Natural Hair Care
Benefits of Wearing Protective Styles for Natural Hair
13
Mar
Mar
Over the last decade, the natural hair community has gotten a resurgence. Hundreds of thousands of women have ditched their chemical based straighteners to get to know the natural curls, coils, and kinks they were born with. Whether they have opted for transitioning from relaxer to natural, or jumped right to the big chop; the natural hair community is continuing to thrive.
As women learn how to take care of their natural hair, there is a wealth of trial and error that is involved. For many of us, protective styling does sound counterproductive. The point of growing beautiful natural curls is to be able to wear them and show them off. Having pride in the way natural hair looks is a major part of the culture. However, protective styling is actually an essential part of natural hair care, and the key to beautiful natural curls that are healthy and strong.
Protective Styling
The definition of protective styling for natural hair is styling your hair in a way that protects your ends, edges, and overall curls from consistent manipulation that can lead to breakage and further damage. Protective styles can include anything from wigs and weaves to styling your own curls in a way that can last over a week without needing to be redone. Protective styles are totally customizable and flexible enough to glide from a daytime look to an evening style. You can add extensions or go for a protective style, such as feed in braids or twists, that is just your hair, all of the options are beneficial. But, why do protective styles work and how do they benefit your natural hair growth and health?
Protect Ends From Damage
The ends of natural hair are typically dry and brittle because the natural oils our scalp creates has a difficult time to move down the hair shaft to the ends of the strands. While your hair is in a protective style, the ends can retain their oils that you’ve applied and stay tucked away from damage. Hello growth retention!
Overall Hair Health
Protective styling means little to no hair manipulation. Your hair strands will not go through the beating that happens with consistent brushing, combing, and tugging. While that is necessary for daily styling, it can thin out and wear down your strands. Protective styling cuts down the required daily manipulation so that your strands can regain their strength and health.
Scalp Care
We often times forget about how important our scalp health is to our hair. A healthy scalp is the foundation for beautiful, natural hair. However, over manipulation and and tension due to styling can make the scalp an unhealthy foundation. Gentle protective styling can help your scalp thrive as long as you moisturize and cleanse while your hair is styled.
By Alicia from devoutfashion
