by Gabrielle Allen,
Black women seem to suffer from a common problem which are thinning edges. I am not saying that it’s exclusive to our race but we do wear weaves and braids more than any race of people I know in existence in this day and edge.
Take my mother for example. She told me that since she was a kid, her edges have been in horrible condition and to make matters worse, she wore weaves, tight weaves for a while. I spent my summer at her house and over the summer, I learned just how damaged her edges were.
She said she didn’t want to go natural and honestly, I wasn’t trying to convince her to do so. I told her all I cared about was her hair being healthy and I wasn’t trying to pressure her into transitioning. Well…. she asked me to put a perm in her head and I told her no… especially after I saw her edges! I told her hair was not ready to handle a chemical service and it needed some serious TLC. Again, let me reiterate that I was not trying to get her to transition, I simply wanted her to have healthy hair.
Fast forward…. I started thinking of ways that I knew to grow out thinning hair and from what I can tell just by looking at it, her edges were suffering from traction alopecia.
Traction alopecia is a form of alopecia, or gradual hair loss, caused primarily by pulling force being applied to the hair.[1]:761[2]:645 This commonly results from the sufferer frequently wearing his/her hair in a particularly tight ponytail, pigtails, or braids. It is also seen occasionally in long-haired toy dogs whose owners use barrettes to keep hair out of the dogs’ faces.
Traction alopecia is a substantial risk in hair weaves, which can be worn either to conceal hair loss, or purely for cosmetic purposes. The former involves creating a braid around the head below the existing hairline, to which an extended-wear hairpiece, or wig, is attached. Since the hair of the braid is still growing, it requires frequent maintenance, which involves the hairpiece being removed, thenatural hair braided again, and the piece snugly reattached. The tight braiding and snug hairpiece cause tension on the hair that is already at risk for falling out. Traction Alopecia is one of the most common causes of hair loss in African American women. Although the aforementioned style is one of the culprits, hairstyles such as dreadlocks and single (extension) braids can also have the same effect.[3] Men and women who have suffered from Traction Alopecia have found that the hair loss occurs most at the hair line – primarily around the temples and the sides of their heads.[4] (SOURCE)
Now don’t get it twisted. Weaves are a great protective style when done RIGHT and not put in too tight. But if you do it wrong, it a can backfire on you and well the above happens.
Before:
This is what my mother’s hairline looked like when we started:
Challenge Accepted:
Originally my plan was to take out her weaves and treat it…but she wasn’t having that. So I told her that she could have the weaves as long as I did them and as long as she still applied the Jamaican Black Castor Oil every night. She agreed.
She came to the conclusion that she didn’t want another weave in and she just wanted to wear her hair. She saw me twisting mine and said “I want my hair like that.”
She still had permed ends so i did my best to blend that in with the rest of it. I did cut some of the permed ends off but not all. She wore the twists for WEEKS but she did moisturize and seal her hair really well during that time… but she hated wash day.
She had me from June to August to help care for her hair. Before I left in August, I showed her what to do and gave her the reigns. She still applied JBCO nightly and as far as I know, kept her wash days up.. lol.
After:
Well the proof is in the pudding because she sent me a picture of her edges because 5 MONTHS LATER this is what she texts me:
“Damn I’m Good!” LOL! But all jokes aside, I was kind of afraid she wouldn’t keep it up because I know she doesn’t like to do her hair. Well I’m proud of her and as much as she was like “Oh I’m not going natural” ….guess what… She had the remainder of her permed ends cut off and now she is completely and 100% percent natural!
Gabrielle Allen aka StrawberriCurls, the natural hair blogger from New Orleans is a native in New Orleans, La and currently a cosmetology student and natural hair stylists. She started a blog called Strawberricurls.com for natural hair care and tips and she now shares all that she has learned about caring for hair via her YouTube channel and her natural hair blog. She has been featured on Essence.com for 2 consecutive years as one of the top Natural Hair Bloggers, hosted events for various natural hair brands such as African Pride and worked with brands Sofn’Free, Nothin’But Hair Care and a list of others.She has also hosted her on natural hair educational meetups in New Orleans.