Laverne Cox loves to wear wigs to stop damage to her natural hair.
Laverne Cox
The 47-year-old actress decided to go completely natural with her hair in 2011 after chemical relaxers destroyed her coily curls and now she uses colourful wigs and hair extensions to play with her style, whilst keeping her natural curls in tact.
Speaking to InStyle magazine, Laverne recalls the moment she became obsessed with experimenting different colours after debuting an ice blue wig at The Met Gala in May.
She said: "When Kiyah [Wright] brought out that ice blue hair, I was like, 'Yes.' Then we started playing with colour after that. We did some silver, we did some pink hair, and I want to do more colour."
However, the 'Orange is the New Black' star knows the risks of developing traction alopecia - hair loss caused by frequent pulling or friction against the hair - that can develop as a result of frequently wearing wigs.
Luckily, Laverne has a whole system set in place to prevent any issues with her hair.
She explained: "I don't wash my hair that much - I probably wash my hair every two weeks with the braids. And then depending on my schedule, ideally once a month, sometimes six weeks, I take my braids out. We wash, deep condition, sometimes do a hot oil treatment, and then we braid her back up."
She also takes extra care around her delicate hairline, and has loose cornrows underneath her wigs rather than tight braids.
Laverne clarified: "You want to make sure that under your weave, your hair is braided down - and not too tight. "When we're braiding, we braid around [the perimeter] of the hair to really be protecting my edges as much as possible. With wigs, the rubbing of the lace is real, so sometimes changing the position of your wigs helps, also."
Although the self proclaimed "wiggy" is rarely seen without a flawless updo - she is open to the idea.
She added: "Maybe - it's a good idea. My natural hair colour is really, really black. So when I have jet black hair, I love it off my face. I don't think the colour softens me enough, I like lighter colours. And you know, I like the drama [of wigs], so we'll see."
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