In the
{part 1} of this post, I talked about our experience in establishing the practice of overnight hair protection using a bonnet. The biggest take away from our story is to stay consistent from the very beginning.
Another tip I would add is to lead by example! If a child sees her mom/grandmom/sister(s) wearing a bonnet, she would likely follow suit. Also, explaining the importance of covering the head at night can help your daughter rationalize the purpose of wearing her bonnet each night.
Wearing a bonnet is very simple as expected. If the hair is already braided, bunned, twisted, or in some other set style, all that is required is to place the bonnet over the entire head. If the hair is in a twist out, braid out, or some other loose style, some measures should be taken first in order to help preserve these styles overnight:
- For straightened styles, gather hair into a loose ponytail with ends pinned under.
- In the morning, remove pins and ponytail to wear hair down and loose with a slight bump on the ends.
- For afro and wash n' go styles, gather hair into a loose puff. If hair is too short to put into a puff, just cover the hair as it.
- In the morning, spray hair with water/leave-in and gently manipulate hair to revitalize afro/wash n' go into desired shape.
- For longer or curled hair, pineapple hair (into a very loose ponytail) on top of head.
- In the morning, remove pineapple ponytail and allow curls to fall back down into place.
- For twist outs, braid outs, bantu knot outs, loosely re-do twists, braids, bantu knots.
- In the morning, undo the twists, braids, bantu knots using oil on the fingers (to reduce chances of frizz)
In the
final part of this series (on Friday), I will discuss some issues that may arise with wearing bonnets and talk about a few alternatives that one can try if wearing a bonnet just is not working at all.
Hope this has been helpful so far!
