Protective Hair From its DIY Beginnings to Your Salon Chair
By Kelly Carson, AHLC Editorial Consultant You’re going to be hearing a lot about the importance of protective hair as the once do-it-yourself method of hair restoration moves from the kitchen to professional studios and salons. Protective hairstyles are designed to keep hair tucked away and free from manipulation through braids, dreadlocks and twists. The styles are designed to guard against breakage and damage. Because wearing protective hair for prolonged periods is suspected in some traction alopecia cases, those who choose the style are turning to hair specialists for advice.
Angela H. Brown 18
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“Protective styles have become a hot commodity,” said Angela H. Brown of the Collierville, Tennessee-based D'Serv Healthy Hair Care LLC. “Protective styles are here to stay.” Part of the reason, she says, is the nearly two years we’ve spent under the yoke of COVID-19 and its restrictions and limitations. Plus, COVID-19 is known to contribute to hair loss. As people ease back into society, they are returning to their hair-care professionals. “And the professionals are showing they care and can help your hair and give you a wonderful style,” Brown said.
and decades processing and manipulating their hairstyles so they tick some arbitrary box of what it means to be “normal” in mainstream society. “People who have over-processed their hair or have been pressured to have a certain look get to be 30, 40, 50, 60 years old and now they have hair loss,” said A'Lelia Bundles, an author, journalist and academic who is the great-great-granddaughter of Madam CJ Walker, an icon of the hair-care industry catering to women of color.
It’s no secret that people of color, especially Black women, have spent decades
It is Walker’s climb to fame and fortune that Bundles examines in her 2001 work, “On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam CJ Walker.” The
A'Lelia Bundles
Ynohtna Tureaud
