Many women are embarking on this natural hair journey and have realized that going natural is a lot more work than they originally thought. Many people think being natural is easy and doesn’t call for much maintenance, which is a common misconception. Keeping up your natural hair indeed is much work. I went through a struggling period with my hair and couldn’t figure out why it was not cooperating with me, so I did some research.
For starters, natural hair is very “thirsty.” You must keep it hydrated! Your hair may feel very dry and brittle because you aren’t wetting it enough. Think of your hair as a plant: you must keep it watered. Remember to use moisturizers daily. I like to keep a spray bottle with water in it at hand as I get ready in the morning to make sure I incorporate it in my daily hair routine. You can also add leave-in conditioner or actual conditioner to your spray bottle as well to add some extra moisture. Not only should you keep water in your hair, but you also need to keep yourself hydrated as well. Drink plenty of water!
Adding on to the notation of hydration, you can go a step further and hydrate your hair even more! Deep conditioning is essential to natural hair. Even though you may be wetting your hair daily and using conditioners and leave-ins, it is also very important to deep condition your hair as often as once a week.
You can purchase some pre-made deep conditioners from Sally or Walmart. If you prefer to make your own, that is perfectly fine as well. You can see some recipes to some homemade deep conditioners at the end of one of my previous articles, Natural Hair Girls: 4 Steps to Starting Your Natural Hair Journey. Also, stay away from products with sulfates! (Most shampoos.) Try to co-wash or find sulfate-free shampoos instead.
Another reason your hair may not be cooperating with you could be because it’s time for a trim. I know many girls, including myself, dread this step because we want to retain as much length as we can. Shrinkage makes our hair look a lot shorter than what it is, so no one wants to cut it to make it look even shorter, right? However, it must be done!
Although you may lose a half an inch to an inch of hair in the trimming process, your hair will definitely benefit from it in the long run. I know I hated trimming my ends because my ultimate goal was to have very long hair, however, my ends began to split horrifically. If you put off trimming your ends like I did, your hair will NOT cooperate with you. Your wash ‘n’ gos will be dry and lifeless and your hair will be very unhealthy. As a result, you will end up having to chop off even more hair than you would have if you just did routine trims.
Speaking of wash ‘n’ gos, I know many girls use blow dryers to dry their hair. This brings me to my next point of heat damaging. Heat is very damaging to your hair, so it is important to limit your use of heat appliances on your hair such as blow dryers, flat irons, and curling irons. I, myself, use a diffuser after my wash ‘n’ gos, but I am sure to use the “cool” setting on my blow dryer. I have also limited my flat iron usage, and have seen MAJOR improvement.
My last suggestion on maintaining healthy curls is to do protective styling often. This will protect your ends from breakage, which will in turn keep your whole head of hair healthy. You can read about protective styles from this article, Natural Hair Girls: 5 Hairstyles for Kinky/Coiled Hair (number 5). At night, remember to tie your hair up in a satin scarf or bonnet, or sleep on a satin pillow case to keep your hair from losing any moisture.
These steps are the key to unlocking your beautiful, luscious locks. Maintain these healthy habits and your hair will definitely thank you. Remember, healthy hair is happy hair!
If you are new to the natural hair world and are just starting your journey, my Natural Hair Girls: 4 Steps to Starting Your Natural Hair Journey article is a great place to start! Good luck!