While edges may come and go in mainstream popularity, for black hair beauties, styling your baby hairs will never go out of style. In fact, some of you might be currently missing your edges since (as almost all textured hair girls know) it doesn’t take much to lose them.
This is where our expertise comes in, welcome to African Pride Edge Control 101. Most black women know how to style their edges to compliment every look. However, simply brushing them down with a smooth edge hair gel every day definitely doesn’t do enough to help keep them intact.
Edges, aka the soft, wispy hairs that frame your hairline, and face are sometimes referred to as ‘baby hairs’ for good reason: they need to be completely babied to thrive.
These tiny strands of hair are actually the most fragile thing in your head. Between wearing tight protective styles, harsh weather, using a rough touch when washing or styling, your edges are almost always susceptible to breakage.
Unfortunately, almost all our favorite protective styles like braids, weaves, cornrows, and buns feel incomplete when we don’t frame them with laid baby hairs. So what can you do to bring your edges back to life and maintain their health?
While there aren’t any magical solutions to help regrow your edges overnight, there are a few simple things you can do to help revive them over time. Making consistent changes to your hair care routine will help not only bring your edges back to life, but help keep them intact for all the cute hairstyles to come.
Read on for some fast and easy ways to restore your edges back to their former glory.
Protect Your Natural Hair At Night
The easiest thing you can do to protect your edges is something you should definitely already be doing: covering your hair at night. If you’re using a regular bonnet, it might be making matters worse.
Instead, opt for a silk scarf or a bonnet with a headband attached so that it fully covers your edges and top of your forehead. This secures your full hairline so that your edges are fully protected from breakage while you sleep.
No matter what protective cover you use at night, make sure it’s a silk or satin material. This isn’t just to be fancy, silk and satin help your coils and curls remain hydrated and protected whereas cotton absorbs oil and moisture from your hair.
For extra edge protection, double up with a pillowcase of the same material to prevent any breakage from friction as you may toss and turn.
This step is one of the most important as we aren’t typically aware of how much damage is occurring to our hair at night.
Give Your Scalp Some TLC
Anything you might do to help your hair grow will help your edges grow too. A great way to care for your scalp and stimulate growth is to give it a comforting oil massage every few weeks.
We recommend using our Moisture Miracle 5 Essential Oils blend as it can help reactivate hair follicles to support growth and prevent breakage. It also utilizes Vitamin E, a thickening agent, that repairs hair follicles to help reduce damage.
Simply applying the oil will protect and strengthen the hair, but actually massaging it into your edges will stimulate blood circulation and encourage growth. The increased circulation also helps more nutrients reach the hair follicles on the hairline.
Gently massage a small amount of the oil blend into the scalp and hairline to moisturize, strengthen, and repair edges. Since stress can also contribute to hair loss, close your eyes and take some deep breaths as you’re massaging.
Add it to your weekly hair care (or self-care) routine as a time to unwind, reflect, and release some tension from your mind and body.
Take Breaks Between Protective Styles
The hairstyles that we love the most, think: ponies, weaves, box braids, and more are the ones that are the toughest on your hair. The purpose of wearing protective styles is to moisturize and maintain the integrity of your hair.
Yet, these same styles are especially harsh on your edges because those are the strands that get pulled the tightest. The tighter the style, the more tension is applied to your already fragile edges and the more they are at risk for breakage.
This can also happen with the use of glues and wig caps. Any style that is painful, heavy, or uncomfortable is even more likely to be pulling out your edges.
You can still wear these styles but it’s best to only do so rarely and with caution, always being conscious of how they pull on your hairline.
Your whole head of curls, especially your baby hairs, need time to breathe and heal between protective styles. Give your hair the time it needs to rejuvenate, regrow, and mend the damage that occurred during the manipulation it took to achieve the style.
It’s also easier for the hair to repair itself when the damage is recent, so avoid the permanent harm that could happen from too many back-to-back styles. After a few weeks of nourishment and care, the hair will return to its natural state and those edges will be ready to try another protective style.
Use Moisturizing Formulas
Natural black hair is unique. As such, it requires extra specialized formulas. Curly and coily hair is prone to dryness, meaning your edges are even more brittle and delicate. This makes using moisturizing formulas an integral part of your overall hair health.
A simple way to tell if a product has enough moisture to quench your natural curls is whether it’s water-based. You can spot a water-based product by looking at the label and seeing water as the first ingredient, as you’ll see in any product in our Moisture Miracle collection.
When pre-pooing, washing, or conditioning, take extra time to gently apply these moisturizing formula to your edges. The hairline is the most vulnerable part of your hair when it comes to breakage and dryness, so be sure to keep it hydrated.
Smooth With African Pride Edge Control Gel
Styling your edges is an important part of any hairstyle and it’s important they are sleek and tidy. However, handling your edges too much can contribute to breakage and thinning.
Constant brushing, combing, rubbing, and pulling will cause excessive and possible irreparable damage to your hairline. Before you style your edges or put your natural hair into a protective hairstyle, make sure you’ve given hair the proper time to care and recover.
Then, if you must style your edges, try to use your hands instead and be sure to style them using a moisturizing smooth edge hair gel. For instance, maintain your hairline’s strength and moisture with our Shea Miracle Silky Edges Anti-Frizz Conditioning Gel and Olive Miracle Super Hold & Smooth Edges pomade.
These are each made with the best natural oils and extracts that will nourish the hair while keeping it shiny and smooth.
While it might take a few weeks to see results, remember that caring for your edges isn’t a race. Slow and steady is the name of the game. Even if your edges grow back strong, if you stop doing all the good things you did to revive them they’ll just become damaged again.
Think of edge care the same way you think about healthy eating or exercise, it’s about regularly incorporating lifestyle and hair care changes to your normal routine. We promise it’s worth it in the long run to see stronger, healthier edges.