Winter Surprise
On October 31st, I wake up from my bed very enthusiastic because it is a special day for all the children in our community. We are hosting a party at the salon for the children in our city. I am not just happy because it is Halloween, but also for the opportunity it is going to afford us to celebrate the amazing children in our neighbourhood.
As I am getting ready for the event, I look into the mirror to style my natural tress, but I notice that it’s tangling up, and I can’t get the comb through my hair. Frustration and confusion stare at me. I try to blow-dry my fro, but instead of it getting straight, it is shrinking fast. It dawns on me that the winter season is here. The harsh weather is stripping my hair off all the moisture it has.
The Bad side Of Winter
Winter, the coldest season of the year comes with plunging temperature and icy weather. As wind speed increases, it causes the cold air temperature to feel even colder. During this season, our scalp is drier and that leads to dandruff and scalp irritation. The shrinkage of the natural hair during winter is at its utmost, resulting into massive tangling and hair loss.
This weather is a perfect combination of high and low experiences of bipolarism happening at the same time in our hair. The wind and unfriendly cold air of winter take away all the moisture out of our tresses. This dryness encourages frizz, split ends, and hair breakage. The hair remains under constant tension throughout the winter season.
How To Prevent Winter Hair Damage
1} Wear protective hair style during the winter season:
Do not wear your hair exposed to this cruel weather. Going outside with your hair unprotected in cold season can be very dangerous for your hair. The atmospheric temperature dries out the moisture from the hair, leaving hair dry and frizzy. This leads to automatic hair breakage.
2} Eat balanced meal and drink lots of water:
Anything we put into our mouth in terms of food or water usually shows up first on our hair and skin. Organic and well-balanced diets help our skin, as well as our hair look and grow healthy. A body deprived of fruits, green vegetables and water will suffer from malnutrition, and the hair is no exception.
3} Use room temperature water to wash your hair:
It is very tempting to use hot water to wash hair during the cold winter season, because it feels good, but that’s a no, no for our hair. Hot water dehydrates hair. When hot water is used on the hair in the winter, it’s like cooking moisture out of your hair. Once moisture is out of the hair, it becomes frizzy, dry and tangled.
4} Oil your hair regularly:
Oil is a sealant and it is very important for the locking of moisture into our tresses. Our hair also has the ability to retain its natural moisture, because the oil acts as a barrier against the escape of moisture from our hair to the environment. The hair fiber becomes very healthy and full of strength as a result of the presence of oil in our hair.
5} Do not wash your hair always during the winter season:
Constant washing of the hair causes it to lose its natural sebaceous oil. Your hair needs to retain its natural oil to protect the scalp and the hair. Stripping them away deprives the hair of necessary moisture, amino acids, and antibodies. That makes the hair look dry, dull and lifeless.
The Havoc of Constant Hair Wash
Hygral Fatigue
When we wash our hair often, we may suffer from hygral fatigue. According to the Science of Black Hair, “Hygral fatigue is damage done to the hair fiber as a result of repeated hair expansion in wet conditions and contraction under dry conditions.”
During the washing process, the black hair soaks in a lot of water. In the process of drying up, it shrinks back to its normal size, but the cuticle may suffer harms, such as splits, cracks, and knots, in the process of washing. So avoid washing the hair often, and spare it from the damage of hygral fatigue.
6} Use hair conditioners frequently:
The importance of usage of deep conditioners on a hair wash day cannot be overemphasized. The regular usage of the leave-in conditioners also play very vital roles in the strengthening of the hair shaft and hair follicles, as well as prevention of hair breakage.
Hair conditioners contain emollients and humectants that nourish the scalp, stimulate faster growth and even improve the overall hair quality.
7} Avoid constant usage of blow dryers and flat irons:
Frequent usage of hot hair equipment can be very destructive to the hair. The hair is made of fiber which is wool. It succumbs to the pressure of hot equipment when exposed to it. Flat iron renders hair very weak and unhealthy. The most dangerous effect of the constant usage of the flat iron is that it makes hair porous.
Porosity refers to how well your hair is able to absorb and hold moisture. When the hair cuticle is damaged by a hot hair equipment such as the flat iron, the flexible outer hair layer called cuticle may not be able to easily allow moisture and oils in and out of your hair.
The damaging result is that your hair becomes high porosity hair. This type of hair requires a lot of maintenance, because it’s been damaged by excessive heat, coloring, or chemical.
Try Protective Hairstyles
We can’t afford to leave our hair unprotected in this harsh and unfriendly winter season. Try getting any of the protective hairstyles such as: cornrows, kinky twists, box braids, two strand twists, faux locs, crochet hairstyles, tribal braids, banana braids, lemonade braids, ponytail cornrows, updos etc..
These beautiful and gorgeous hairstyles last for a long time on our hair, thereby helping us save a lot of money. At the same time they keep our hair protected from the harmful effects of the winter weather.
The Truth About Braids
Note: Kindly tell your Braider not to make your braids too tight, so you don’t suffer hair breakage of any kind or loss of your front and back parameters.
However, the following points are worthy of note:
1} Some Braids bring a little bit of pain on the head. This is because the movement of the braider’s hands and the constant addition of hair simultaneously unto the scalp produces some level of discomfort for the human head.
2} Some braiding styles such as the Feed-In Cornrows require a smooth laying of the kanekalon hair unto the scalp, mingling with the client’s natural hair. The Cornrow process of hair braiding demands the tight-holding of the hair by the Braider, in order to achieve the sleek look this particular hairstyle needs.
Howbeit, the cornrows shouldn’t be so tight that they cause headaches and pains. Kindly visit a Professional Hair Braiding Salon, where a well trained Braider can braid your hair without causing you so much discomfort and hair breakage.
I care about your hair.
With love,
Vivian Akpalaba,