Preserving protective styles

Protective styling is one of the ways I take care of my hair. There are fewer things more fragile than kinky, coily, tightly wound (sometimes called 4c) hair. The potential breakage, the shedding, the disappearing of edges – all of these are symptoms of hair that’s neglected and/or over-manipulated. You never want to find yourself on the neglected-over-manipulated scale, where you are either barely taking care of your hair or you are constantly fiddling with it by using combs, fingers, heat or frequent styling. It will break, it will not grow and like me in the first 6 years of my natural hair journey, you will want to cut it all the time. Enter hydration, clarifying shampoo and effective protective styling.

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The whole point of protective styling is to tuck the most fragile part of your hair away so that it doesn’t fall victim to friction, dryness and the worst impacts of the elements. The ends of our hair are the most fragile because they are the oldest part of the hair and the natural moisture from the scalp and roots take ages (read never) to reach the ends. Split ends, multiple-strand-knots and excessive breakage occur at the ends, so when people say “my hair isn’t growing” what they’re actually saying is “my hair keeps breaking or splitting”.

Protective hairstyles (granted that they’re done on hydrated and detangled hair) offer the ends a haven where the hair can sit unbothered for a while. In order to keep the protective style in for a decent period (anything less than 5 days for me doesn’t count), you need to preserve the style. I preserve my hairstyles using water, aloe vera gel, moisturiser and the almighty Bonnet.

These satin bonnets from Thella Nnuku are high quality and live up to what the brand claims. The company is a small start-up with excellent service. They custom-make the bonnets to your size and colour specifications. Each bonnet is double-sided so you can switch it up to feel like a new person. The company delivers to both South Africa and Lesotho. The bonnets have adjustable straps and the sizes cater for people with braids as well. A big problem that I have with doeks is that they slip off at night. These bonnets not only remain on my head the whole night, I also wake up with laidt hair, which makes my morning routine so much quicker.

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The bonnets are reasonably priced, retailing for R100 each for the medium size. When braid season approaches, I’ll buy the jumbo size for R120. As I mentioned, Thella Nnuku’s service was exceptional. They deliver twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays; and they put in so much effort into making you feel like a valued customer. You can place orders via Instagram @_thellannuku or send them an email at thellannuku@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can call/whatsapp them (+266 6222 0183 – Lesotho; +27 63 100 6913 – South Africa).

I’m ready to drop serious coin on them for Girls’ nights, I’ve always had this idea of hosting my friends for a self-care Sunday, where we all wear luscious bonnets, pop on face-masks and drink mimosas with a shot of tequila. Until I can host my friends, I’m just going to celebrate self-care Sundays by doing my weekly hair routine, protective styling and wearing my bonnet while drinking mimosas with a shot of tequila.