I’m sure you never think of your hair extensions as anything other than a vanity product. Just something you use to give yourself more length or volume when your own hair just won’t co-operate. But what if I told you that you could also use weaves to get that long hair that you have been searching for.
Weaves can help you get longer hair mainly by reducing breakage. The three biggest contributors of breakage especially in African American hair are Mechanical, chemicals & heat damage.
Mechanical damage
Mechanical damage encompases a whole host of activities from simple combing to braiding the hair. Any activity that involves pulling or just manipulating your hair is putting stress on your strands. If you are not well versed in good hair care practices or you just can’t help but be heavy handed in dealing with your hair, you are probably causing breakage.
Chemical damage
Chemical damage in black hair usually involves hair relaxers & hair colors. Relaxing your hair is a controlled form of damage but many women don’t bother to find out how chemicals actually affect their hair in the long term. Even worse, some women don’t follow the precise instructions in their relaxer kits and keep the chemicals in for longer than instructed. Relaxed hair requires a very specific set of rules to grow long. Very low manipulation or protective styling is an absolute necessity as part of a relaxed or colored hair regimen.
Heat damage
Just like it sounds, using heated styling tools any more than once per week is likely to be giving your hair heat damage. Especially if the heated tools are used on hair that hasn’t been freshly washed and conditioned. Heat protectants work by reflecting some of the heat away form your hair minimizing the damage but frequent use can still cause major breakage.
Solutions
Each of the above damage your hair by causing loss of protein in your hair specifically the cuticles. Without cuticles protecting the inner shaft of your hair strands, your hair’s porosity is increased and you find that it takes up more water than usual causing your hair strands to swell and weaken. The strands will also lose moisture much faster so your hair is left dry.
Weaves are a great protective style for your hair because they reduce all three forms of damage drastically. When your hair is braided up underneath a weave, day to day styling is done on the extensions rather than your own hair so you eliminate a lot mechanical damage.
Chemical damage may not be reduced but it is certainly drastically reduced. If you are in a weave, you will find that you are only having to relax your hair once every 3 months instead of every 6 weeks hence reducing the chances of double processing your hair.
It also goes without saying that heat damage will also be drastically reduced. As long as you only flat iron/curl your leave out hair with heated tools once per week while the rest of your hair remains cornrowed underneath the extensions, heat damage will also be reduced.
While you cannot use your extensions to replace good hair practices altogether, they can certainly compliment any hair regimen enhancing growth and length retention.
