Senegalese Twists: Tips for Keeping Your Hair Healthy

I always say that your natural hair journey will take you to places within yourself that you never knew existed. 


Today marks a new level of growth in my hair journey - not physical growth, but spiritual. For the past couple weeks I'd found myself admiring (drooling over, really) Senegalese twists. Up until that point this was not a style that I was comfortable wearing. I'd been kind of skeptical of protective hairstyles with extensions because I wasn't convinced that they were effective at protecting the hair while also keeping it healthy. And to be completely transparent, I didn't think it was "me," just like before I started wearing my hair curly I didn't think twists were for me. But what I came to learn through my research on Senegalese twists over the past two weeks (and I'm still learning) is that this style, microbraids and similar styles are okay for your hair as long as you follow a few simple guidelines. I'll go into detail on these guidelines and probably add to them in upcoming posts, but in brief, here they are:

1. Tightness Make sure your hair isn't braided/twisted too tightly, especially around the hairline ("edges"). That is where your hair is the weakest and the most prone to breakage from braids/twists that are installed too tightly.
2. Keep it clean This is key for maintaining and growing a healthy head of hair whether your hair is in a protective style or not. Listen to your scalp. If it is itching constantly then it's time to wash. Many women like to co-wash their twists/braids.
3. Moisturize I've heard of many women who moisturize their hair twice a day when it's in Senegalese twists or microbraids. I think this is sound advice as the synthetic hair and cold weather (if winters are cold where you live) can drain the moisture out of your hair. 

I'm sure there are more tips for keeping your hair healthy while in Senegalese twists, but as I said this is my first time with them and I'm still learning. If you have any tips you'd like to add, please do so in the comment box at the bottom. I can't wait to hear from you. :)

Unlike the pictures indicate, I am THRILLED with how they turned out and I absolutely love them! I'm making those faces because I was dog TIRED after getting them in! LOL! We literally stayed up through the night into the following afternoon to finish them!

I have a lot of styling ideas in the works for my Senegalese twists, so stay tuned! ;)