How to Protect and Maintain Your Hair in Protective Styles

One of the most common questions we hear relating to protective styles is how to maintain them and make them last. Sometimes people get the impression that wearing a complete protective style with feed-in hair means that they do not have to do anything at all with their hair anymore. But in reality, you still want to take care of your hair and scalp to keep your hair in good shape. 

There are a few tips we can recommend you try out in order to keep your protective styles looking their best for as long as possible.

Use Hydrating Hair Mist

For the most part, while your hair is in a protective style, you can leave it alone and enjoy a nice break from having to frequently style and manage your hair. But you may still want to touch up your hair a bit by adding some moisture to your scalp and roots. Adding some moisture back into your hair can reduce the amount of itchiness you feel and keep your hair healthier.

While you may have an entire collection of moisturizing creams, butters, custards, and puddings, they may not be the best for your roots while your hair is in a style. The best product to moisturize your scalp and roots is a hydrating mist of some kind like a leave-in conditioner spray. This type of product is lightweight and allows you to apply it hands-free to avoid creating frizz.

You should try a product like the N.O Naturally Organic Leave-In Conditioner spray with honey and Jamaican black castor oil to keep your hair hydrated and fresh without being weighed down by too much product or causing build-up.

Apply Scalp Oil

A good scalp oil is a must-have product for anyone with natural hair or a protective style. It can help to moisturize and nourish the scalp with lots of healthy ingredients as long as it is well formulated. You can look at the Make It Grow Hair Growth Serum as an example. We formulate using healthy, plant-based oils that are packed with fatty acids, vitamins, and other beneficial nutrients. 

This type of oil or serum can reduce inflammation, reduce dandruff, relieve tension, moisturize the scalp, strengthen your new growth, and promote hair growth. It can also help to lock in moisture after applying a hydrating spray. Apply this serum as needed and gently massage into the scalp to enjoy the lasting benefits. You will definitely see and feel the difference once you take down your style. 

Wrap Up With Silk or Satin

Even while you are sleeping, there are things you can do to help preserve your hair and keep it looking great for much longer. You may already be used to wrapping your natural hair at night with a scarf or bonnet made of silk or satin, but you really want to keep that energy going when you have a protective style going as well.

Tie up your hair at night using silk or satin and make your style last longer. These fabrics will help to reduce frizziness because they do not cause friction like other fibers do. Less frizziness means the roots and lengths of your hair will stay pristine for much longer.

You can use a scarf, bonnet, or a pillowcase made of silk or satin to keep your hair protected throughout the night. You can even double up by using more than one to sleep. It just depends on your personal preferences and what you feel the most comfortable and secure with.

Know When to Take Your Style Out 

Knowing when to remove your protective style is a balancing act that comes with experience. You need to know your hair and how it responds to protective styles. For some, having your hair in a style for longer than six weeks is too much of a stain on the hair, but others can go well past two months. 

As much as we admire the beautiful designs of protective styles, we have to remember that their main purpose is in reducing the amount of manipulation your hair goes through. This helps to prevent the hair from becoming damaged or weaker. You do not want to go  through the trouble of installing a style, just to take it down immediately after. 

However, having a style in for too long can cause stress on your new growth and an excess of build-up, which is not good for the health of your hair and scalp. Essentially, you need to find the amount of time that works best for your hair that is not too soon or too long.

The typical amount of time that people will recommend is six to eight weeks, but the exact number of weeks that is best for you can vary. Just keep this in mind and know your hair.

Each of these tips should be able to help you get the most out of your box braids, passion twists, and soft locs. Take good care of your protective styles, and your hair will thank you in the long-run.