Caring for Your Braids

Posted by Nathalie on September 19, 2007

Braids are just about the perfect style for black hair. Braids protect your hair from the elements. They allow for your hair to grow faster since the regular stresses like combing and daily styling are taken out of the picture. And most of all, if they’re done right…they look REALLY good. Just remember that it’s still important to maintain you braids properly while you have them. If you’re doing the wrong thing, you can end up with a hot mess, so please read forward.

Make sure that your braids are properly applied.
If your braids are too tight, this can cause PERMANENT hair loss, which is something we all don’t want to happen.

The biggest mistake that people make is keeping their braids in too long.
It’s nice to know that you love your style, and want to keep it in for as long as possible, but braids should be in your head for at most, two months. After time has passed, you may notice some white lint building up at the top of your braids (where your hair meets the extensions). Once you start to notice this, it’s a clear sign that the braids need to come OUT. After the two month mark has passed (and for some people, even before that), your hair starts to lock up which may cause hair loss when you’re taking your braids out. Plus, old braids don’t look so good…so keep it fresh!!!

WRAP YOUR HAIR!
With time, it’s inevitable that your hair will start to grow, so that shiny, tight look is going to fade away with time. An easy way to keep your hair looking fresh (and to protect your hair from drying out) is to wrap your hair when going to sleep at night. And NOT with a cotton bandanna either…either use a FITTED (not too tight guys) silk/satin scarf or for the fellas, a do-rag.

MOISTURIZE!
Don’t let your hair turn into a dry desert wasteland just because you have braids in your head. Make sure that you keep it lightly moisturized with a conditioning spray (suggested products will be added soon) and/or hair grease. Don’t over-do it, but make sure that you’re not letting your hair dry out.

THE UN-BRAIDING PROCESS
Be patient when taking your braids out! If you start tearing and pulling at your braids, you’re going to lose hair and break off your precious ends. If you have micros in, try wetting them and and adding a thick conditioner (or a cheap cholesterol treatment) to the hair in order to loosen up the braids and ease the strain of unraveling the trillions of braids on your head.

It’s also important to remember that our hair naturally sheds daily (approximately 60 strand/day). When you have braids in, those hairs detach from your scalp, but remained interlocked within your braids. So once your hair is loosed, and you’re combing your hair out to find a lot of hair in your comb, don’t be shocked as this is COMPLETELY normal. But if you’re loosing CLUMPS and exessive amounts of hair…somethings definitely gone wrong.

I hope that these tips help! More to come in the future.

Source: glo-onnaturalhair.com