Braid Care
Winter is protective hairstyle season for me, and braids are one of my favorite protective styles.
Why do I wear protective styles in the winter?
Well, for one it allows me to spend a little extra time cocooned in my covers in the morning. The second reason is that they protect my hair from the harsh winter air.
Cold, dry air causes the cuticle of the hair strand to slightly lift. As a result, moisture has a hard time staying locked into the hair shaft. This combined with things like hats and ear warmers are major causes of breakage and frizz during this frigid time of year.
Braids are my favorite protective style because they’re a super diverse style. I love being able to switch up color, size, and style the braids in multiple different ways.
There have been multiple times that styles like box braids and feed ins have taken me through an entire winter. This, of course, was due to proper care and preparation.
Pre-Install
Before you have braids installed it's important to prep your hair and the weave that you will be using.
To prep the weave you’ll want to wash it and give it plenty of time to air dry.
To Wash
Fill a bowl with one part apple cider vinegar two parts water
Soak braiding hair in the mixture for 30-45 minutes
After the hair is finished soaking rinse until the water runs clear
Hang to dry
Prepping your hair for the braids is all about making sure my hair and scalp are clean and moisturized. When washing my hair I make sure to get a really good lather and a good scrub on my scalp with my shampoo brush.
After washing my hair I deep condition with Queen Helene Cholesterol Cream and a plastic shower cap. I let this stay on my hair for about 15-20 minutes before washing it out completely. Once the deep conditioner is out it’s time to lock in the moisture with the L.O.C method.
The “L” (liquid) is taken care of already because your hair is wet. “O” stands for oil, and my preferred hair oil is Camille Rose Naturals Cocoa Nibs and Honey Ultimate Growth Serum. I massage the oil into my scalp and also work it down the strands of my hair. The last step of this moisturizing method is to use a cream consistency moisturizer. For this step I typically like using a leave in conditioner. My current favorite is Camille Rose Naturals Latte Define Leave-In Hair Conditioner.
I prefer to let my hair air dry (no specific reason, just a preference) but you can use a blow dryer if you’d like to speed up the process.
Post- Install
Once your braids are installed there are a few key care tips that will help you with upkeep and longevity. To me, the most important thing is to style with care. Good braiders will catch ALL of your hair. That means all of your baby hairs, edges, and sensitive center hairs will be tightly braided up. To preserve your edges and breakage all around be gentle when styling your hair. Especially if your braids are fresh.
Once your braids have been in for awhile things like itchy, dry scalp and stray hairs might become a problem.
For scalp relief mix witch hazel, tea tree oil and distilled water in a spray bottle. In addition to helping with itch, witch hazel stabilizes an oily scalp without stripping moisture. Tea tree oil is great for cleansing the scalp and clearing clogged pores.
For flyaways you can do one of two things. If you’re sure the pieces are synthetic hair you can cut them with scissors. If the stray strands are your hair use a water based mousse to lay the hair down and tie it up with a satin scarf until dry.
Wrapping your hair up at night, as always, is going to be important, but when I have box braids I often break out my Satin Pillowcase.
If you have any tips for preserving box braids drop them below and don’t forget to share this post with your fellow curl friends.
If you’re looking for more braid styles check out my protective braid styles.