First off, what causes the hairline to recede? Here are the top 6 reasons:
- Vigorous combing/brushing
- Braids that are too small, too tight or too heavy
- Improper application and removal of glued in lace wigs
- Improper application and removal of glued in weaves
- Excessive relaxing
- Friction against your pillow while sleeping
7 ways to get your hairline back:
There are extreme cases of hairline damage where you have to see a doctor to get regular shots or even surgery. For milder cases, here are a few things that you can do to improve your hairline:
1. STOP brushing your hairline. I mean, do you really really need to exert all that effort when brushing your edges? I understand that you want your hair to lay flat but if you insist on smooth/flat edges, do it GENTLY, those strands are fragile and so is the scalp in that area. Infact, here is a challenge for you: Don't brush or comb your edges at all. Use your fingers, detangle your hair and smooth it back with some edge control.
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| Give your edges a break from brushing (pun intended :) |
2. Make sure your braids/weaving/cornrows are not too tight. Make sure they are not too heavy and make sure they are not too small. Too tight and/or too heavy braids will cause trauma to the hair follicle making it incapable of producing hair. Small braids are not really an issue except for the fact that people tend to leave them in for too long and with all the movement, the braids sometimes start to twist at the base, create tension and fall off. So if you must put your hair in small braids either don't leave them in for too long or redo the edges once they start to twist.
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| If you have to take pain killers after doing your hair, it is too tight. |
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| I love Ghana weaving as much as you but tell your hairdresser to go easy. She mustn't pick every single strand of hair that is in the area. Ask her to be gentle especially around the hairline |
3. Do not glue on lace wigs. If you must wear a wig, use glueless ones. If you must apply your wig with glue, make sure it is applied in front of the hairline, not behind or on your hairline. In any case, the effect of glue on your skin is not properly researched so I definitely recommend skipping the glue applications all together
4. Do not glue in your weaves. It's difficult to care for your hair when you have a glued in weave and also difficult to take out without causing damage. Opt for a sew in instead
5. Stop relaxing your edges. Ok, maybe I will lose some of you here but this is what saved my edges o. After relaxing my hair, my edges always looked extremely thin and lifeless. So I stopped. Now, when I relax my hair, I start from about half an inch behind my hair line. So yes, the first half inch of my hairline is coarse and nappy but when I want it to lay flat, I just get some edge control, apply to my edges and smooth it down.
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| Olive oil edge control |
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| Before and after using edge control on unrelaxed edges Photo credit: www.mswillasworld.com |
6. Sleep with a silk or satin scarf. If you don't want to sleep with a silk/satin scarf then use silk or satin pillow cases. When you sleep at night, you hair rubs against your pillow and can break due to friction. Silk and satin are slippery and create a lot less friction than cotton. So tying your hair in a scarf made from one of these will prevent friction related breakage in your hairline.
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| Get nice colorful scarves and you can tie your hair up at night and still look cute |
7. Add Castor oil to your routine. Castor oil when massaged into the scalp can stimulate hair growth. Use 3 to 5 times a week. See my other more detailed post on castor oil here
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| Before castor oil treatment |
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| 9 months of castor oil treatment |
So these are the top 7 things you can do to nurture and regrow your hairline. Note that in cases of extreme damage to the hairline and follicle, it is recommended that you see your doctor.
Questions? Suggestions? Let me know is the comment section. Also, I get sooo many questions and comments and can't answer them all. I figure I can address them by picking my posts based on the most frequently asked questions. So let me know in the comments what you think my next post should be.
Love!
B
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