Sometimes, the flowers in a garden aren’t all it takes to make the garden beautiful. Other things matter too. Other things like the way you till the flowerbed and rake it to get rid of weeds. If you check, you’d see that the whole process is akin to laying your edges with edge control.
Nowadays, it’s become a sin for a lady to dress her hair without swooping those edges.
And the reason is obvious. But for the sake of emphasis, I’ll remind you.
After settling for any of the latest hairstyles or African braids, you need to align your edges to accentuate the beauty of your hair.
Picture your scalp as that garden. If all you needed to do to make it beautiful was to plant flowers, it wouldn’t be as beautiful as you imagine.
You need to arrange those baby hair your hairstylist didn’t pick and blend them with your braids or wig.
And the best product to help you achieve that is an edge control or hair wax.
Would you like to see some beautiful edges that’ll inspire you to start laying yours?
I bet you would. So, let’s get started.
What is Edge Control to the Woman who Values her Baby Hair?
Your baby hairs (or edges) are those thin hairs that grow around your hairline. They have a very tender texture compared to the remaining hair on your head.
And because of this, we always advise that you tell your hairstylist never to pick your edges lest you should have a receding hairline.
Not withstanding, an edge control is a styling product made to smoothen, slicken, and beautify your baby hair. They are designed to keep your delicate baby hairs in place without stripping them of natural moisture.
There are many edge control products to give you the perfect edges. One popular one as at the time of publishing this post is hair wax.
Hair wax is a thick hair styling product that contains wax. It is used to assist with holding the hair. In addition, hair wax can be easily moulded into any shape and hardly dries out.
If you’re to carve your baby hair into pretty layouts and shapes, which product would you go for?
Let’s find out together.
Which Edge Control Product is the Best?
As I said earlier, there are many edge control products in the market. They’ll come in handy when it’s time to lay your edges into cute swoops.
Most of these products are lightweight and suitable for both natural and relaxed hair.
They also add sheen and moisture to your edges while giving it great hold and reviving its look.
The best edge control products are:
- Hicks Edges
- Hair Wax Edge Control
- Design Essentials Natural Honey & Shea Edge Tamer
- Gorilla Snot Gel
- Curls Blueberry Bliss Curl Control Paste
- Ampro Shine ‘N Jam Silk Edges
- Cantu Edge Control
- Brown Girl Organic Edge Control Balm
- Olive Oil Edge Control
- Tancho Tique Stick
- Eco Styler
- Eden Coconut Shea Control Edge Glaze
- Avlon KeraCare Edge Tamer
- Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Edge Control Smoother
- Creme of Nature Argan Oil Perfect Edges
- Weave Aide Straight Edge Pomade
- Dr. Miracle’s Edge Holding Gel, etc.
How to Lay Your Edges with Edge Control
With the many edge control products, you’ve got no excuse not to style your baby hair.
Laying your edges simply refers to the way you style your baby hair using these products. You can do this in any shape of your choice be it spirals, swirls, streams, curves, loops, etc.
And if you’re ready to do that, use these steps.
1. Get Your Tools Ready
You already know the tools, don’t you?
They’re your:
- Edge styler brush/old toothbrush
- Edge control product
- Tail comb
2. Comb out Your Baby Hair with Your Tail Comb
Use your tail comb to brush out your edges. This is necessary so you can separate your baby hair from your main hair and style them the way you want.
While at this, ensure your tail comb doesn’t go too hard to avoid damaging your hair.
Moreso, if it feels too coarse, spritz very little water around your edges.
3. Swoop and Style Your Edges
Once you’ve combed out your baby hair, use your fingers to dab your edge control gel on your baby hair.
If you don’t want to use your fingers, there’s another way to go about it. You can as well dip the bristles of your edge styler brush/old toothbrush into your baby hair control product and apply on your hair.
Then swoop your baby hair into your desired shape while using the gel on your brush to keep it in place.
If your hair is soft, keep the quantity of edge control minimal. But if your hair is coarse, you may want to use slightly heavy gel to keep the shape of your edges in place.
Don’t apply so much baby hair control products on your hair or else you’ll have some buildups to battle with.
4. Give it Finishing Touches
After swooping and styling into your desired shape, I can tell you’ll love what you’ll see.
But don’t celebrate yet.
We aren’t done.
You still need to use the pointed tip of your tail comb to define the moulding of the shapes you just created.
And presto!
You’ll have your beautiful, laid edges to give you the perfect look.
How to Make Your Edges Stay All Day
To ensure your edges stay longer, tie a silk scarf around your head for about 20 minutes. It’ll further keep the edges in place until they’re completely dry.
Is Edge Control Good for Your Hair?
Of course, edge control is good for your hair. One reason is because it beautifies your edges and gives ’em the perfect finishing.
But as they say, too much of everything isn’t good. Hence, you should use your baby hair products sparingly.
I know you may be wondering why. You know, you can’t go out with your edges looking like an unweeded garden, can you?
I bet not.
But isn’t that better than suffering from traction alopecia?
If you don’t know, some baby hair control products contain alcohol which is used to make the product dry faster on your hair.
But then, according to Dr. Rolanda Johnson Wilkerson,
“Because alcohol is oftentimes used in styling products for providing hold, the hair may feel drier if styling products are layered in repetitive use and not washed out…This fine, shorter hair on the hairline can be prone to breakage especially if there is traction or harsh mechanical forces on the hair from brushing.”
Rolanda Johnson Wilkerson
And to corroborate that, dermatologist, Michelle Henry MD, also says that what actually does the damage is the products containing alcohol.
In her words:
“The edge control gel makes the hair dry and adding tension to hair that is dry can break the hair.”
Michelle Henry
Do you now agree with me that you shouldn’t use these products or add tension to your baby hair all the time?
If you do (which I suppose), shall we then check out the edge control mistakes that can cost you your baby hair?
Edge Control Mistakes that Ruin Your Edges
If you’ve been using edge control and you notice your baby hairs are falling off, don’t fret.
It means you’re guilty of any of these reasons:
Applying Baby Hair Gel too Often
You already know this. So, try to keep your use of edge control in check to avoid turning it into a menace.
You use a Hard Brush
You don’t need to go for a stringent brush to lay those edges. An old, soft bristle toothbrush can do the job for you.
So, go trash your hard brush right away. Or better still, use it for something else.
You Don’t Break up the Gel or Wear a Scarf Before Sleeping
When you leave your edge control gel on your hair overnight, you add more tension to your baby hair and clog your scalp pores.
So what do you do to avoid this? Either of these three things:
- Rinse off the gel from your hairline before you sleep.
- Break up the gel with a comb.
- Wear a satin hair bonnet.
Your Braids are Tight
If your braids are too tight or you style your coiffure in ways that strain your edges, applying hair wax only makes it worse.
Instead, try switching up your go-to hairstyles to include loose ones.
You Coat More Gel Without Rinsing off the Old One
Some ladies apply more products to their hairline without rinsing off the edge gel they previously applied.
If you’re one of them, you should stop already.
Try to rinse off previous baby hair gel before applying new ones. It’ll help to prevent buildups that can clog your scalp.
What Can You Use Instead of Edge Control?
You don’t have to stick with only edge control products to lay your edges. there are other options you can use such as shea butter, castor oil, cocoa butter, temple balm, etc.
Edge Control Styling Inspo
Learnt a lot about edge control already? If you haven’t, then there’s a high chance you either weren’t concentrating or you skipped steps to arrive at this point.
But that’s not a problem at all.
This page will always be here for you anytime you’re ready to know about your baby hair and its styling product.
And if you wanna see some baby hair styles to inspire your next laid edges, feed your eyes with these:
