3 Best Products for Natural Hair That Breaks After Protective Styles
by Team CurlyNikki
Your braid takedown day arrived. You finally stopped putting it off, you put on a show, got started, and now there’s enough hair in your hands to make you question every decision you have made since installation.
First off lol, some of what you see is normal shed hair that simply had nowhere to go for weeks. It could very well not be breakage from the very protective style that was supposed to… protect. But if you observe the fallen soldiers and they are indeed of all lengths, with jagged ends, you’re hearing snaps and hard pops, and you’re fighting through rough, dry, compacted sections, that’s different. But it’s still not the end of the world. Go slow, homie, add MORE slip, even more conditioner, even more warm water to activate the slip even more, then we’ll go in with gentle cleansing, and EVEN MORE CONDITIONING. Trust the process and trust your ability to grow and retain more hair. Breathe. God is good all the time. And… all the time… God is good!
Here are the products I’d reach for when takedown day starts feeling like a rescue mission.
| Pick | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Oyin Handmade Oh My Glide! | Loosening hair during takedown | $13.99 |
| Kinky-Curly Knot Today | Post-braid detangling | $14 |
| Camille Rose Algae Renew Deep Conditioner | Dry, stressed hair after removal | $20.99 |
Oyin: when the tangles begin before wash day even starts
Oyin Handmade Oh My Glide! was practically made for this moment. Spray it onto sections as the braids or twists come down and start removing shed hairs with your fingers before they get the chance to join forces. Do not take down the entire head, small sections at a time, loose twists as you go to keep sections from re-engaging lol.
Kinky-Curly: when the shed hair is packed into the new growth
Kinky-Curly Knot Today is especially useful once water gets involved. Coat the hair, keep it wet and gently work from the ends upward. Kinky-Curly itself calls this product out for use after braids and extensions, which tracks with why it has stayed in natural-hair bathrooms for so long. This is important tho, don’t jump in that shower with matted roots, they will only stand their ground. You need to start with a step like Oh My Glide- dry, finger detangling with a slippery, liquidy, spray on miracle, and then and only then do you get in the shower and wet your hair. And I’d absolutely go in with a slippery conditioner before a shampoo of any sort- again, the shampoo is only going to reinforce the lock down! You gotta be smart about this!
Camille Rose: when the hair needs a real recovery wash day
After the shed hair is out and the scalp is clean, Camille Rose Algae Renew Deep Conditioner brings the richer conditioning step. This is not the day (or week or even month!) to rush into another installation before the hair has even finished asking what just happened.
Breathe. Add slip. Detangle gently with fingers. Saturate. Condition. Cleanse. Condition. Style gently.
Takeaway: Protective styling only counts as protective if the takedown is protective too. Slip before speed. Fingers before force. And give your actual hair a minute to breathe before you hide it again. Or if you’re like me you say, ‘this is the last time’. And actually mean it. You like your real hair better, anyway. You missed it, didn’t you? ;)
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