The urge to switch up a hairstyle is great, but the desire to prevent hair damage is usually stronger. So, while you might want to switch up your look by installing hair weaves, you can’t help but wonder if hair weaves cause hair damage.
This article answers any questions you might have about damage from hair weaves and outlines the various ways to avoid hair damage. Keep reading to find out more about this.
Do Hair Weaves Cause Hair Damage?
Wearing or installing hair weaves transforms your look, but this could come with a bit of hair damage because it requires holding your natural hair firmly. Notwithstanding, hair weaves don’t always cause damage. Instead, the damage comes from other underlying factors that amp up the harmful effects of hair weaves. For example, installing your hair weaves tightly can cause it to pull on your hair. This pull on the hair might not affect the hair immediately, as the effects start to show in the long run. It could make your hair weak and cause damage to your hair follicles. Once your hair follicles are damaged, your hair might not grow back, leading to permanent hair loss.
Another factor to consider is your natural hair condition. If your natural hair is not in top shape, your hair weaves could still damage your hair even if they’re not tight. This is because your hair needs a certain level of strength to withstand any type of pressure. If your hair is weak, it can’t withstand any pressure, even if your weaves are loose. Finally, the styles you pack could also cause damage from hair weaves. So, if you pack your installed weaves tight, it can still cause damage, despite the looseness of the weave itself.
How To Prevent Damage From Hair Weaves
Despite the various risks you’ve heard about hair weaves, you’ve probably come across people who are not affected by them. There’s no magic trick to it. All they did was to take care of their hair by applying the following steps:
1. Keep Your Natural Hair in Top Shape
The state of your natural hair determines how well it will do when you install hair weaves. Your hair needs to be strong to withstand the high levels of manipulation that comes with hair weaves. But how do you achieve this strength. First, ensure you wash your hair regularly to prevent product build up. To do this, you’ll have to refrain from keeping in your weaves for too long. It’s advisable to keep your weaves for only four to six weeks at a time. This allows you to wash your hair regularly and prevent product build up that weaken the hair. Finally, apply protein deep conditioner to help your hair gain the strength it needs to withstand manipulation.
2. Employ A Professional Stylist
Another way to prevent damage from hair weaves is to employ a professional stylist. Not every stylist pays attention to intense hair care, so you must look for one that does. Even when you do this, your stylist might not know when you’re feeling discomfort. You’re the only one who knows best about how you feel so you need to be communicative if you feel any tightness when your stylist is working. A continuous pull on your hair could cause traction alopecia, leading to permanent hair loss. So, make sure to always pay attention to any discomfort and communicate it quickly to your stylist.
3. Be Careful With Your Edges
Your edges are the most sensitive part of your hair. It’s why you notice that most people’s hair loss starts from their edges, which is usually caused by tight hair weaves. You can avoid this by the ensuring your hair weaves aren’t tight. You could also leave some of your edges out while installing your hair weaves to avoid placing too much pressure on them. With this leave out, you can lay your edges beautifully with edge control products.
4. Give Your Hair A Break
Moving from one hair weave to another is one of the factors that cause hair damage. Naturally, hair weaves place pressure on your hair, even if you make them loose. So, doing one hair weave after another will require you to keep placing pressure on your hair. You can avoid this by giving your hair a break. Instead of hair weaves, try doing your natural hair or using wigs that will only require you to make cornrows with your natural hair. This method allows your hair to breathe and gain strength after installing hair weaves. Or you can shop some open cap wigs to make sure that you have a healthy scalp and hair.
Conclusion
Hair weaves are transformative tools to give you a new look. However, they could bring about hair damage, especially when combined with other underlying factors. These include bad natural hair condition, tight weaves, and not giving your hair time to breathe. These place too much pressure on your hair, leading to hair loss. But you can avoid this by being careful with your edges, keeping your hair in top shape and employing a professional stylist.
