Protective Hairstyles

The further I get into my ShamPHree journey, the more I understand the importance of protecting my hair and keeping it healthy. Especially since I am growing out my hair, it is important to be mindful of the stresses I’m putting my hair under and try to alleviate them when possible.

While we sleep, our hair is at the mercy of our restless dream-induced thrashings. You may not believe it, but this results in a lot of wear and tear! With protective overnight styles, we can both protect our hair, and encourage it to behave when we wake up in the morning. Isn’t that a relief!

Lately I have been experimenting more with letting my hair be its wild, curly self. Generally, it looks great the first day, but by the second day it’s a huge mess unless I re-wet and style it.

This is where I learned the art of pineapple-ing. And yes, It works. So well, in fact, that it inspired this post!

The following four techniques are designed for all hair types and are my favorite ways to protect my hair while I sleep.

How to Wake Up with Happy Hair:

1. Try a loose braid! This is great for soft styles and waves. It’s especially effective on finer hair because it protects it from overnight breakage and leaves you with some extra movement and body. A loose braid works best with medium to long hair, but can work for almost anyone. Just make sure when you create your loose braid, you secure the end with a tear-free elastic in order to prevent breakage. You can do this one on wet or dry hair.
2. Try the Pineapple! This style is perfect for curly hair or all lengths. It may sound strange, but all this style is, is a very loose ponytail on top of the head secured with a scrunchy! Are you getting the visual? Finish by fanning the hair out around the scrunchy so it looks like the top of a pineapple, and then hit the hay. Wake up to relatively intact curls! This style is best for dry hair.
3. Try a high twisted bun! I try this style when my hair is damp and I want it to dry while I sleep without it going all crazy on me in the morning. To achieve the high twisted bun, I take all my hair on top of my head and loosely twist it into a bun and secure it with a scrunchy, but not too tight. I wake up with surprisingly polished waves and body in my hair. This style is great for all lengths and textures!
4. Invest in a good hair scarf! This style is great for shorter curly and wavy hair textures and allows you to wear your hair curly for days on end without re-wetting or re-styling! I take a large square scarf and fold it in half diagonally, then I arrange my hair how I like it, wrapping the two long ends of the scarf gently around my head and tying them in the front. Then, I flip the point of the triangle over the top of my hair and tie or tuck it in the front with the first tie. This creates a nicely secure but not-too tight bonnet.

Try these methods out and let us know what you think. I bet you will find that they help shave some major time out of your morning hair routine. Plus, with these protective measures, you can keep your ends from breaking and maintain your length. What are your tricks for protective overnight styling?