I’m curious as to why afro type hairstyles like braids are described as protective. These hairstyles seem to risk pulling out a lot of hair around the hairline over time. They also leave more of the scalp exposed to the sun. What are they protecting against, exactly?
Edit: thanks for the explanations, everyone! I always wondered how those with coiled hair could be bothered to sit for hours getting braids or cornrows done, but I guess if the management of the hair daily takes so long too, then it makes sense! 😄
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For a frame of reference, since a lot of people have chimed in with their experiences having curly hair – how easily it knots up and mats if you don’t constantly detangle/comb it, and how easily it can start breaking from that abuse. How long they take to brush and comb it to become tangle-free….
I have straight, thick hair. While my hair is currently chin-length, I’ve had it long enough to hang at my mid-back.
Despite that length, I *did not brush my hair*. I just never needed to. My hair doesn’t ‘knot up’ or ‘mat up’ or ‘tangle’ unless I actually stick my head out a car window on the highway, and even then it’ll be fine after a few seconds of finger-combing.
Yes, even when sleeping with my hair loose, on a cotton flannel pillowcase. I can shake my hair out, fingercomb for a couple seconds in the morning, and it’ll be totally tangle-free.
Yes, even in the shower. Under running water, my hair untangles itself automatically even after scrubbing loops into it while shampooing my scalp.
The only bad ‘tangles’ I can remember were because I voluntarily put in a hair style that involved back-combing on purpose to create volume, and then hair-spraying it in place.
Protective hair styles helps keep their hair in place, and avoids the damage that comes with constant detangling.
**I don’t need extra protection for my hair, because I don’t damage it by brushing/combing and detangling it all the time.**
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The downside to my hair is that it really is *incredibly dense*. Like a fuckin’ Chinchilla, or a Pyrenees. I keep half my head shaved these days, because otherwise I’d go to sleep with hair damp from the shower and wake up with it *still damp from the shower*. I could shower in the morning before school, and come home with my hair still damp at the roots. It was absurd.
I know it doesn’t tangle badly when sticking my head out the window on the highway because I *regularly did that* to try and get it all dry.
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