How to remove alkaline and combat itchiness with braiding hair

Thanks to the boom in beauty education thanks to social media platforms such as YouTube, more and more women around the world are beating post-braid itching and allergic reactions by washing the alkaline out of their braids. 

Unbeknown to most people who get their hair braided, alkaline is a substance sprayed on to braiding hair to preserve it from going moldy. 

This very substance can cause the scalp to get really dry and itchy when hair is installed. 

In order to better serve customers, hair manufacturers have started manufacturing antifungal/antibacterial itch-free braiding hair. 

“It’s something that is now common in our businesses but it’s not everybody who’s aware of it and it’s not something that we commonly do but we do for clients who ask for it,” said Johannesburg-based hair braider and business owner Kudakwashe Magora Mhlanga. 

Mhlanga, who owns the Kudatot Hair brand, explained that there are clients who even react to their braids and have no idea that this is a reaction to the alkaline.  

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According to Mhlanga, anti-fungal and itch-free braiding hair is not really readily available in South Africa or the rest of the continent for that matter but believes it is steadily gaining popularity due to the beauty information disseminated by YouTube content creators.  

However, she theorised that hair manufacturers have probably not ventured into producing this specific type of hair on the continent due to a lack of demand. 

“If we were to have them, I’m sure they would be more pricier than what we already have on the market,” said Mhlanga who also produces her own range of products. 

As a result, many have turned to a new method for cleansing their braiding hair before using it by rinsing it with apple cider vinegar as this helps lift the alkaline coating from the synthetic braiding hair. 

She has had to primarily rely on selling her products through e-commerce over the last few months as her business is among the list of industries that are not yet allowed to resume operations due to their highly interpersonal nature. 

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“We started losing clients way before the lockdown. Even though we understood the reasons behind the lockdown, we never anticipated the financial impact of it. We didn’t grasp it until it was already upon us.”

Mhlanga explains that as a result of the initial limit of less than 100 people at gatherings, more and more clients started to cancel upcoming events such as weddings and graduations. They subsequently no longer felt the need to get their hair done and cancelled their appointments with Kudatot Hair en masse. 

“Besides the fact that we can’t be in contact with our clients, we have just started looking for alternative ways to make money,” said Mhlanga before adding that she and her stylists have gone into consultation and e-commerce retail for hairpiece and hair products. 

While other hairdressers have found themselves having to break the lockdown regulations out of desperation. Mhlanga states that she and her stylists are staying put as a means of prioritising their health in order to ensure they’re healthy to return to work as soon as they are able to. 

Additionally, Mhlanga states that she has been using the time to do a lot of reflection on hairstyles she may have wanted to do but never completed or how she can improve on her signature styles moving forward.

“This downtime has really given us time to really reflect and see where we needed to correct in our business, how we should move forward and prepare moving forward and to prepare with regards to creativity.” 

She has also been looking to YouTube to pick up new techniques and get new hair patterns and design ideas. 

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On re-imagining life after lockdown;  Mhlanga states: “I have thought about how life will be after the lockdown and I have never been so scared that things might never go back to normal. Especially for us small businesses…”

Considering the fact that she has staff who use public transport, she has been mulling over their need for personal protective equipment as a way to protect her staff and her clients in a post-lockdown, coronavirus world. 

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How to perform an ACV rinse on your synthetic braiding hair:

Step 1: Fill a bowl with warm/hot (not boiling) water and add about half a cup of apple cider vinegar to the water

Step 2️: Without separating or manipulating the hair (i.e.: combing or brushing it or removing any of the elastics it comes in); dip it in the ACV water and wait around 30 minutes to an hour. However, after a few minutes, you should start to see the alkaline base lifting from the hair, forming a white film on top of the water

Step 3️: Gently rinse the hair by holding it right side up under cool running water. Should you wish to remove the ACV smell from the hair, then you can add some shampoo to your palm and gently run your palm down the length of the braiding hair and repeat this motion a few times. You can repeat the rinse by holding it right side up under cool running water.

Step 4️: Use the same palm method to gently massage conditioner into the hair and leave it to soak for 30 minutes. You can rinse the conditioner out if you wish to using the same rinsing method outlined above.

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