Transition with CurlieE: Protective Styles

"For those of us who are all too familiar with the shoulder-length plateau, protective styling is the ultimate key to hair ends preservation" (Davis-Sivasothy, 2011).

If you are one of those ladies who has experienced the shoulder-length plateau, it is not pre-determined that your hair cannot grow beyond this length. Rather, it is breakage caused by dryness at the ends that is keeping you at this length.

When hair is worn out to fly freely in the air, the ends (the oldest and most fragile part of hair strands) brush against our shoulders, pillows, collars, etc. Not only can this cause direct breakage, but more importantly, these fabrics suck moisture right out of the hair strand, which leads to dry hair. Further, excessive exposure of hair (especially those delicate ends) to the sun leads to additional dryness..and DRYNESS LEADS TO BREAKAGE!

To circumvent this, all you need to do is ensure that your hair (especially your ends) stay moisturized. Of course, you can do this by moisturizing your hair daily or weekly (depending on your hair's needs). But to ensure that your hair stays moisturized and is safe from the elements, you should also utilize protective styling.

When to protectively style your hair:

When you are trying to grow your hair out
When you will be exposed to extreme weather conditions (i.e. direct sun) for an extended period of time
When you are transitioning
When you want a refreshing change

Protective Styling Ideas:

Here are a few protective styles I have come up with so far. Remember, I have only been transitioning for a few months now, so there aren't tons, but I will post more as I come up with them. NOTE: these styles are also great because they were all achieved without using heat.