On Protective Styling

Being natural in my family meant keeping your hair in braids, twists, extensions, wigs, etc. You never wore your hair "out." In fact, my mother told me that if I did not keep my hair braided or twisted, my hair would fall out which contributed to my limited thinking about what I could do with my natural hair...

I believe that there was some truth to it, as drastic as my mother made it sound. When I actually discovered I could wear my hair out, I went a little crazy. As I mentioned before, I really tried hard to like wash-n-gos, I put curl-enhancing products in my hair all without understanding my hair. One thing I always went back to were what naturals have called "protective styles" which for me were dozens of box braids or twists. I was amazed to learn however that a lot of naturals hate protective styling because they felt it was unprofessional or childlike. Sure, I used to wear childlike styles, but I found as a teenager that the very tiny boxbraids was an easy way for me to wear my hair "down."

Boxbraids as a teen, with gold-hi-lights

Boxbraids when I dyed my hair a chocolate brown, 1st semester of college

In college, I started forcusing more on twists because I had worn boxbraids for a good portion of my life and wanted a change.

Twists for a wedding last summer

Recent sets of twists...

I think protective styles like these are wonderful for any occasion, whether it's hanging out or a special event. I don't understand why many naturals are anti-protective styling. I have decided that for a combination of reasons (retaining length, laziness, the heat, and low-maintance hair care) to incorporate protective styling into my summer regimen which I will go into in a future post.

 

Stay cool! (it's unbearably hot today and has made me a bit sick)