Protective Styling Problem...

[ellegantelle]

I was wondering if you ladies could help to give me some ideas...

I am currently at this length washed:



This is my current length styled (braid out):



I am attempting to incorporate protective styling into my regimen. The problem that I have is that my edges are about half of the length of the rest of my hair (if that makes sense) because of heat damage. They are growing in nicely, but they don't make it into the ponytail if I am bunning, tucking, or whatever.

Do you ladies have any ideas about what I can do to protective style so that my edges will not be a problem? Also, my career is professional so braiding, cornrowing, or flat twisting them back will not work for me Monday through Friday...Alllllsoooo...(lol I have so many demands...) I live in the North so I'm tryyying to avoid wet styles and styles that include gel if possible...

Thanks in advance for your advice!!

 

[amwcah]

Let's see...you could wear a bun. Position your hair how you would like to wear your bun. Just use a scar to lay down your edges and voila! For the best results, wear your scarf overnight on your edges.

 

[ellegantelle]

That's a great idea...I'm going to try out the scarf method to lay down these edges this weekend! Thanks!

 

[mzteaze]

I protective style at night and use a twist out as my day to day hair style. That has worked well for me in a corporate working environment.

 

[divachyk]

I pretty much bun, bun and bun.

 

[NaturalBoss]

I agree, wear buns and lay your edges down using a scarf. My edges were almost gone due to tight braids and when they started growing back I looked like a chia pet on the sides. I wore buns and slicked my edges down and now they have grown back nicely.

 

[bride91501]

Could you PS in wigs- either full or half wigs?

 

[transitioning?]

I know you said that the environment you work in won't allow you to wear braids or flat twist but what about two big flat twists in the front. One on each side in a red carpet York kind of way

Sent from my PC36100 using Long Hair Care Forum App

 

[ellegantelle]

I protective style at night and use a twist out as my day to day hair style. That has worked well for me in a corporate working environment.

This is what I have been doing. I just wanted to protective style at least 2-3 days out of the week to hide my ends for a little bit. Thanks for your suggestion!

I agree, wear buns and lay your edges down using a scarf. My edges were almost gone due to tight braids and when they started growing back I looked like a chia pet on the sides. I wore buns and slicked my edges down and now they have grown back nicely.

This is my problem. The way my edges stick out in pony tails sometimes makes me look a little crazy lol.

Could you PS in wigs- either full or half wigs?

I'm not a big fan of half wigs or wigs myself. They look so nice on other people. I can never get my hair to blend in half wigs...and especially considering that I don't want to straighten my hair. And it's too much tension sometimes with those combs. And wigs always looks so fake on me. I think people see my hair so often they just KNOW...it's like a big red flag. Lol. I love people that can wear wigs and get away with it though

I know you said that the environment you work in won't allow you to wear braids or flat twist but what about two big flat twists in the front. One on each side in a red carpet York kind of way

Sent from my PC36100 using Long Hair Care Forum App

I've tried this before. It just looks a little childish on me. I think if I had that couture look it would work for me. I've seen dome people pull this off and it looks very E! TV worthy. On me...it's more like Sesame Street. lol. Thanks so much for your suggestion though

 

[afrofaithful]

You could also use some flax seed gel which is all natural and very moisturizing to slick those edges down, or aloe vera gel. There's no alcohol in either of these and their names are pretty much the ingredients, the flax seed gel is actually homeade (I love homeade...). Or you could still do the ponytail/bun, and wear a headband around the areas where the edges are short. This will stop them from sticking up/out/sideways/frontways...lol

 

[Whimsy]

You can do buns, you can do a bun with the front either layed flat down or twisted towards the bun (i have an example on my blog)
You can also do your braidouts or twistouts and then wear them pinned up in neat professional looking updos, that way your shorter edges are already incorporated in the style.