the braids. rather just dab the oil or moisturiser into each braids by following the below steps.
- Apply by rubbing the oil or moisturiser in between your palm
- Scrunch [take like 5 to 10 braids at a time] and scrunch with your palm as you scrunch from root to tip of your own hair and not minding the remaining part of the extension as you are majorly concerned with your hair and not the extension
- If your moisturiser is in a liquid or spray-able form take 5 to 10 braids at a time and spray from root to tip of your own hair.
Once you done moisturising the whole braids, then you can repack it to what ever style you desire but make sure not to style it too tight that it puts tension on your edges.
If protecting your hair in wigs and weaves below are the benefits you stand to gain
Wigs and weaves protects the hair from the sun damage, hence it helps to keep your hair colour protected from fading. from personal experience and other peoples experiences i observed that too much exposure of the hair to sunlight can cause some sort of discolouration as it messes with the hair colour causing it to fade and look dull. For this reason wigs and weaves are excellent for use as a shield to protect the hair from the sun damaging heat ray.
Wigs in particular gives you the opportunity to alternate between different hair styles within a short period of time as you can switch up wigs from one day to the other and still have the opportunity to groom and rock your natural hair in between.
POSSIBLE PITFALLS TO AVOID WHEN OPTING FOR A PROTECTIVE STYLE WITH WEAVES
- Do not get carried away in weaves that you forget to care for your own hair
- When grooming your hair in weaves Do not spritz water rather its better to use oil instead.
- Massage your scalp and hair tracks with oil once in a while and NOT every day, this is because if your scalp becomes too oily from daily oiling it might cause you to have an itchy scalp. Nonetheless, if your scalp is too dry it can also cause an itchy scalp so its best to apply oil in moderation.
- Do not clog your scalp with creams, its better to oil the scalp and use your creamy leave-in products to moisturise your hair only. Hence, oiling is great for the hair and scalp but as for creamy products its best to apply it between your hair tracks and not on your scalp.
How do you protect your hair during the hamattan period?
Do you have specific ways of protecting your hair differently during hamattan or do you change your hair regimen to accommodate the change in weather?
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