Hair extensions and wigs have been around for centuries but it wasn’t until the 50’s that an Ohio housewife and hairdresser invented and patented the first weave. The weaves we now use today are an improvement on her original idea. Originally invented as a way for black women to wear great looking styles while protecting their fragile strands from constant heat and chemicals, their use has increased exponentially since.
Weaves became hugely popular in the 90’s and a vast majority of the women getting weaves at the time were looking as much for smooth straight hair as well as long lengths that they thought their own hair could never achieve. Things hadn’t changed much until the natural hair movement of a few years ago garnered steam.
With the natural hair movement, more women have come to accept and love their own curl patterns and textures which is wonderful. Natural hair is also showing up more and more in main stream advertising so it seem the standards and definition of beauty has shifted towards an acceptance of black natural hair. These are exciting times for those of us who already knew our hair was beautiful!
With more black women than ever now either fully natural or transitioning to natural hair, styles like twists which our mothers thought of as indoor hairstyles have now been re-invented as normal day to day do’s. Adorned with beautiful hair clips & flowers, they can certainly rival any other for beauty and originality!
In amongst all this excitement however, and it may sound a bit cynical, women may have become more accepting of their natural texture but their desire for long hair has not diminished. That coupled with the fact that black hair is more fragile than other hair types, some sort of protective styling regimen is necessary anyway. Weaves would seem to be the perfect solution.
It makes sense that as more women have become accepting of their natural textures they wouldn’t want to stray too far when choosing a weave. Any natural lady with type 4 hair will tell you how difficult it is to blend their own hair undetectably with silky straight extensions so the obvious selection for a weave would be a kinky curly texture which are much easier to blend with.
Kinky curly textures also have the added benefit of being easily straightened and like natural hair the curls come right back when the hair is washed again! Don’t be fooled though, like natural hair, curly weaves are higher maintenance than straight extensions. Depending on the size of curl you choose, you could end up spending almost as much time on your weave as with natural hair. The only difference is the daily manipulation hence the expected breakage will be on the weave and not your own strands!
It’s the best of both worlds really, you can wear weave close to your own natural texture and continue to support the natural movement while giving your own hair the much needed break from daily manipulation. If your ultimate goal is great length retention so that you can have long hair of your own, you are in great company. Thousands of women are already growing their hair using extensions!
