Are your edges so damaged that your hairline looks as though it starts at the back of your neck? Do you worry that although your edges are in an acceptable state that some day they will be become ratchet? Well fear no more because today Im sharing with you some tips and tricks to prevent and repair damaged edges and hairlines.
YES HUNNY!!! Im going to teach you how to get your edges from looking like this:
To looking like this:
In all seriousness this is a serious problem that a lot of women of colour face due to the styles that we put our hair into frequently that can cause breakage and damage to our scalp and hair as well just not knowing how to properly care for our hair.
To begin with I'm going to start with the tips I have on prevention because we all know the saying "Prevention is always better than cure.";
- Avoid wearing hairstyles that result in your edges being pulled tightly back. You can wear these hairstyles every once in awhile but wearing them too often can be too stressful on your edges causing them to break. Hairstyles such as high buns and puffs (or ponytails) as well as box braids which are often viewed as protective hairstyles because it protects the length of your hair but not your edges should be avoided. Also if you must wear your hair in braids tell the person who is doing your braids to have a little mercy on your edges.
- Keep your hands out of your hair and avoid manipulating your hair. I can not stress this enough constant playing with your hair and changing your hairstyle everyday isn't good for your hair and isn't good for your edges.
- Protein and moisture. Just like the rest of your body your hair needs protein and moisture especially for my natural hair girls because without moisture our natural hair can tend to get very dry making it more prone to breakage and nobody likes breakage, nobody.
Now for all you girls who already have damaged edges its time to sing Amazing Grace cause I have the revelation for you. (I dont even know if that made sense...) Don't feel alone either for I myself have once suffered from ratchet edges syndrome and it can be detrimental to a persons self esteem. Lets step right in:
- Id like to thank my Jamaican brothers and sisters for this wonderful gifts from the gods of Nigeria. I have four words for you, Jamaican. Black. Castor. Oil. This stuff is pure gold. There is just nothing better than this for your edges when they go running off into the sunset. This stuff will run right behind them but twice as fast catching those edges in their sneaky footsteps and bringing them back into their rightful place; the front of your head.
- Whilst your edges are becoming healthy again please lay off of them. Your edges are tired, fed up and stressed out and they do not want to be messed with by anyone or anything (except for Jamaican Black Castor Oil because your edges love that)
- After consulting your physician and no, webmd does not count you should consider taking some hair supplement pills particularly ones with biotin in them which helps your hair to grow as well as maintain shiny healthy hair and provide the nutrients that your hair needs to flourish
- Lastly this one is a little weird and I dont know if this works or not but I read somewhere online that massaging your edges increases circulation which stimulates hair growth and length retention. I dont know if this actually works but it cant hurt to try it!
So hope you guys learned from my tips on how to prevent and repair damaged edges and if this helped you any be sure to leave a comment and maybe share it with your friends so your entire squad can have edges which are on fleek af! (I need to be stopped)
Be sure to check me out on twitter @seerichelle
Also if anyone was wondering I found the picture of the girl with the heavenly edges off of pinterest.
