(Health.com) -- Weaves and braids may contribute to a type of permanent hair loss that appears to be common among black women, a new study has found.

More than one-quarter of the 326 black women who participated in the study had hair loss on the top of their scalp, and of those women, 59 percent had signs of central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, or CCCA, a poorly understood form of baldness that begins at the crown of the head and leads to scarring.

Shampoo, condition and thoroughly dry your own hair.

Have your hair braided up as if you were actually having a basic weave applied to your head, with one exception:

Make one braid around the entire circumference of your head, independent of all the other braids.

You must keep this one braid completely detached, separate and apart from the rest of the braids!

This will be the main braid you will attach your unit to.

Few of us are able to take a hair piece out of the box, pop it on our
head, and have it look exactly the way we wanted it.

The way your piece comes to you is simply the way that it dried after washing and conditioning.

If you wear your hairpiece every day, you must shampoo and condition it at least once per week.

If you have even a little hair at your hairline, it is a great idea to
show it off.