Do you suffer from traction alopecia?

When women and sometimes men wear braids in their hair they do it for not only a fashion statement, but these easy to maintain styles are also considered protective hair styles. Protective hair styles are when your hair is not being manipulated on a daily basis and the ends of your hair are tucked away. Having braids can have a multitude of benefits for the overall growth and health of your hair, but did you know that some braids could be doing more harm than good? Traction alopecia is an unfortunate problem that many people face when they either wear their hair too tight from certain hair styles or have braids that are causing too much stress and tension on their natural hair.

Traction alopecia on a little girl that clearly shouldn’t have braids in her hair that are so tight!

Traction alopecia is something that is found more in the African American community than any other community. The reason for this is because in the African American community women tend to wear hair styles that pull and tug on their hair to the point that the hair follicle falls out. Bad hair habits and products can lead to this problem as well. First traction alopecia is when your hair ceases to grow in a particular area anymore. The reason for this is because you have mistakenly pulled your hair so tight with either a bun/ponytail or braids to the point that your hair becomes weak, from all of the tugging and eventually gives up the fight to stay on your head and just falls out of your scalp.

Traction alopecia typically happens at either the front of the hair line, your crown, or the nape. These areas of the hair are the softest spots on our head and the main areas that women struggle with trying to grow their hair in. By making your braids extra tight so that you will not have to go back too often to the salon to get them redone you are unfortunately damaging your hair. Many times people feel that because they have braids in their hair that they do not have to worry about moisturizing or even washing and conditioning their hair. This couldn’t be further from the truth. If you keep up with taking care of the braids just like you do your own hair not only does it help fight against traction alopecia it help to maintain the health of you actual hair.

Micro braids are not the best choice if you want to avoid traction alopecia.

Try and put thicker braids in your hair to prevent traction alopecia.

When thinking to go and get your hair done or even doing it at home there are few things that you should consider doing to prevent traction alopecia.

~Try and get thicker braids. Mini braids/micro braids create the most tension on your hair because they tug and pull on your natural tresses. Most women get these braids and put even their baby hair (finest hair) in the braid and these pieces of hair are already weak and they will eventually fall out.

~Opt for bigger braids if you want to do braids at all. Bigger braids allow for more strands to be braided and therefore a lot of stress is not put on a single strand which will just break off with the weight of the synthetic braid.

~Always keep up with your health hair regimen. Wash, condition, deep condition and seal your hair even if it is in braids because although you’re not seeing your actual hair it is still there and needs some TLC.

~ Do not pull your hair too tight just to lay down your hair smoother. Opt for an all natural hair gel, such as our formation hair gel that moisturizes your hair at the same time.

~ Do not keep your braids in your hair for longer than a month. Your hair needs to breath and it needs to be detangled and moisturized regularly outside of the braids.

~ Although the song “I whip my hair back and forth” is cute this is an action you shouldn’t be doing while wearing braids. With every swing and flip of the hair it produces tension on the tresses and weakens the hair follicle and this is when you might see a braid or two falling out of your head.

~If you in fact do suffer from traction alopecia than there are a few things that you can do to grow back your hair. Stop wearing braids so tight, and massage your scalp with oil regularly. Unique Fighter Serum is made with essential oils that are made specifically for growing in the edges of your hair including spots affected by traction alopecia.

Unique Fighter Serum will restore your hair and scalp!

****I know we have all seen a female or two that have had a braid or two falling out of their hair and they weren’t even touching or playing in their hair. Pass this information along to them so they can stop loosing hair because of their braids.****

If you have any other questions or concerns please email us at customerservice@flourishingtresses.com or leave a comment down below. To purchase the products that are mentioned in this article please visit flourishingtresses.com. As always Have A Happy Health Hair Journey!!