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7 Steps for Maintaining Braids or Twists

maintaining braids

Let’s be honest.

Braids take a lot of time and cost a good bit of money.

There are several reasons you may choose to get braids for yourself or your daughter, and we know most of them. So, to make sure that your investment goes a long way we have some steps for you to take.

Who wants to spend money or time making their hair look good with braiding only to see it go down rapidly after 2-weeks?

Nobody.

If you do the following things you will be in a much better position after you decide to drop upwards of $200 or MADD hours in a salon.

Ready? Let’s go!

 

7 Steps for Maintaining Braids or Twists

1. Protect Your Hair At Night

A silk headscarf or a satin pillowcase will help keep your braids from drying out. Your edges will also remain fresher. Doing both may sound like an overkill but many women lose their headscarf during sleep, only to find their braids pressed up against a moisture robbing cotton pillowcase. Keep frizz down and hairstyles in tact with these materials.

#1 Options for Satin or Silk

Silk Scarves
Silk Pillowcase
Satin Hair Bonnet

2. Keep Your Scalp Moist

Break out a Spray Bottle and spray your thirsty roots. It only take a couple of minutes to moisturize your hair. Just like EVERY other living thing on this earth, your hair needs moisture to survive. The number #1 moisturizer for your thirsty roots is water…PERIOD!

#1 Option for Spraying Hair

Spray Bottle

3. Avoid Unnatural Products For Keeping Your Braids Moisturized

Avoid mineral oils like the plague. Yes, your braids need to hold as much moisture as they can for that optimum look. But, did you know that “Mineral Oil” is the key ingredient in most of the popular braid moisturizers? Don’t use them!

Instead, use natural oils like coconut oil or almond oil. To seal in the moisture a leading option is Apricot Castor Oil. You can use it to seal entire braid strands or just your ends. The oils are really good for scalp soothing and retaining important moisture. If you need a non-greasy feeling moisturizer simply use a natural leave-in conditioner.

#1 Options for Keeping Moisture In Hair

Apricot Castor Oil
Coconut Oil
Almond Oil
Natural Leave-In Conditioner

4. Wash Braids Bi-Weekly (Minimum Recommendation)

A daily buildup of dirt or sweat can cause pores to clog and product build up. This is a recipe for disaster of a scalp and hair. Go here to learn how to wash braids without creating much frizz.

#1 Option for Washing Braids

Shampoo
T-Shirt Towel for Drying

5. Reduce Up-Dos, Pulling and High Manipulation

Constant styling and high ponytails or up-dos pulls on your hairline. Consistently pulling on your hairline will weaken your thirsty roots. No need to destroy your edges over styling. Simply limit these kind of styles to 1 or 2 times a week instead of daily.

6. Redo Your Edges After 4 to 6 Weeks

On average, hair grows 1/2 an inch per month. This means after 4 weeks you have some new growth and the braids around your front hairline…(Edges) can begin to look a bit rough. 2-months in you will feel like you are pushing the limits of HOTNESS..lol.

Let’s take care of this by simply taking out the braids along the edges. Detangle and conditioning that hair before re-installing those few braids you took out.

Reminder: Your edges are fragile and NOT taking care of them properly while in braids can cause some serious Eye DRAMA if you know what we mean. 🙂

#1 Option for Controlling Edges

Edge Control

7. Don’t Wear Braids For Too Long

Some women have been able to effectively wear braids for 4-months with serious care. We recommend a maximum of 2 months. New growth can cause the hair to be pulled on from heavy braids or constant tugging from them. Sleep patterns and daily movement can weaken or damage the new growth from consistent stretching. Fragile ends or breakage goes totally against “Protective Hairstyle” so please,  Be Careful!

These 7 steps for maintaining braids or twists should keep you looking nice. You should definitely get your moneys worth of wear. Your thirsty roots will also remain beautiful as you experience healthy hair growth.

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About the author

thirsty roots®

Our goal is to share the beauty of Afro-textured hair and to have a place where we can come together to get examples, advice, and information of black hair growth and hairstyles. Whether you have permed, pressed, or natural hair it's still black hair and it's beautiful.

2 Comments

  • Thought article was quite rewarding for a newbie in the nat hair world.
    Actually most of us are just simply going back to where we started in our infancy. It was great for us then (sans the relaxers, texturizers, gels, glue etc.). Our hair was beautiful!!!

  • I’ve been natural off/on long before this was bolstered into the zeitgeist like any other internet craze (which it is not btw) so I’m just happy that there is non-partisan straight talk (oh the irony right? lol) when it comes to dealing with natural (coarse and or AA) hair. Indians have been using oiling methods and ayurvedic mixes for over centuries upon centuries as well as our African counterparts still do in the other “untouched, tribal, non colonized by Anglican settlers” parts of Africa still do till this day. I’m very grateful for this website and I love this apricot Castor oil. It is the only brand for Castor oil I will use on my thirsty, thirsty, high porosity, thick density, fierce yet fragile hair!
    I’ve been following all these tips and thensome since I was a child and if it ain’t broke…don’t try to fix it ladies!

    xoxo

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