Are you tired of your hair breaking off, shrinking, and thinning out? It’s time to start taking better care of your locks and choosing the right protective hairstyles for your hair growth and damage prevention. By opting to protect your hair with the right hairstyles, you can give your hair the best chances for growth and preventing any further damage. Read on to discover protective hairstyles that can help you finally reach your hair-growth goals!
1. Why Protective Hairstyles Help Hair Growth and Damage Prevention
Protective hairstyles are an important part of many people’s haircare regimes, and with good reason! When worn correctly, protective styles can help to nourish and strengthen hair, while also guarding against damage and breakages. This makes them perfect for anyone who’s aiming to grow healthy, luxuriant locks… and who isn’t? So, how can this happen? Read on and find out what makes protective hairstyles so beneficial:
Protective Hairstyles Reduce Over-Manipulation
Protective hairstyles essentially ‘protect’ the hair from manipulation, meaning that you can give those tresses a break. Freeing the hair from endless styling, straightening, curling, dyeing or other chemical treatments like relaxers, also prevents breakage and helps to prevent damage to the hair shaft from over-processing.
- This also helps to stop the hair drying out and allows the hair to benefit from natural oils produced by the scalp.
- With the reduced handling, your hair has the chance to repair itself naturally.
Protective Hairstyles Make Use Of Natural Hair Growth Processes
Protective hairstyles also work by harnessing the natural processes that help hair to grow and protect itself. For example, cornrows, locs and even certain plaits help the scalp to produce natural oils which then protect the ends of the hair from damage. In addition, the micro-movements of scalp that protective styling encourages helps to promote healthy blood circulation and stimulates hair follicles, resulting in stronger, thicker hair.
Protective Hairstyles May Promote Longer Hair
Finally, certain protective styles work to reduce breakage from natural shedding. This means that hair actually remains on the head for longer, so growth potential is maximized. For anyone aiming to grow their own long, luscious locks, this is especially beneficial, as breakage can often prevent hair from reaching its full potential.
2. Identifying Protective Hairstyles That Work for You
Protecting your hair is essential for healthy growth and longevity. With the number of protective hairstyles available to select from, it can be tough to narrow down which ones actually work best. Here are a few tips to help you figure out which protective hairstyles are right for you:
- Research and take your time. Have a few reliable platforms to help you find styles and stylesites.
- Check out the stylists social media. Some stylists post images and their tags can help you find the perfect style for you needs.
Consider your lifestyle: Comfort is key, so when choosing a hairstyle, be sure it fits your lifestyle. Can you commit to the regular maintenance that some styles require? Is your lifestyle more laid back and easy to maintain for lower maintenance styles?
Think about your natural hair: With styles like box braids, crochet, and twists, you will need to have the right texture or type of hair that will accommodate the style. When opting for these styles, make sure your hair is strong and healthy enough for it.
Consider your daily activities. Are you an athlete? Some styles work better than others when it comes to working out and being active. Low manipulation options are always optimal.
Do some practice runs. If you feel like you have found the perfect style, practice it a few times before committing to it. This is to ensure you have the right materials and understand the time commitment.
Before committing to a specific protective hairstyle, make sure it suits your needs. Think of it as an investment in the health and length of your hair.
3. Tips for Installing Protective Hairstyles at Home
To avoid spending time and money at the salon, here are 3 tips to take into consideration when installing protective hairstyles at home.
- Use a Crochet Needle: When making certain protective hairstyles with synthetic braids, applying glue can take too much time. A crochet needle is the best choice to attach them quickly and flawlessly.
- Choose High Quality Hair: The success of your protective style depends on the hair quality you selected. Invest in good quality extensions for your styling to assure that they stay intact no matter what.
- Be Patient: Protective styles require patience and attention to detail. Take your time to avoid mistakes and play around with the design and length until you get the desired look.
Other measures that will help you safeguard your protective hairstyle are using the correct bobby pins to keep the braids in place and using minimum products to avoid product buildup.
One last step to preserve your look is a thorough rinse to remove excess product or dirt buildup. To do so, use cold water and a gentle shampoo.
Follow these tips to ensure your protective style looks neat and presentable for weeks.
4. Recurring Benefits of Protective Hairstyles
Protecting one’s hair could be considered an art form. It requires much more thought than just throwing it into a bun or high ponytail to get it out the way for the day. Planned protective hairstyles come with a plethora of benefits no matter what length your hair is.
Low-Maintenance – Protective hairstyle fans find comfort in the fact that once installed, they don’t have to worry about styling it every day. Upkeep of a crotchet style is minimal as long as you keep a light sheen and braid spray and tight clean braid pattern. Low Manipulation – Protective hairstyles provide extended periods of low or no hair manipulation for those of us who opt to wear our hair natural. Low maintenance styles save time creating an opportunity to do other things with your day.
Protection From The Elements – Protective hairstyles are excellent for shielding against the harsh elements especially if you find yourself outside often. Keeping your hair from the elements can prove to be especially beneficial if you live a salt water swim lifestyle or find yourself at the beach. Your hair stays protected with most of the protective styles offered. Proper accessories such as hats or scarves can be added for an extra layer of protection.
Reduced Breakage – Naturalistas swear by protective hairstyles to reduce breakage and strengthen hair with regular maintenance. These styles reduce or eliminate tangles, offer a break from chemical straighteners and the pulling of a comb or brush, and provide the extra hold needed to keep ends tucked with little adjustment.
Healthy Hair Growth – Protective styling provides the ideal environment for healthy hair growth. Your hair is no longer exposed to manipulation that causes breakage and damage. Depending on the protective style, your ends should remain tucked away and beginning to grow with the remainder of your hair.
Protective styling is a great way to minimize stress, breakage, and damage from harsh styling tools and products. There are many hair care products specially designed to help retain moisture and reduce tangling while wearing protective styles.
Now that we’ve explored some of the many protective hairstyle options for hair growth and damage prevention, you can confidentially use your hair to create a beautiful style that will be healthy and protected. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different hairstyles, and don’t forget to take good care of your hair every step of the way. With the right hairstyle, you can confidently achieve hair growth goals that you never thought possible. So take those steps and make your hair look and feel the way that it deserves.
