“What am I supposed to do about my hairline? It’s completely gone!” Have you ever had this thought over and over and over again? I know I have, especially after a long term style like Senegalese twists or a sew-in. My edges cry out for some lovin’ and I cry with them…why? Well, why shouldn’t we cry together? My edges have been through a lot over the last 3 years of my hair journey:
1. Pre-year of being natural, I was just getting off the relaxer and did not even think about my edges, but the health of my mane instead.
2. First year of being natural, I babied them and carried them in all of my love. I nurtured my edges until they were bountiful again.
3. Second year of being natural, I would do certain styles that would hurt my edges a bit: braids, micro braids, etc. (not intentionally) and I had a baby…yes, postpartum is killing my edges.
In all honesty, my edges are going through a tough time right now, but I am still dedicated to having the best edges ever. Who would have thought that edges are extremely important…let me give you a sad example. A few years ago, I got my hair braided in micros; I did not know about the health of edges at that time. I just wanted to get my hair done and to not have to worry about my hair every day. I never told the braider to watch my edges and I never told her to ease up when I felt my scalp being braided into each micro braid. I was a beginner. My edges paid the price for me being naïve and inexperienced with knowing my own hair and my limits.
To add more tears to my sad face, I used to shave the baby hairs that were coming out of the braid due to time with the style to have clean and fresh look. It was surely clean and fresh; however, when I took my braids out, my hairline would be ¼ inch further than before I had the braids installed.
I already had a big forehead! Sad… I was an unsatisfied mess when it came to care for my edges. It looked as if I had a bit of traction alopecia (get a small or specific area of hair loss caused by excessive and repetitive pulling) by all the shaving and braiding I would do. I had to stop the madness and do something about it before my hairline went behind my ears! So I began to love my baby hairs and very excessively, I will add. To add TLC, I recently began to massage my edges with castor oil at least 4 times a week for 10 minutes. My edges have been healthy and full as ever! Massage the baby hairs with any oil (olive oil, coconut oil, grape seed oil, etc.) will revive them. Whenever the edges are massaged, the blood flow is signaled to flow to that area and tend to the scalp to help grow the edges.
As of today, I only get Senegalese twists 3 or 4 times a year and I am very involved when I get my hair braided. First of all, I declare to my braider to leave my edges alone (they always want to braid the tininess piece of newfound baby hairs). And secondly, I make sure that when they braid close to the hairline I put my finger on the ball of the braid, so it wouldn’t be pulled so hard. Yay for learning! I came to the conclusion to always leave them out when getting braided and just shape them in the signature “Ginuwine-style.” This would take my styles to the next level! This includes other styles like my twist outs, flat twists, and flexi rod sets along with my Senegalese twists.
I am more sensitive to my edges when it comes to styling and I just have to remember to watch out for my baby hairs, even with my own styling techniques. And please believe that when I do go to get my hair braided, I declare to my braider “DO NOT TOUCH MY EDGES!” She surely gets my memo each time and I am always pleased with the end result.
If you feel your hairline moving back, try using a different styling technique. When you see your edges coming out day by day with your short term or long term styles, do not shave your edges just to clean up the style! This will do more harm than good. Try to take breaks between “pulling styles” like: braids, buns, micro, etc. and do out styles for a few weeks. Also massage and baby your edges with oil. Just like your luscious tresses, your edges are crying for TLC too. Show some love.
Always Desire Your Natural,
