How do I get my edges back?
This is an issue we hear about a lot at Kui. But to determine if you can grow back your edges, we need to identify why you lost them in the first place. Depending on the reason, you could potentially regrow your edges!
For a full list of medical/genetic reasons why you could be loosing your hair please check the following article
15 Reasons Your Hair Is Falling Out and What to Do About It, According to Doctors .
We are however going to focus on hair loss due to excessive styling/ hair manipulation.
If you have read our article, Why is my Hair not growing, you will already have some ideas on what you can do to aid regrowth of your edges, but here are some major culprits to hair loss, specifically around our edges.
The hairline is your most fragile hair strands, as it is the thinnest and weakest (Imagine playing with cotton wool). You therefore do not want to be doing anything that can fry, sizzle or burn that area of your head at all.
THINGS YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO
Do not Hold the hair too tightly. It would be best to not braid, plat, pull that area of your hair at all. Just leave it be. We find that the best way to achieve maximum growth is to leave that area of your hair as much as possible. If the hair is pulled too tightly or overly managed, you can eventually permanently damage the hair follicle/ root. In fact, your hair should never hurt you, no matter how kinky it is, it should always be managed with care and only manipulated when your hair is damp and never dry. Avoid all tight hair styles, be it braids, twists, weaves, as anything that hurts your hair, can harm your hair. To style your hair between styles always use Kui leave-in conditioning mist to ease manipulation and moisturise with our moisturising hair cream.
Do not fry or burn the hair strands with too much heat. Avoiding heat is always beneficial, and this is even more so for your hairline. When hair burns, it’s destroyed (think about frying an egg and how you cannot unfry it) and needs to be cut and allowed to grow again. Heat can do permanent damage to your hair permanently altering the structure of it.
Do not use too much friction on your hair line. Anything that rubs on your hairline will dry it out and lead to breakage. This is why it is always beneficial to sleep with a satin or silk scarf, cap or pillowcase. When it is a cap avoid it being too tight or caps that do not have satin borders (the part of the scarf that rubs your hairline). The constant rubbing every night will lead to breakage. Satin or silk material helps by retaining the moisture in your hair therefore not letting the hair dry out. Dry hair becomes brittle and ultimately leads to breakage.
Do not wear tight wigs, or wear wigs constantly without breaks. Similar to the point above, if you have particularly fine hair on your hairline, the friction from regularly wearing wigs can also lead to hairline loss. To prevent this a barrier between your hair and the wig that retains moisture will be useful. Also remember to give your hair breaks between constant wig usage.
Do not constantly brush your hairline as well as excessive brushing leads to too much friction that can also lead to breakage.
Do not use adhesives when possible. Minimise the use of adhesives whey styling your hair especially around your hair line.
Things to do
Look for products that promote hair growth like tea tree oil like our Kui Tea Tree & Cinnamon Range or products.
Moisture, moisture, moisture!!!. Do ensure your hair is always moisturised to avoid breakage by using our Kui Tea Tree & Cinnamon Range or products.
Take vitamins, eat healthy and drink lots of water : We will suggest normal multivitamins. Although people have found great results with vitamins for hair. We however believe in focusing on your overall health as this will maximise your own potential be it for your hair, skin and body.
Massage your scalp, this increases blood flow to yours scalp, which can ultimately lead to thicker hair, therefore improving hair growth. According to research, “scalp massage increases hair thickness by stretching the cells of hair follicles. This, in turn, stimulates the follicles to produce thicker hair. It’s also thought that a scalp massage may help dilate blood vessels beneath the skin, thereby encouraging hair growth.”
When in doubt, leave your edges alone and be patient.