Honestly, I love watching all kinds of hair tutorials from low manipulation styles to crochet braids to loc styling.
I can seriously watch them like a marathon of my favorite TV show. However, there are some tutorials that say protective styling are best for those of us with curly, coily, and kinky* hair who want to retain length and avoid excessive manipulation.
Here is the thing, even though I can appreciate a great protective style I do think that protective styles are not for everyone and that there are some women who would like to retain length and still have their hair out.
Protective styling means that you are hiding or tucking your ends away in braids, twists, bun, or other styles to avoid manipulation as mentioned before.
You can keep this style short term from 5 days to two weeks or long term from 4 weeks to 10 weeks. There would be no reason to use any hair tools or manipulate your hair, other than accessories to switch your look up every now and again.
So how do you know if protective styling is for you, especially if you are just starting on your healthy hair journey? See if any of these conditions apply to you:
Want to give you and your hair a break
If you notice that you are detangling less and less or you are becoming more rough with your hair when styling, then it is time to invest in a protective style.
You absolutely love your hair and the goals that you are setting and completing are giving you life, so you don’t want to mess your hair up because you are stressing out over it.
Sometimes you can get overwhelmed with daily styling or even weekly styling. Having to figure out what styles to do with your hair daily can frustrate you. So allow yourself to breathe and take a break from constantly styling your hair.
I feel you on not having the hair down. For me, I just don’t like my hair brushing against my clothes and for my ends to get frizzy from that. I love protective styling like buns and flat twists. Good article
I feel you on not having the hair down. For me, I just don’t like my hair brushing against my clothes and for my ends to get frizzy from that. I love protective styling like buns and flat twists. Good article
Is it still a protective style if you don’t use added hair? I do small (but not mini) 2 strand twists on my ear length hair and I wear them for two weeks, just spritzing with water daily and sealing wiith oil. I wear a twist out for the last week and then wash and start the process all over. Does that count? I relly can’t go that long without washing my hair. Two and a half weeks is my limit.
Is it still a protective style if you don’t use added hair? I do small (but not mini) 2 strand twists on my ear length hair and I wear them for two weeks, just spritzing with water daily and sealing wiith oil. I wear a twist out for the last week and then wash and start the process all over. Does that count? I relly can’t go that long without washing my hair. Two and a half weeks is my limit.