As the season starts to change we need to adjust our beauty regime's this includes our haircare. Just as you will switch up your moisturizer to a thicker formulation and perhaps add serums to you skincare your hair also needs a boosts of moisture and extra care in winter.
We all know that as the temperature starts to drop there is less humidity in the air and less humidity means that there isn't much moisture clinging on to our skin and hair. Bitterly cold winds strip the moisture from our hair, so in winter we need to make MOISTURE our priority.
When I say add more moisture I am not saying pile on more products on your hair; we also need moisturize from within, so drinking water is an excellent way to make sure we keep a good balance of moisture in our bodies. The saying goes "we are what we eat" more water equals more moisture getting to our hair and skin.
This is the time when we will see a lot of protective styling - not my favorite thing but a necessary evil to maintain hair health - I have decided to do a 2 part series on Winter hair care. This week we will talk about what do before you put in your protective style, then next week will discuss how we go about caring for your hair in its protective style.
Before you install a Protective Style
1. Make sure you have no split ends, split ends knot and tangle hair very easily this in turn causes breakage when you take down.
2. Clarify your hair with a good clarifying shampoo that is sulfate free, or you if like to mix things you can use Bentonite Clay, this ensures that there is no product build up and your hair and scalp is clean
3. Deep Condition, this is very important as your hair will be locked away in braids for up to 6 weeks and you want to ensure that it receives a maximum punch of moisture
3. You must LOC or LCO, a good tip here is to use a very good leave-in conditioner so that it locks in the moisture, seal your hair with an oil or butter and concentrate it on your ends
4. Stretch you own hair by either threading, twist-out or blow dry on low heat this will ensure that your hair is not heat damaged, as I am yet to meet a stylist that actually uses low heat to blow dry my hair
5. Treat your synthetic hair, soak your braiding hair for a couple hours in water which has a few table-spoons of apple cider vinegar to take out any chemical residual left over from the manufacturer, let it dry over night. When you do braid insist that the stylist uses a little leave-in conditioner on the synthetic hair so that it does not draw all the moisture from your hair.
6. Choose a style that will not damage your hair so those hair styles that cause too much pressure on the hair line are a definite NO NO, I do love micro braids and I think they are so beautiful but, I know that my hairline would suffer. Make sure you are funky with your style but be mindful of protecting your hair.
If you are not as neurotic as I am and choose to have your whole treatment at the salon make they use good product to treat your hair. A good thing to do is to choose a stylist that will actually listen to you, and not tell you what they think be firm. Make sure that you pay attention as your protective style is been installed keep a watchful eye on what they are doing. If you are getting a weave make that the tracks put in are not too tight as remember they still need sew the weave onto those tracks so if it is tight tell them it is. Unfortunately we have not reached a point where most stylist know how to treat our natural hair so you you have to be vocal and tell your stylist what you do and do not like.
What are your favourite protective styles, and how do you style you braids?
XXX
Isabel
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