I can’t over stress the importance of protective style for your hair and a good protective style done rightly should be beneficial to your hair. Your protective styles can either be in the form of box braids, twists, cornrow, crochet braids or weave, but to really see the great result from your protective style it’s important to know how to properly care for it.
Listed below are some ways to care for your braids;
some people like to wash their braids, I am personally not a fan of washing my braids,
but if you must, I encourage strongly the use of oil sheen or an oil based braid spray, please note, some braid sprays are water based, you want to avoid those ones. Spray your oil sheen on your braids especially on your roots where you typically have the buildups, use as often as you want. This makes it easier to remove the buildup with less damage to your hair and also help prevent your hair from stinking.
2. Covering up your braids with a silk scarf or bonnet at night is a great way to protect your braids from drying out and you'll be able to reduce breakage, tangles, and hair loss. If you don’t like using bonnet, a silk pillow will be great.
3.Avoid pulling your braids too tightly in a bun, that will put too much tension on your edges. It’s also important to watch out for your braids hanging on the tips of your natural hair, some people after wearing their braids for some weeks notice so much growth especially around their edges,
please take those braids out or you can have your edges redone.
4. Lastly and most importantly, never wear your braids for more than 2 months. Some people go 3 months on their braids, please try to avoid doing this, it is not healthy for your hair. I know its a general believe that the longer you have your braids on the longer your hair grows, yes you do gain some length but over time I have found out you lose more hair
as a result of the tangles and knots caused by the buildup, so please never get tempted to leave your protective style for too long.