When Protective Styling goes WRONG!!!

[LadyPaniolo]

Matted weaves, braids that locked, buns that broke your hair off like dry twigs... let's hear all your stories.

Protective styling can be your hair's best friend, but sometimes things do go wrong! What hair horrors have you experienced first hand or seen due to protective styling?

Please include the lessons you learned (if any, lol) from the experience.

 

[hopeful]

Last winter I did some really nice twists, fairly small, and I got lazy and did not feel like redoing them, nor did I moisturize them enough. They actually lookied prettier the longer I left them in. When I finally took them out (after about a month) I was very sorry, I lost way too much hair.

 

[Covergirl5906]

I left a weave in too long and my hair started matting....luckily a good dominican rinse helped me to comb it out without loosing my hair...never agai...

 

[LadyPaniolo]

I never heard of this dominican rinse you speak of, Covergirl... it must be something special to undo a matted weave install!

Oh, Hopeful, I have been there! Except in my case it was braids, not twists... have lost handfulls of hair...

 

[Covergirl5906]

I never heard of this dominican rinse you speak of, Covergirl... it must be something special to undo a matted weave install!

Oh, Hopeful, I have been there! Except in my case it was braids, not twists... have lost handfulls of hair...

It was the Nacidit Olive Oil Rinse...yea that thing was a life saver

 

[Simply_Kelz]

Not combing my hair before washing it when taking down a sew-in.

I KNOW I lost some inches.

Never again .. always detangle first to avoid matting.

 

[hopeful]

I never heard of this dominican rinse you speak of, Covergirl... it must be something special to undo a matted weave install!

Oh, Hopeful, I have been there! Except in my case it was braids, not twists... have lost handfulls of hair...

Yes it's awful! You kind of convince yourself that you'll be okay because you are in a protective style. I've learned it's two weeks max for twists and braids, unless I'm loc'ing lol.

 

[200AndOne]

I got a set or cornrows that were soooo tight, I lost a plug of hair (about the size of a pencil eraser) right along my hairline. The terrible thing was I actually heard it when it snapped away from my scalp. Nev-uh again.

 

[complexsimplicity]

I would always wear my hair in a banana clip. Broke my nape off smthg fierce

 

[hopeful]

I would always wear my hair in a banana clip. Broke my nape off smthg fierce

Banana clips can be the devil sometimes if you are not really careful.

 

[TwistedRoots]

Phony ponies and buns are not where its at for me... I hated taking them down and seeing my hair breaking where the band was...

 

[Je Ne Sais Quoi]

I used to wear the fake pony tails back in the day, and I'd attach them with bobby pins. My crown is still "thanking" me for the usage of those bobby pins erplexed

 

[LadyPaniolo]

It's just agonizing when you are trying to use protective styling to retain length... and it backfires...

 

[january noir]

For years I wore my hair in a ponytail.

I never could understand why my sides appeared to never grow like the back of my hair.

One day I came across a thread started by one of our members who is a male hairstylist. He spoke about ponytail holders being the devil (my paraphrase).

It made good sense to me and I stopped using them. Several months later, I am beginning to see that my sides have grown, just a tad so far, but growth no doubt.

 

[complexsimplicity]

so my question is do u ladies jus wear ur hair down all the time or have u found some other protective style that won't cause too much stress?

 

[TwistedRoots]

I keep a wig on most of the time. I put conditoner on my ends and saran wrap them and tuck them under the wig cap...or my hair is corn-rowed for about a week to 2 weeks (under wig). I do the same thing to the ends ( I don't use rubber bands to secure them). I still co wash my hair when its corn rowed though...and keep them oiled and moisturized.

 

[jamaraa]

Geez, I'm sorry to read this thread and for y'alls hair loss. I'm truly of the opinion that many of the styles touted as protective for natural or transitioning hair are bad for many people. I know nothing about weaves of any kind, but certain types of braids and buns can be problematic.

I'd be very careful w/ braids, esp. micros. Don't leave them in for months guys....your hair won't thank (most) of you.

 

[LadyPaniolo]

I got a set or cornrows that were soooo tight, I lost a plug of hair (about the size of a pencil eraser) right along my hairline. The terrible thing was I actually heard it when it snapped away from my scalp. Nev-uh again.

OMG! Those cornrows were SUPER tight! That braider would have heard from me!

I had a plug of hair come out of my hairline, too. In high school, I had gotten some braids that I (of course) was not taking care of. The new growth was like an inch and a half, unstretched! If I'm lying, I'm flying. Those braids NEEDED to come out, but I didn't want to take them down since I didn't know anyone who could braid me up again.

I was sitting in class when I went to put an errant braid behind my ear, and that sucka got ripped out at the roots. I heard the sickening sound, my stomach dropped. It was awful. I had to sneak that ripped out braid into my pocket and hope nobody noticed!

And I colored that spot on my scalp with my mom's eyebrow pencil, like people wouldn't notice!!!!

And a clear chick pointed out to me that I had a bald spot... right in front of the whole class!