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Monday, November 17, 2008

Protective Styling

Have you ever wondered why someone who has been natural for less time than you has achieved considerably MORE hair growth than you? The difference is often protective styling. Protective styling is simply wearing your hair "up" in a style that doesn't expose the fragile ends of your hair, and doesn't require daily manipulation. This includes styles like braids, twists, weaves, wigs, and buns (with each style having its own pros and cons ofcourse).

This pic shows the protective style (a bun) I used to rock before I cut my hair. I'm rocking the hell out of those waves, huh? Can you believe this lady at my job asked me if I put all of those waves in my hair one by one with a curling iron? She was dead serious! LOL! Anyhoo, people also used to ask why I never wore my hair down. I tried to explain that if I didn't wear my hair up to protect it, I wouldn't have all that hair to begin with. Protective styling does take commitment. It can often be monotonous and quite frankly a pain in the tooshy. But no pain, no gain, Toots! Believe me, it can be the difference between waist length hair or still having a teeny weeny afro even 5 years after you're big chop-a-roo. Are you routinely wearing protective styles that promote growth?

6 comments:

modest-goddess said...

I chopped my hair off in May and right now I have about 4 inches but it shrinks down to 1 inch so I just wear it as a fro or the occasional head band. It would look longer if I twisted it but I'm not sure if it is worth the effort at this length. No brushes and only wide tooth comb but not everyday. Seems healthy so far and it is growing right on schedule.

Anonymous said...

Lol I have seen people rock protective styles with dedication and still have that TWA 5 years later. I cite ineffective moisturizers, not moisturizing enough, and misconceptions about what moisturizers are.

Laquita said...

Hey this post is right on time. I am currently doing an 'experiment' with protective styles. I have been wearing box braids for months and plan to keep them in until the summer - of course taking them down to redo in-between. But I have noticed faster growth since I stopped messin' in my hair so much. :o)

Lovely Lady Luxe said...

@ dede- I had already covered moisturizers in a recent post... So in this particular post I was just pointing out that if you already feel like you're doing everything right (wide-tooth comb, oiling, etc.), then protective styling may be what you're missing. You had mentioned that you're "only brastrap length after 5 years"... Protective styling (along with the other things I suggested in previous posts) is what helped me achieve more growth in less time. There are ALWAYS exceptions to the game. Many of the people I know with SUPERLONG hair have achieved it with protective styling. Try wearing all that hair out everyday and it's a wrap! lol! I'm only giving what I think MIGHT be helpful suggestions, but by all means you gotta do what works for you. :)

Anonymous said...

OMG your waves are so awesome and uniform!!

Unknown said...

I cut all my hair off September of 06 and it took FOREVER to attain enough hair to simply put a bra headband in for a puff look. I guess it didn't help that I had a bad dye job and had to keep cutting my ends every few weeks until all the dyed hair was gone. But a year after i cut all the dyed hair out my hair still wasn't growing much. By the beginning of this past summer the back of my hair was about chin length and the front was near my nose when straightened and then i went to a barber for a trim and the idiot chopped ALL my hair off! So needless to say 2 years later and i was back to where i started in september of 06. So i recently decided to start wearing protective styles to see if this helped. I've been wearing my hair in braids and braids/weave combos for the past 2 months and i have noticed a decent amount of growth. So my plan is to continue wearing braids for the next 3-4 months to finally get my hair to grow without stagnation. Wish my luck. Love the blog keep the posts coming.