Summary. Protective hairstyles like flat twists, cornrows, and box braids can help promote hair growth and prevent breakage.
If you need to have your hair up regularly and can't get away with a few 'down days', try to switch between high ponytails and low, loose styles. Half-up styles are also a great way to keep your hair off your face while minimising the strain on your locks.
The Low Ponytail
The reason stylists recommend you forego a tight ponytail is because the tighter the ponytail, the greater the risk your hair tie will pull at your strands, putting unnecessary stress on your roots and scalp. A low, loose ponytail relieves that stress.
While placing hair in a bun through the day can cause breakage and excessing pulling, wearing it to bed for the promise of no-heat waves is worse. As you roll around in bed, the traction at the roots gets stronger, causing more friction through the night.
In time, the continuous pulling can damage your hair follicles. If you damage your hair follicles, your hair cannot grow back, so you develop permanent hair loss. Hairstyles that constantly pull on your hair include: Buns, ponytails, and up-dos that are tightly pulled.
"I love a loose braid. It protects a lot of the hair from environmental elements and doesn't pull too tightly. Or easy wash-and-gos or twists. Any one of these styles will help keep your hair in the best shape possible and encourage hair growth."
It can keep your hair nourished
“Braiding helps to lock the moisture into the hair, keeping them moisturised and nourished,” Shah points out. “You can even oil the hair with Brahmi Jaborandi hair oil before braiding the hair for deeper nourishment,” he adds.
Asian hair is also the fastest growing, at over half an inch per month. Caucasian hair can be stick straight, wavy, or curly. The follicles have a slight oval shape, making it quite dense with an average hair growth of just under half an inch a month.
Extremely dry or brittle, rough to the touch
Between heat styling and color sessions, hair can feel much drier than you'd like it to be. Because dry hair can not absorb or retain enough moisture to maintain its texture and brightness, it may seem dull and brittle.
Avoid using heat-styling tools too often.
As much as curling iron, blow dryer, and flat iron help us get gorgeous hair, they also damage it. Frequent exposure to high temperature makes hair dry and brittle.
Generally, if your hair isn't greasy or dry, you should cleanse it every two to three days, King recommends. But if you wash hair too often for your hair type, "it could be very drying to the hair, depending on the ingredients in the shampoo," King says.
Leaving your long hair open while sleeping can increase frizziness and cause hair loss eventually. “Tying your hair tightly can damage your hair roots and cause traction alopecia [1]. Hence, you need to wear your hair in a loose ponytail or braid which does not apply much pulling force on your scalp,” says Dr.
Sleeping with your hair up in a messy bun or high ponytail may seem harmless, but the tension from having your hair up for several hours can put a strain on your scalp and lead to eventual hair damage.
"Never go to bed without tying your hair up (for long hair), as loose hair can tangle. Removing tangles later can cause breakage," says celebrity hairstylist Fallon Toni Chavez. You can wear it in a number of ways, including a low ponytail or loose braid.
However, it is important to protect your hair strands from friction while sleeping. This can be done by putting your hair back into a loose ponytail, loose braid or loose bun with silk or satin scrunchies — or by sleeping with hair in a satin or silk hair bonnet.