Maintaining your Protective Hairstyle

Okay, you decided to take a break from your wearing your natural hair and start wearing a protective hairstyle. You’re rocking some eighteen inch faux locs. They look great!  You want to maintain this look.  Here are some tips for you to keep in mind while wearing your protective hairstyle.  

1. Keep your scalp oiled. (There are oil products that come in a misting bottle.)
2. Wear a headscarf or bonnet nightly.  
3. Do not leave protective styles in too long.

 

HAIR CARE BEFORE PROTECTIVE STYLING

1. Wash and deep condition your hair prior to installation of braids and twists.
2. Do a hot oil treatment on your hair.
3. Massage your scalp to stimulate hair growth.

 

HOW LONG SHOULD I KEEP A PROTECTIVE STYLE?

Protective styles are designed to give you a break from wearing your natural hair.  However, sometimes we wait too long to take the protective style down. I would recommend for those naturals who have thick hair that they can keep their protective style for up to 6 – 8 weeks. Naturals like myself with fine hair I would recommend keeping their protective style for about 4 weeks maximum. I feel that the longer the protective style is left in, the more susceptible you can be for single strand knots.

Whichever style you choose, make sure you are treating your scalp daily. That is important! Keeping your scalp healthy will enable you to maintain the health of your scalp while your hair is in a protective style.  If you keep the protective style to long, you could have split ends, dehydrated hair or a scalp infection.  Wash and moisturize your scalp regularly.

 

AFTERCARE OF PROTECTIVE STYLE

Most likely you will be taking your protective style down.  If you have braids, twist or faux locs, it’s important not to cut too high up so that you don’t cut your hair.  Take your time to untwist or unbraid hair. If able, ask a friend to help take down the hair for a quick takedown process.  Once the synthetic hair has been taken down, prepare to wash your hair.  Later contact your hair stylist for a trim.  You will typically have some ends that need to be trimmed.