On this special day for lovers, we’d like our ladies with Natural hair, to slay. The kinky curly opinionated natural hair used to be the vogue for our grandparents generation. Thankfully, it is back. As everyday, more black skinned men and women take the brave choice of embracing their hair in its God-given state.
Maintaining natural hair is a relationship, to be honest. You need to have strong communication with your hair. To understand it’s needs and limits. It van be compared to caring for a child. It doesn’t talk but you have to understand what it wants or needs from you.
The first step is to know your hair type.
This ranges from 1A to 4C. To know your hair type, wet your hair strands and compare it’s curl pattern with the chart below. This applies to both men and women.
Your scalp comes first
How can a house survive if it’s foundation is faulty?
The one mistake a lot of people make when going natural, is to neglect their scalp. This is wrong. The health of your scalp determines the health of your hair. The hair can be lost when the scalp is unhealthy.
Aim for a clean and healthy scalp before any other hair goal. It goes a really long way in haircare. Wash your scalp weekly, biweekly or monthly. Use a deep cleansing shampoo or ACV and baking soda mix. Pamper and massage your scalp with oils.
Moisture is your best friend
The primary source of moisture is water. Go for hair conditioners that list water as their first ingredients. This means that majority of its content, comprises of water. Whenever you want to style your hair, make sure it is moisturised. There are different methods to moisturising natural hair; LOC, LCO, etc.
L being Leave-in conditioner,O for Oil and C for Cream or butter.
You don’t have to follow this steps but feel free to find out which works best for your hair. Spray water on hair before moisturising for easy absorption of hair products. Moisturise your hair every 2 to 3 days.
During the dry season, you’d have to moisturize it more frequently as it is usually the most challenging period to attain moisture. Humectants such as honey and glycerin draw moisture from the atmosphere into your hair in humid season, so go for them too.
Deep conditioning is another way of infusing moisture in your strands. It revives your hair when it seems to be in a dry and flaky position. Its prevents hair breakage ensuring hair silkiness. It’s a hair treatment and should be done preferably on wash days.
Having a Regimen is Compulsory
This will take time but there’s no harm in trying. Your hair strives on a regimen just as your skin on a routine. In building a regimen, you need to be certain what your hair goal is; moisture? length retention? eradication of a certain condition? Your hair regimen should mostly include;
1. How often you’d moisture your hair
2. Duration between wash days
3. When to include special treatments
4. How long to carry a style
5. Scalp massages etc.
A regimen can be anywhere between a week to four weeks. Once you find out what works for you, stick to it judiciously.
Other important ways of maintaining natural hair include;
– Always opt for hair products that will infuse moisture and not dry out your hair.
– Sleeping with a satin or silk bonnet to retain hair moisture. This has been tried several times, the result of defaulting is usually dry chaff hair in the morning.
– Pay attention to your edges. They are fragile and get dry easily. Avoid styles that stress them and moisturize them regularly.
– Trim your ends at least every six months. Snip out split ends and knots.
– Use combs with large spaces in between them. Use finger to detangle lightly then comb hair but only when it is well moisturised. Start working from the ends to the roots.
– Do not comb your hair every day. Maybe only on washdays with either a leave-in, rinse out conditioner or detangling spray/cream.
– Always be gentle when handling your hair
– Eat foods that keep your hair in a healthy state. Foods rich in vitamins, protein and Omega-3 fatty acids such as fish, egg, avocado, etc.