Protective styling is a method of protecting the ends of your hair (the oldest and most fragile part of your hair) from rubbing, splitting, and being damaged by the elements. When you leave your hair out every day the ends dry out, they rub against your clothing and you manipulate your hair daily causing damage and breakage. This breakage could be the main reason why your hair isn’t retaining any length. There are 2 types of protective styles; complete protective styles and low manipulation styles. Complete protective styles include wigs, weaves and braids, while low manipulation styles include buns, twist outs, braid outs and roller sets.
The Good
1. Length retention When done right protective styling prevents breakage. No breakage=longer hair!
2. Time saver Dealing with kinky hair can be time consuming; detangling, washing, styling, drying and daily manipulation. Once your hair is in a protective style you don’t have to do much to it besides the occasional touch up and a daily spritz for moisture.
3. Low maintenance Kinky hair grows better when it’s left alone. With protective styling you can do just that because they offer low maintenance. You don’t have to manipulate your hair every day.
The Bad
1. Neglecting hair It’s easy to get lazy when you have a protective style. Remember to properly care for and maintain your hair underneath. Continue to wash your hair to remove build-up from your scalp. Your scalp needs to breathe in order for your hair to grow.
2. Keeping style for too long Keeping protective styles on for too long leads to dry hair, a dry scalp and breakage.
3. Costly Unless you can do your own hair or have a friend that can do your hair for free, some styles such as weaves and wigs are quite costly.
The Ugly Because a picture is worth a thousand words…
What is your go to protective style?
Amanda xxx
Webesite: A For Afro
Facebook: A For Afro
Email: amandadliwayo@yahoo.com
