How to Maintain a Weave

Modern, everyday women are coming to know what a few ladies have known for years. Long, flowing, full body and natural-looking hair weaves aren’t just for A-list Hollywood stars. Any woman who wants to lengthen her hair, try a bold color without damaging her natural hair, or even try a shorter style without cutting her hair, can achieve it with a weave. If you care for your weave properly, you can keep a bonded or glued-in weave looking fresh for weeks and a sew-in feeling natural for months.A bonded weave is when tracks of hair are glued to your scalp, in rows, alternating your natural hair with tracked pieces. This works well for people who have sufficient natural length to cover the tracks and just want to add length or color to their hair.A sew-in is when your natural hair is braided in rows and the tracks of weave are sewn into each braid. This way, you can keep all of your hair protected and braided (or just some of it if you choose). This method is better for people who do not have sufficient length to cover the tracks, or want to use a completely different texture of weave than their natural hair. This method also works for women wanting to weave in a shorter style.

Things You'll Need

• Brush
• Comb
• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Scarf
• Hair glue

Instructions

How to Maintain a Sew-In Weave

1. Shampoo your hair—It’s tempting to just skip shampooing for fear that you might disturb or loosen the braids. Shampooing does loosen the braids, but it’s a necessary evil. If you skip shampooing, the hair becomes oily, dirty and does not flow or bounce as a properly cleaned weave would. It is best to shampoo the hair once a week; gently massaging the braids and brushing the shampoo through the weave. Dry and style normally. Be careful not to tangle the weave.

2. Stay away from Chlorine. Unfortunately, swimming in chlorinated water is not a good idea when you’re wearing a weave. The hair will become brittle and less manageable after the very first swim. Depending upon what kind of hair you’re wearing, the deterioration of quality could be minimal or absolutely horrible.

3. Wrap it up at night. Always wear a scarf around your weave before sleeping to help keep it from tangling in the night. The best way to do this is to brush the hair around your head in a circular motion, forming a bee hive on your head. Wrap the scarf firmly, but not too tight around your head, to hold the hair in place. You may want to wrap a second scarf around the first for security.

How to Maintain a Bonded Weave

1. Stay away from oil. While you can continue to condition your scalp with hair oil when wearing a sew-in weave, you cannot do this with a bonded weave. Oil will immediately cause the tracks to slip out. In fact, that is the best way to remove the weave when you’re ready. Stay away from oil sheens, pomades or other oil-based products. Light applications of oil to the surface of your natural hair is okay.

2. Brush gently. Brushing or combing the hair too forcefully can cause you to pull a track out. Instead, use one hand to hold the track in place as you brush or comb that section of hair with your other hand. Continue section by section.

3. Stay away from Chlorine. This rule applies for both sew-in weaves and bonded weaves. Chlorine is not your friend.

4. Cover your hair at night. Always cover your hair with a scarf at night. However, don’t wrap it around your head the way you would for a sew-in weave. Glued in tracks can’t be brushed arbitraily, they need to be brushed in the direction that they are glued. If the tracks in the back of your head are glued so the hair falls down the length of your back, but the tracks in the front of your head are glued so the hair falls forward onto the face, you definitely don’t want to try to force the bangs to be brushed back, or the hair in the back to be brushed forward. You want to lay the scarf on your head so that it helps preserve the track. Tie it firmly so that it holds the tracks in their natural place.

5. Always carry glue. This is probably the most important rule of all because even if you do take great care of your bonded weave, at some point, a track will slip. Always keep a little bottle of hair glue in your purse for these occasions. Just dab a bit of glue on the scalp where the hair came undone. Press the track back down on the glue and hold firmly for three minutes. The more times you have to do this in a particular spot, the less effective it will be because the glue will begin to build up in the track. (Once or twice works like a charm.)

Tips & Warnings

• Just because a bag of hair says “100% human hair”, does not mean that it is. Actually, industry standards only require that the hair be 10% human in order to be legally marked human hair. Always pull the air out of the bag and run your fingers through it before making any purchase. Remy Velvet hair is a little on the pricey side but it’s one of the best brands you can buy.

• Before adding a weave, always shampoo and condition your natural hair, as well as the weave you are about to add. This eliminates any chemical odors that may give-away the fact that the weave is not your natural hair.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish