Forgetting to Take Care of Natural Hair Underneath Extensions, Braids and Weaves
Taliah Waajid, Atlanta-based natural hair care specialist, and Founder, Taliah Waajid Hair Care
“One of the worst habits when it comes to weaves and braids is that women neglect to condition the hair and maintain it; we can sometimes sort of ‘set it and forget it.’ With braids, we have to maintain the moisture balance of the hair while it’s in a long-term protective style, and sometimes the mistake with weaves is that we forget the hair underneath the sew-in extensions because it’s not visible. If we don’t take care of the moisture balance of our hair, it can dry out, which leads to breakage and damage. Our hair requires moisture and maintenance regularly, even in protective styles.
The solution to this is applying some product for moisture balance. The Protective Styles line that I created addresses all these needs and Healthy Hair Under There Bamboo, Avocado and Peppermint Conditioning & Restoring Serum, $10, is perfect for braids and weaves: it stimulates the scalp, strengthens the hair and helps condition and restore our hair’s natural strength. It has a directional nozzle so you can apply it to any protective style: braids, twists, crochet, two-strand twists, weaves and updos.”
Over-Shampooing Hair
Heather Packer, Stylist at Red Door Salon and Spa in New York City
“One of the bad habits I see is people who are over-shampooing their hair. Some clients say they don’t feel clean unless they shampoo every single day, that they feel dirty. This is a common misconception. Obviously, if you haven’t shampooed your hair in a week, it’s dirty. But if you washed it yesterday or the day before and it’s not piled on with products, it’s not dirty. The natural oil coming from your scalp and down your hair strand is a good thing for your hair: it helps keep it moisturized and healthy.
If you must apply water to your hair every day, just rinse and condition it; don’t shampoo it every day. Unless your scalp is super greasy to the point where your hair is just gross, shampooing your hair 2-3 times a week is more than fine and enough to properly cleanse your hair. I like Hairstory New Wash Deep, $40, as a great alternative to shampoo: it’s a detergent-free cleanser that contains argan oil and apple cider vinegar to remove buildup and dirt without stripping your hair.”
Sleeping With Wet Hair
Amanda Scott, Stylist at the Serge Normant at John Frieda Salon in New York City
“One of the worst habits I see is people constantly putting wet hair into a tight ponytail/bun and/or sleeping with it wet. When hair is wet, it’s very elastic and flexible’ it doesn’t have the same strength as it does when it’s dry. Wet hair pulled into a ponytail can break with little effort and sleeping with wet hair is basically ensuring a breakage haircut.
I recommend clients never sleep with wet hair or use a small ponytail holder/elastic on wet hair. If they need to sleep with it wet, I would recommend a braid/braids so the hair is secured at the ends where the elastic can be safely removed. In terms of product, I recommend Snobgirls products, like Snobgirls Hydramend Prestoboost, $23. They make leave-in conditioner sprays, creams and capsules – created solely for the creation and maintenance of hair health only. Using products like these will give hair needed protection and will hopefully prevent damage to wet hair styled for day or night.”
Bleaching Hair and Using Extensions
Jonathan Colombini, L'Oreal Paris Consulting Hairstylist and Colorist
“I so often see women attempting to grow their hair out, while on the other hand bleaching their hair and/or loading up on extensions. They are damaging the hair and not allowing the hair to do what’s natural. Extensions can be a temporary fix for a desire for length but can break the hair during removal, which goes against the initial goals of the client.
I always suggest just letting your hair live and do what it knows how to do. Play with easy hair accessories, scarves or a chic fedora. L'Oreal Paris EverStrong Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner, $7.99 each, are great for extra volume and the rosemary leaf extra helps stimulate hair follicles to encourage growth.”
Using Flat Irons With Dry Shampoo
Charles Baker Strahan, Los Angeles-based Celebrity Hairstylist
“One of the most complicated things I encounter with female clients - especially new ones - has to do with expectations around hair growth and length. This relates to habits as well as expectations and understanding.
I think it’s important to mention that your hair will grow as long as your body’s cellular regenerative process will allow it to. The average length of this process is around seven years but some regenerate as often as four years. If your hair has never passed a certain length, this is most often the reason.
The habits that work against your biologically determined hair length are really care and styling practices, particularly the overuse of flat irons and dry shampoo. Using this tool daily, especially on bleached or color-treated hair color, unproperly cleansed and coated with layers of dry shampoo (which can dry out already-dry ends) is a certain recipe for breakage and damaged split ends, which will result in a haircut because this kind of damage causes your hair to be prone to frizz and generally makes it unruly.
You can break the cycle with regular use of shampoo and conditioner to properly cleanse and hydrate hair. Also, if you’re working with second- or third-day hair, use a boar-bristle brush at night before bed to smooth any natural oils away from the scalp and towards the ends of the hair, which desperately need it, then repeat in the morning and use your blow dryer to smooth out any kinks or additional frizz instead of your flat iron. Finally, proper nutrition and vitamin supplements like Nutrafol, $88, can help.
