When Thinning Edges Attack! Top Ways To Save Your Edges
One of the biggest complaints for many women, natural or not, is the vicious attack of the notorious thinning edges!
Even women with the most healthiest locks of hair have to contend with a certain amount of hair loss, very commonly around the edges.
Why does this occur so often for so many women?
Simple. Edges are the most abused sections of hair. Think about it. The edges are the presentation for several hair styles. It is one of the things that people see first when they look at your face, aside from your eyes. So we want them to look proper most of the time.
Thus, where the “abuse” comes in. We harshly brush, comb and overly gel our edges, convincing ourselves they are not presentable in their natural state. When some of us were still in our perming days, we get in the habit to packing a ton of perm on the edges in hopes of making them look perfectly laid back.
We don’t have to go into the many chemicals that burn the scalp, hence your hair, hence your edges too.
Additionally, for naturals, any tight style that requires extra tension to the edges should be avoided. We understand you want to look fly, but we want your edges to stay in tack too!
Often times, we get gorgeous protective styles done and when it is time to get our hair redone, we do not give our hair a long enough break to recoup. Back to back tight hair styles are the fastest way to lose your edges. Additionally, many of us get neglectful when our hair is in a protective style, not moisturizing our scalp as often as we should. This also dries out and breaks off the edges.
Here are some tips to help keep your edges around for a while!
1. No stress to your hair. Tight braids, weaves and sow ins should be avoided. Of course you may want to wear a protective style but if you need aspirin to tolerate getting the style installed in the first place, you can sure your edges will hate your for it.
2. Constant moisture. Moisturize in the morning, noon and night if you can help it. A tip to maintain good moisture to your edges throughout the day is to put a little of your favorite hair mist in a small spray bottle that can fit in your purse. Use throughout the day to keep your edges soft.
3. Do you own hair. YOU know how much you can tolerate. Beauticians are concerned about making your hair look good, even if it means pulling and tucking on your edges. If you do your own hair, you can manipulate the amount of tension you out on your edges. For example, if you want to do a braid out, you can braid your hair very light and still get a great style.
4. Try to embrace these styles more. Braid outs, unraveled bantu knots, curl sets, loosely braided or combed up-dos do not require a lot of tense on your edges. Remember with any style to keep some type of leave in conditioner to maintain softness and moisture.
5. Be more mindful of your health. Hormonal imbalance and hair loss are two birds of a feather. As women age, our hormones become out of whack, making more testosterone than estrogen some times, creating some very unwanted side effects like more hair where we don’t want it and less hair where we do. A balanced diet rich in vegetables, lean meats, fish and fruit and reduction in sugar will make the world of difference in healthier hair.
