Wednesday 1 May 2013

Save your hairline!!!


The most asked question I get is "How do I fix a receding hairline?" So naturally, I thought this should be my next post:

First off, what causes the hairline to recede? Here are the top 6 reasons:
- Vigorous combing/brushing
- Braids that are too small, too tight or too heavy
- Improper application and removal of glued in lace wigs
- Improper application and removal of glued in weaves
- Excessive relaxing
- Friction against your pillow while sleeping

7 ways to get your hairline back:
There are extreme cases of hairline damage where you have to see a doctor to get regular shots or even surgery. For milder cases, here are a few things that you can do to improve your hairline:


1. STOP brushing your hairline. I mean, do you really really need to exert all that effort when brushing your edges? I understand that you want your hair to lay flat but if you insist on smooth/flat edges, do it GENTLY, those strands are fragile and so is the scalp in that area. Infact, here is a challenge for you: Don't brush or comb your edges at all. Use your fingers, detangle your hair and smooth it back with some edge control.

Give your edges a break from brushing (pun intended :)




2. Make sure your braids/weaving/cornrows are not too tight. Make sure they are not too heavy and make sure they are not too small. Too tight and/or too heavy braids will cause trauma to the hair follicle making it incapable of producing hair. Small braids are not really an issue except for the fact that people tend to leave them in for too long and with all the movement, the braids sometimes start to twist at the base, create tension and fall off. So if you must put your hair in small braids either don't leave them in for too long or redo the edges once they start to twist.

If you have to take pain killers after doing your hair, it is too tight.

I love Ghana weaving as much as  you but tell your hairdresser to go easy. She mustn't pick every single strand of hair that is in the area. Ask her to be gentle especially around the hairline


3. Do not glue on lace wigs. If you must wear a wig, use glueless ones. If you must apply your wig with glue, make sure it is applied in front of the hairline, not behind or on your hairline. In any case, the effect of glue on your skin is not properly researched so I definitely recommend skipping the glue applications all together

4. Do not glue in your weaves. It's difficult to care for your hair when you have a glued in weave and also difficult to take out without causing damage. Opt for a sew in instead

5. Stop relaxing your edges. Ok, maybe I will lose some of you here but this is what saved my edges o. After relaxing my hair, my edges always looked extremely thin and lifeless. So I stopped. Now, when I relax my hair, I start from about half an inch behind my hair line.  So yes, the first half inch of my hairline is coarse and nappy but when I want it to lay flat,  I just get some edge control, apply to my edges and smooth it down.

Olive oil edge control




Before and after using edge control on unrelaxed edges
Photo credit: www.mswillasworld.com

6. Sleep with a silk or satin scarf. If you don't want to sleep with a silk/satin scarf then use silk or satin pillow cases. When you sleep at night, you hair rubs against your pillow and can break due to friction. Silk and satin are slippery and create a lot less friction than cotton. So tying your hair in a scarf made from one of these will prevent friction related breakage in your hairline.

Get nice colorful scarves and you can tie your hair up at night and still look cute



7. Add Castor oil to your routine. Castor oil when massaged into the scalp can stimulate hair growth. Use 3 to 5 times a week. See my other more detailed post on castor oil here

Before castor oil treatment

9 months of castor oil treatment


So these are the top 7 things you can do to nurture and regrow your hairline. Note that in cases of extreme damage to the hairline and follicle, it is recommended that you see your doctor. 

Questions? Suggestions? Let me know is the comment section. Also, I get sooo many questions and comments and can't answer them all. I figure I can address them by picking my posts based on the most frequently asked questions. So let me know in the comments what you think my next post should be.

Love!
B

9 comments:

  1. wow... this post is quiet educative and enlightening. would try the castor oil routine ASAP.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. You should try jamaican black castor oil or a cold pressed castor oil available in the drug store.

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  2. I agree about the weave gum..it ended badly for me the only time i dared to try it. the gum chopped off half my front hair and it was so uypsetting. as for the edge control, another thing that works is perm repair. its got this staying and smoothing quality and smoothens your hair as if you used gel so its a good product to use for edges and general hair styling. i especially use it to keep my hair in line when i pack it like you did with your bun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ok. I never tried perm repair. Good to know it works. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Great tips. They are also helpful for your nape. For those who can't see NOT relaxing their edges, try relaxing them every other relaxer.

    http://wwwlovingmyhair.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Age in ATL. Reducing the relaxing frequency by relaxing every other relaxer will certainly help.

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  4. This is a major major issue for me. My hairline. I've been inorant for 25yrs of my life. Busy doing all the things I should never do to my hair line. I've been a ghana weaving addict, leave my braids on so long they twist and fall off, always insisting the hairdresser picks all my hair when braiding, using glue, combing so hard cuz my scalp tends to itch a lot.
    I've sinned! :( I hope the gods of hair can forgive me. I'm ready to change. Bought a number of hair product yesterday.

    Now that I've started to treat my hair. I'm avoiding the salon for a while so I can wash weekly and moisturize and all. And I wore a wig for 5weeks.

    I wanted to ask; Is it safe to wear wigs as a protective style all the time. I just had a feeling the wigs would have adverse effect on my hairline. Would appreciate your reponse. Thank you

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  5. Apparently wigs are suppose to be bad for the hairline especially the lace ones even without using glue. I have seen a considerable deteriation in my hair line since I have been using wigs but at the same time I was also using a an afro brush for the edges of my hair that was quite course so I am not sure which one to advocate the damage to. Hope that helps.

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  6. This was so helpful! Im going on a natural journey for a year, so these tips were great, thank you! :)

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