Protect Your Tresses!!!

I have been wearing my natural hair for almost 3 years now and I absolutely love it! I will save my hair story for another day. In this post I just want to talk about protective styling.  I just can't get enough of wearing my hair out.  I just love the fullness, and the look of my curls weather its in a wash 'n' go, braid-out or twist-out I just love having it out!.  This love of letting my hair flow freely has hindered me just a little from where I would like to be lengthwise.

Its important for people with curly hair to practice protective styling if they want to grow their hair to new lengths.

Keeps your ends tucked away.  Your ends are the oldest part of your hair and usually the driest, keeping your ends tucked away helps protect them from unnecessary breakage and in the end this helps you to see more length as your hair grows.

Keeps hair moisturized.  We all know the curlier your hair the drier it can be. We don't get as much of the oils our scalp naturally produces to flow down our strands as much as our straight hair friends or even our friends with looser curls so we have to constantly find other ways to put the moisture into our hair.  When our hair is bunched together it tends to hold on to moisture longer.  So always make sure to moisturize your hair properly before you tuck it away.

Keeps the weather from damaging your hair. The natural elements around us can be damaging to our hair as well.  The wind can cause some serious unnecessary tangles and the heat from the sun can cause damage as well.  So its always good to give your hair a break from these elements.  Wear a scarf or a hat on a bright sunny day, your hair will thank you!

Stops breakage from everyday styling.  Day to day styling to your hair will cause breakage. The twisting, braiding, untwisting, unbraiding, smoothing, combing, brushing just manipulation in general is bound to cause a little breakage especially if you are not gentle with your hair.  Wearing low manipulation and protective styles helps you keep your hands out of your hair and gives your tresses a much needed break.

So I spent the last 3 days (on and off of course) putting Senegalese twist in my hair.  It took forever but the payoff will be grand. I am going to try and keep these in for about a month before I redo them.  My goal is to keep my hair protected most of the summer.  So I will be looking for more styles I'm sure when I get tired of the twist, and I will make a post later on how I like to style my twist.

What protective styles are you rocking this summer?