THE PROS AND CONS OF PROTECTIVE STYLYING
Hello naturals
A happy new month to you all. It feels like ages since I last wrote. I apologize sincerely. I've been real busy with school, preparing for exams and all. But I'm so happy writing this post. I don't know why though. Maybe because I tried writing a week ago and I just couldn't put my thoughts into words. Lol.
As the topic suggests, we are going to be looking at protective styling in this post. It's advantages and disadvantages. We are also going to be looking at what you need to do when you have a protective style installed.
PROS
Everyone loves to protective style. Everyone loves to be given a total make over in a salon. I love protective styling majorly because I don't get to do so much work on my hair. The job of braiding before sleeping can be really tiring and time consuming. Protective styling helps me to get all that work off my shoulder.
Protective styling gives you variety of ways to style your hair. I personally love to protective style because it reduces the rate at which I manipulate my hair to a minimum. And of course, who doesn't love to install those beautiful box braids. Heavenly. I feel like Beyonce in her 'say yes' music video when I have long braids installed. To top it off, there are a thousand and one ways to style your braids!
Let us not forget crochet braids. I love it because it conceals your hair entirely! It protects your edges from the elements of the earth. Having crochet braids installed guarantees of loosing sight of your hair entirely. What a way to leave your hair be! And then, there is flat twist, corn rows, wigs and weavons. Protective styling is so amazing. It is so much fun to experiment with the different styles.
CONS
We all love to style our braids that sometimes we overlook the fact that pressure is being put on the root especially the edges. Most people have fragile edges that give way when so much pressure is put on them. I'm one of those. My edges are real fragile. They break at the slightest pressure. So, I take great pains to make sure that they are in place because I surely do not want to be bald!
You have got to admire Cardi B's sleek edges. We all want one of those. To slay our edges so we can smile.for the gram and hashtag 'edges on fleek'. I get you babe but I think you have to reconsider placing too much of that product on your hair. Most times, we leave our braids on for close to a month. No washing. Nada. That product is going to sink in your hair for a while and I tell you girl, it ain't good for your strands.
Another con to protective styling is abandon. Total abandon. Many at times, when wearing protective styles, we leave our hair unattended to forgetting that our hair neds much care when it is in a protective style as it needs when it is out!
What are the tips to note when protective styling?
Moisture. You need to moisturize. This is probably the most important thing to note. Always spray your hair with water at least every other day. If you tend to be forgetful about spraying your hair, I'll advise you keep your spray bottle within eye sight. I keep my spray bottle on my reading table and I assure you that I rarely forget to spray my hair. So girl, get that spray bottle and spray that lovely strands of yours with water and always keep it moisturized.
Always incorporate scalp massages to your hair even in a protective style. Scalp massages are important for stimulating hair growth especially the famous inversion method that involves bending your head then massaging with oil. This helps to increase blood flow to the scalp and thereby stimulating hair growth.
Err on the side of too much gel and make it sparse if you must apply it. I saw a video on YouTube where a naturalista who felt she had used so much gel on her hair that week decided to wash her edges. Like she literally washed her edges. So, it's either you wash the edges or reduce the amount of gel to a pea sized amount. I've also seen people wash their entire braids too and air dry it. I mean for top to bottom of their braids washed and I was literally wowed because I can't do that. Totally cannot do that. Even if I wanted to attempt it, I so wouldn't air dry. I would sit under the dryer until it is completely and totally dry.
Heavy braids are a big NO for me. They are pretty that's a given but they work and I mean hard work. They pull out my fragile edges in large chunks. So I don't do them anymore. No waist length braids for me. I just stick to short or medium length braids. Also try to avoid too tight braids. I hate it when I feel like my scalp was braided together with my hair. Makes me feel like a walking Turkey.
Manipulating your braids can also wreak havoc on your hair. I see people who put their hair in a super tight bun and their hair begins to pull of at the roots. If you want to jazz up your braids, try mak
ing the styles not too tight. Please girls, for the sake of your edges.
I'm sure y'all are wondering why I'm always talking about edges. Trust me, I've seen girls without edges and trust me, it is not a wonderful sight to behold.
Don't leave your protective styles for too long 3 weeks to a month is okay. But above that is not so good. Because your hair needs to breathe, it needs to be washed and deep conditioned. So, try to take down your braids at most after a month has gone by.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Leave a comment before you leave and tell us your favorite way of protective styling and how you maintain your hair in a protective style. You can also tell us if you totally neglect your hair when it's in a protective style.
#staynatural guys. Xoxo
A happy new month to you all. It feels like ages since I last wrote. I apologize sincerely. I've been real busy with school, preparing for exams and all. But I'm so happy writing this post. I don't know why though. Maybe because I tried writing a week ago and I just couldn't put my thoughts into words. Lol.
As the topic suggests, we are going to be looking at protective styling in this post. It's advantages and disadvantages. We are also going to be looking at what you need to do when you have a protective style installed.
PROS
Everyone loves to protective style. Everyone loves to be given a total make over in a salon. I love protective styling majorly because I don't get to do so much work on my hair. The job of braiding before sleeping can be really tiring and time consuming. Protective styling helps me to get all that work off my shoulder.
Protective styling gives you variety of ways to style your hair. I personally love to protective style because it reduces the rate at which I manipulate my hair to a minimum. And of course, who doesn't love to install those beautiful box braids. Heavenly. I feel like Beyonce in her 'say yes' music video when I have long braids installed. To top it off, there are a thousand and one ways to style your braids!
Let us not forget crochet braids. I love it because it conceals your hair entirely! It protects your edges from the elements of the earth. Having crochet braids installed guarantees of loosing sight of your hair entirely. What a way to leave your hair be! And then, there is flat twist, corn rows, wigs and weavons. Protective styling is so amazing. It is so much fun to experiment with the different styles.
CONS
We all love to style our braids that sometimes we overlook the fact that pressure is being put on the root especially the edges. Most people have fragile edges that give way when so much pressure is put on them. I'm one of those. My edges are real fragile. They break at the slightest pressure. So, I take great pains to make sure that they are in place because I surely do not want to be bald!
You have got to admire Cardi B's sleek edges. We all want one of those. To slay our edges so we can smile.for the gram and hashtag 'edges on fleek'. I get you babe but I think you have to reconsider placing too much of that product on your hair. Most times, we leave our braids on for close to a month. No washing. Nada. That product is going to sink in your hair for a while and I tell you girl, it ain't good for your strands.
Another con to protective styling is abandon. Total abandon. Many at times, when wearing protective styles, we leave our hair unattended to forgetting that our hair neds much care when it is in a protective style as it needs when it is out!
What are the tips to note when protective styling?
Moisture. You need to moisturize. This is probably the most important thing to note. Always spray your hair with water at least every other day. If you tend to be forgetful about spraying your hair, I'll advise you keep your spray bottle within eye sight. I keep my spray bottle on my reading table and I assure you that I rarely forget to spray my hair. So girl, get that spray bottle and spray that lovely strands of yours with water and always keep it moisturized.
Always incorporate scalp massages to your hair even in a protective style. Scalp massages are important for stimulating hair growth especially the famous inversion method that involves bending your head then massaging with oil. This helps to increase blood flow to the scalp and thereby stimulating hair growth.
Err on the side of too much gel and make it sparse if you must apply it. I saw a video on YouTube where a naturalista who felt she had used so much gel on her hair that week decided to wash her edges. Like she literally washed her edges. So, it's either you wash the edges or reduce the amount of gel to a pea sized amount. I've also seen people wash their entire braids too and air dry it. I mean for top to bottom of their braids washed and I was literally wowed because I can't do that. Totally cannot do that. Even if I wanted to attempt it, I so wouldn't air dry. I would sit under the dryer until it is completely and totally dry.
Heavy braids are a big NO for me. They are pretty that's a given but they work and I mean hard work. They pull out my fragile edges in large chunks. So I don't do them anymore. No waist length braids for me. I just stick to short or medium length braids. Also try to avoid too tight braids. I hate it when I feel like my scalp was braided together with my hair. Makes me feel like a walking Turkey.
Manipulating your braids can also wreak havoc on your hair. I see people who put their hair in a super tight bun and their hair begins to pull of at the roots. If you want to jazz up your braids, try mak
I'm sure y'all are wondering why I'm always talking about edges. Trust me, I've seen girls without edges and trust me, it is not a wonderful sight to behold.
Don't leave your protective styles for too long 3 weeks to a month is okay. But above that is not so good. Because your hair needs to breathe, it needs to be washed and deep conditioned. So, try to take down your braids at most after a month has gone by.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Leave a comment before you leave and tell us your favorite way of protective styling and how you maintain your hair in a protective style. You can also tell us if you totally neglect your hair when it's in a protective style.
#staynatural guys. Xoxo
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