Hair Talk: White Girl With Cornrows

I'm going to Raleigh to the museum today, but while it's on my mind, let me throw out what I've learned about getting cornrows and so on.

1. Use a professional. Unless you're getting your hair done for free, you want it done right. This means go to a professional-who knows how to deal with Caucasian hair. You want your style to last, so it has to be done right. Further, you don't want breakage, and you don't want to have to cut anything out of your hair when it's time to take the braids down. Take the extra time to get it done properly.

2. Go with clean dry hair. A day or so before you get your hair done, give it a good serious deep condition. You can sit with mayonnaise or avocado or even just olive oil on it, with a plastic wrap over, and go sit in the sun or under a hair dryer (on low heat) for half an hour. Or whatever your favourite deep conditioner is. The point is, you want your hair and scalp in perfect condition when you start.

3. It might hurt going in. If you're not used to someone braiding tightly right on your scalp, it will probably be a little uncomfortable. I find that I need some Advil afterwards cause I'll have a headache, and my whole head will be sore to touch for about another day. After that, the braids will loosen up a little bit and you'll be more comfortable.

4. It's not a free ride. While having your hair braided will free up a considerable about of time for you in the mornings, you have to take care of it if you want it to last and look good. This starts right from the beginning with your style choice. Free-swinging braids (box braids, pixies, micros) look fabulous but just are not going to last as long as cornrows. Twists are not going to last as long as cornrows. The less movement you have, the better the style is going to hold for you. So choose wisely. Bring a picture and talk to your stylist.

Taking care of your hair daily means a few things. One, you have to learn how to tie it up. Whenever you're cleaning, dusting, around dirty or dusty areas, put a rag over your head. This is as simple as a bandana. Just keep the dirt off it. When you're laying around and especially when you go to sleep, you want to cover it tightly to keep it from moving. You'll do better here to have a satin scarf or cap on it (sold in any Family Dollar, Walmart, Roses, etc). What I do is actually have two: first, an open-top velcro wrap to keep the bun tight against the back of my head, and over that a satin scarf (I like the type with the long ties in the back) tied tightly around (wrap the ties to the front, cross, and then go around to the back to tie again) my whole head. Don't tie the wrap over your ears or they will start to ache and wake you up in the middle of the night. Learn how to tie it properly. Ask someone if you don't know how. Keeping your hair tied is seriously important to keeping your style going.

Every other day, I use foam mousse on the cornrows themselves. I try not to get it directly on my scalp but just try to get it on the braids. This helps to hold down little frizzles and flyaways and keep the style from deteriorating.

The most irritating and annoying thing is that it itches. Your scalp, especially for someone like me who has long thick hair, is not generally exposed. All of a sudden whole parts of your head are in the wind, sun, air, everything. If it's really hot and you're sweatty, that doesn't help. The end result is that your scalp is going to dry out somewhat. You have to put something on it. Now, there are any number of things you can use and feel free to try them all. You can be as simple as just using an oil spray or braid spray (I have African Pride Braid Sheen Spray, which is pretty good) or you can get serious and use something that's a bit more directed. What I just bought is Rasta Locks & Twists Medicated No More Itch Spray. Now, 'Locks and Twists' made me nervous, but 'No More Itch' won out. Basically this stuff has some menthol in it to go with the oil, so it feels cool and will help your scalp not to itch. Rather than spray it all over I'm spraying it on my finger and just going where I need it. There's also something called Scalpicin, but that's salicylic acid and really for more serious scalp problems.

Your scalp will eventually begin to flake a little bit. This is another reason you want to keep the products on the hair and not on the scalp. Mousses and foams all contain alcohol and butane (!) and propane (!) and you will probably do well to keep that off your scalp if possible.

If you leave any part of your hair unbraided, like how I have my bangs, you'll have to work with that every day. I try to leave products off this part of my hair.

How about washing it? Well, to be perfectly honest, the less you wash it, the better it will stay. You CAN wash it, but here's how: first, get a stretchy thin nylon cap. You could probably use a piece of an old stocking, but they sell these new for cheap. The idea is that it's thin and holds the hair tight. Mix a capful of shampoo into a litre or so of water and use this to very gently wash your hair through the cap. It is going to take forever (and I mean 36 hours+ in my case) to dry. Personally, the thought of that moisture up against my scalp for that many hours is almost as scary as the thought of all that butane, so I'll go as long as I can stand it. There's a new product I found at Sally's yesterday that I can use on my bangs called Batiste Dry Shampoo. Basically you spray it on, leave it a minute, brush it out. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems to be promising. The best thing to do is probably have all your hair braided up and then you wouldn't have to worry about it so much.

5. Remember that lots of pictures of styles that you'll see use artificial hair addded in. There's no reason you can't use artificial hair, if you like, but if your hair is long and thick, like mine, you probably don't want to. I have never used any additional hair when I've had mine done, so I can't tell you how to take care of that. Some styles can be modified to use just your own hair, but they will probably look different than the picture, so be prepared for that.

6. How about when it comes out? When you're ready to take down your braids, give yourself some time. It takes more than a few minutes. If you have rubber bands it's better to cut them out rather than pull them. See if you can get a style that doesn't require them at all. I don't care what anyone says, they give you split ends. Be very gentle taking your braids down. Have someone else do it if you can find someone. Once they're out, prepare to brush. Your hair sheds naturally on a daily basis, and yours hasn't had the chance to do it for however long you've had your braids in. Get to brushing. It will feel like it's coming out in chunks, but really it's just what would have come out anyway. Brush and brush and brush it until you can get all that loose hair out. It may be in a style that you like and can live with for a while-the loose look is sometimes really appealing. On me it just looks like I've had a really badly manic eight weeks. So I get it washed out as fast as possible. You might have to wash it a couple of times-remember you've got (potentially) weeks of product on your hair. Once it's good and clean, come full circle with a serious deep conditioner.

7. Wanna go again? Give your hair a week or so out of braids before you go back. If you're like me, you'll instantly appreciate how much time you saved having it braided and how it looks great right from the get-go. But give your scalp some time before you start up again.

8. Have fun, be creative, and enjoy!