In the natural hair community, I think it’s safe to say we all have a universally despised common enemy – Breakage. Breakage is the enemy of length retention, and we know that length retention is the only way to see any real progress in our inches.
After all, isn’t that why we detangle? Why we wash and style in sections? Why we spend a ton of money on moisturizers? Heck, why we protectively style our hair in the first place? All of this is to avoid breakage so that our hair can thrive.
For the average naturalista, protective styling is the go-to to protect hair and prevent breakage. This could be in the form of weaves, wigs, braids, scarfs, or actual low-manipulation styles. Most naturals are typically rocking some type of protective style at any point in time.
While protective styles are fantastic for preserving our hair, they can cause serious breakage and be detrimental to your hair growth if done wrong. Protective styling done right should adequately protect hair strands, prevent or reduce breakage and give your hair some time off from styling.
If you notice significant breakage during or after a protective style, here are 6 protective styling mistakes that could be the culprit:
TOO MUCH GEL/EDGE CONTROL
Who doesn’t like rocking smooth, sleek styles? Hair glue, gels, and edge control are the go-tos to achieve smoother or more defined styles. Many wash & gos typically use some sort of gel, protective styles with braiding hair often use gels to ‘grip’ the hair. Even low-manipulation styles with our naked hair use edge control to create baby hairs or lay our naps.
When done correctly and in moderation, these are fine; however, many gels contain harsh alcohols that can dry out and break hair if not maintained properly. A common temptation is to continuously add another layer of gel or edge control while wearing a style to keep it looking fresh. Continuously reapplying gels on your twists or edges is a recipe for a dry disaster and is a common culprit for many women experiencing breakage around their edges and napes.
A tip to avoid edge control-related breakage in any protective style is to rinse out the previous product on your edges before laying them again.
To do this, lean over a sink, run water over your edges while rubbing the area to remove product buildup. Afterward, dry and re-moisturize your edges before laying them again. Piling product on top of product will only leave dry, crackly hair that’ll break for sure.
IMPATIENCE
The install and take-down process can make or (literally) break your hair. In a rush to install a new style, you may be tempted to cut corners with preparing your hair because, after all, you’re just gonna cover it up anyway. This is a huge mistake. Whatever you don’t address before installing the new style (detangling, moisturizing, etc.), you’ll have to face 10x more afterward.
The take-down is just as important as the install. Most people see new growth the longer they have a style in but can’t find the growth after taking it down. Why? The hairstyle was impatiently removed, which could involve cutting in the wrong places (esp styles with synthetic hair), pulling and breaking hair while hurriedly detangling old and new growth.
At the end of the day, all the fruits of our protective style go to waste because we’re in a hurry to be done with it.
My advice: don’t do your hair when you’re tired, frustrated, or irritated. This is simple enough, but we can’t always predict how we’ll feel. So, if you feel anything negative, take a break from your hair and come back. The last thing you want is to sabotage your long-term hair goals for a short-term feeling.
NOT LEAVING THE STYLE ALONE
One of the greatest things about our hair is its versatility. It’s great to have the luxury of switching up hairstyles and looking like a different person every other week. However, too much versatility, if you indulge in it, can be detrimental to hair health.
Think about it. The goal of a protective style is typically low-manipulation for a time period to allow hair growth. If your hands are always in your hair, changing your style, constantly manipulating, then there’s no need to keep getting protective styles because that defeats the purpose.
Your hair grows regardless of what you do, and a protective style allows this growth to happen without stress from external factors. Over-manipulation and changing it every other day is disruptive to the protective process.
So, how long should a protective style be kept in?
For hairstyles involving braiding hair such as box braids, or twists, about 6-8 weeks is best. However, if any hair issues arise during this time, you should take it out earlier. For other styles with synthetic hair such as crotchet or weaves, these can typically be kept much longer, provided that the hair underneath is properly cared for.
“OVER” PROTECTIVE STYLING
Yes, there’s such a thing as too much protective styling. We have good intentions when we do back-to-back styles because we assume that our hair is growing underneath each style. But, too much of anything is bad. Consecutively styles can and will cause strain on your strands, causing them to break.
After removing high-tension styles like box braids, your stands are fragile and typically need the TLC that accompanies deep conditioning and hot oil treatments to restore strength and moisture. These have to be addressed before jumping into another style. If you’ve had a stressful week or a bad day, you typically want some time off to yourself. Apply this same logic to your hair, it needs a break to rejuvenate.
How long should you wait between protective styles?
A standard time is around 2-3 weeks. During this time, you need to incorporate protein or moisture treatments, hair masks, or whatever you consider a “spa treatment” for your hair. The goal is to make sure it’s ready and strong enough to handle your next style.
NEGLECTING TO PROTECT THE STYLE ITSELF
Protective styles still need protecting. The fact that your real hair is out of sight doesn’t mean it isn’t affected by what happens to the style itself. Your hair is still subject to a lot of external factors that can induce breakage. In the case of braiding hair, your stylist may do a great job of tucking your hair into your braids, but the longer you wear the style, the more “untuck” your hair becomes, eventually peeping through the style.
This is why it’s recommended to continue wrapping your protective style before bed using a scarf or bonnet or sleeping on a satin pillowcase. Just like your real hair, this prevents any additional hair used in the style from drying out. Protecting your style isn’t just good for your natural hair, it also helps your style last longer.
STYLE IS TOO TIGHT/HIGH TENSION
I don’t know who needs to hear this but a protective style SHOULD NOT HURT! If it does, it’s gone from protective to destructive. Many of us black women have grown up with the belief that a style has to hurt to look good. This is not normal and needs to be unlearned.
If you find yourself resorting to painkillers after a new hairstyle, pouring cold water over your scalp (speaking from experience), or sleeping uncomfortably for over a week before the pain subsides then maybe you need to rethink the style or the hairstylist. This doesn’t just apply to braiding hairstyles, but also styles that are perceived as harmless like high buns, rubber-band styles and pretty much style that can pull on your strands.
Which one of these protective styling mistakes do you have squared away and which ones are you still guilty of?