Happy Terrific Tuesday!!
Today's post is in response to a question from a reader. Enjoy and feel free to chime in.
Question:
In regards to transitioning...can I use braid (kinky twists) to help manage my hair during my transition, or is this a bad idea? Also, what about haircare with braids...can I still use the water/glycerin/oil mixture?
My Answer:
You can definitely use braids and/or kinky twists to help manage your hair. Make sure you moisturize, moisturize, and moisturize. The hair added to your hair for the braids/twists has the tendency to dry out your own hair. You want to maintain the moisture to help prevent breakage. Keep your scalp clean as well. You can gently wash and condition your hair while in the braids or twists and let it air dry. When washing your hair, rub the shampoo down the shaft of your hair. Before you rinse out the shampoo, apply conditioner over the shampoo and then rinse. Continue to rub the shampoo and conditioner down the hair shaft until it is all rinsed out. This helps keep your hair from having that stripped feeling after it is shampooed. Don't scratch your scalp to clean it. Rub your scalp in a circular motion with the pads of your fingers. Always be gentle with your hair. This will help keep breakage away as well. Don't be alarmed once you remove the braids if you see shedding. That is very normal. We can shed anywhere from 50 to 100 hairs per day. If you keep your braids in for 2, 3, 4 weeks you can just imagine the amount of shed hairs you should expect. It is ok. Just make sure you pay attention to your hair. It will let you know what it needs.
You can still use the water/glycerin/ oil mixture on your braids. It helps with moisture retention. Glycerin is wonderful to use in the summer time but a threat to your hair in the winter. It is what is referred to as a humectant. It is attracted to areas of low moisture/humidity so that it may draw moisture into whatever it is appled to. In the summer, the atmosphere has lots of moisture or humidity, depending on where you live. So, your hair is the place where glycerin will like to reside due to the hairs low moisture content. Glycerin draws moisture and water molecules from the air to your hair. This is reversed in the winter. The atmosphere is drier or has low humidity and glycerin will want to reside there since it has low moisture. This results in glycerin pulling or robbing moisture FROM your hair into the atmosphere leaving your hair dry and possibly brittle.
If you all have anything else to add feel free to do so. We learn from each other ;-).
Until Next Time,
Indulgenceiskey
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