Take Care of Your Natural Hair Under Your Weave

For some reason I thought I wrote a blog on taking care of your hair while in a weave but I can’t seem to locate it so I am going to assume I haven’t. I know I have one on Preparing Your Hair for a Weave but I don’t see one on caring for you natural hair WHILE you have a weave; aside from my How to Revive and Make Your Weave Look New Again (Video) which shows you my wash regimen and what I use.

Weaves help to protect your hair from breakage and damage, but while you have the weave installed in your hair you must take care of the hair underneath, if you don’t it will be hard and brittle and break off, instead of being healthy and lush. While wearing your weave you will need to at least:

Shampoo and Condition
Make sure you shampoo your hair at least every two weeks, I like to do a co-wash (washing with just conditioner) in between shampoos. Make sure the shampoo gets into your scalp; you can use an applicator bottle to ensure it gets into your scalp and under your braids. Massage your scalp with the balls of your fingertips. DO NOT ball your hair up; just move your fingertips in between your braids. When washing your weave comb through the weave hair with your fingers, do not wash your weave like you would your own hair, treat it delicately.
When conditioning, use a big tooth comb to comb through conditioner and rinse with cool water. Use a liquid leave-in condition and pour it into your scalp and between your braids.
Deep condition your hair every other shampoo, do this before you wash so it doesn’t weigh your weave down. DRY your hair underneath, avoiding this will cause your hair to mildew under your braids; either sit under a dryer or put a handheld blow dryer in between your tracks.

Apply Oils to Your Scalp
Apply natural oils beneath the weave onto your scalp and massage them in; you can use an applicator bottle to ensure it gets into your scalp and under your braids. Be careful not to get too much on your weave. If your weave is synthetic try to avoid getting any on your weave at all.

Don't Neglect the Weave
Make sure you wash and condition your weave along with your natural hair. Keep a paddle brush with you at all times so you can brush out tangles, brush your weave before you wash it. If your hair gets too tangled, it will be hard to comb through and will add tension to your natural hair when you are trying to untangle it. Always wear a statin scarf or cap at night.

Remove it After Six to Eight Weeks
When your braids become too loose the weave will begin to weigh them down adding tension and pulling on your natural hair causing it to break off, your hair will also possibly become matted and lock up. Some people leave their weave in for 12 weeks; listen to your hair, if you have hair that grows quickly you want to remove the weave in less time; if your hair grows fairly slow you may be able to leave it in a little longer but you do not want more than one inch of new growth.

And…It Is What It Is!