Ladies Stop Killing Your Hairline, Tips To Help Grow Back Your Thinning Hairline
Tight ponytails, Tight Weaves & Tight Braids are ruining the hairlines of women especially black women globally. The pressure from the tightness makes your front hair break off and leads to what is professionally called traction alopecia.
When you start losing hair on your hairline it’s time to re-evaluate your hair care regimen and make sure you don’t get to the point where you are flat out bald like Naomi Campbell!
A study last year in the U.S. found that roughly 59{54d2fcdcd494adb6982253be6fe8d5492e5f586157f419110131714f9092ec60} of women suffer from some form of TA, which is any hair loss that comes from constant pulling or tension on the hair. If you’re serious about maintaining the life of your hairline, here are a few things you need to stop doing now.
Lay off the Weaves & Lacefronts
If you really want to stop a thinning hairline in their tracks, you’re going to have to lay off the weave. Lacefronts have the potential to be the least damaging of the weave catalogue if the hair is glued past the hairline, but that’s a big if. The purpose of a lacefront is to make the hair look as real as possible which means women often put them as close to their real hairlines as possible, sometimes even shaving down the hair to achieve the natural look. That process can cause serious damage to your hairline, not to mention the chemicals that are in the glue—which means it goes without saying that gluing tracks to your hair does your perimeter no favors either. Sew-ins are less damaging, only if the braids put in your real hair aren’t too tight. A half sew-in where more of the front of your hair is left out is better than doing a full weave.
Solution: Wigs
If you take care of your real hair, wearing a wig can be a hair healthy alternative to weaving it up. No tension is put on the edges when you wear a wig and by taking it off at night you allow your real hair to breathe.
If you are going to do sew in weaves make sure the tracks aren’t braided up too tight.
Break Away from Tight Braids
The hair on our edges is much too weak to take the tension from tight braids, and this in turn can cause traction alopecia.
Solution: Soft braids
You don’t have to do away with braids totally but opt for looser styles like a large braid in the front that wraps around to a high bun or low chignon. The soft braid will still give your look an edge but you won’t have to pay for it with your edges.
Chill on the Chemicals
If simple hair styling can make your edges fall out, then it’s obvious chemicals—whether straightening or coloring—are no friend to the hairline. If you relax your hair, the edges and roots are the first thing you’re gunning for in the quest for silky smooth hair but if you’re already noticing thinning, it’s time to ease up on the chemical dependency. Semi-permanent and permanent coloring can be equally damaging to already weak hair and the joys of golden blonde tresses just doesn’t compare to the pain of a receded hair-line.
Solution: Keratin and Rinses
Keratin Treatments are a great way to straighten your hair without chemically compromising it—just make sure there’s no formaldehyde involved. The process—whether done at home or by a professional at a salon—leaves your hair soft, straight, and manageable for several washes after initial treatment which can help you cope with foregoing relaxers for a while until your edges thicken up.
When it comes to color, rinses are the least harsh way to go. While that may limit your color options severely, it’s better than having the front of your hairline go missing in action.
Stop the Tight Ponytails
Nothing looks sleeker than a perfectly formed high bun or a sleek low ponytail, but all that pulling from the front does a number on your hair line in the long run.
Solution: Messy Bun
Messy buns are the perfect alternative to sleek, super tight ponytails because unlike the name implication, it actually takes some work to get the I didn’t spend too much time on this/I didn’t just roll out of my bed look. Regardless of how long it takes to get this loose updo’ to your liking, your hairline will thank you in the long run for not stressing them to the point that it hurts to move your eyebrows up and down.
Written by C+C and T1960C