This article is dedicated to all of us who have our curls out-and-about and are proud of it. Here I will talk about some tips to give love to our hair because sometimes we have difficulties maintaining them. Some people may say that it is even expensive to have curly hair, and sometimes it is true. But the truth is, it’s all a matter of knowing how to make good choices for feeding and nourishing those slaying curls.
1. Take Time
The first step is to know how to take time for our hair care. It is true that between university, work, and all those other daily struggles, it can be difficult to find a space to provide for your hair, but nevertheless, it is important. It doesn’t have to be that long; perhaps twice a week will be ok for the longer processes. It is also time that we are giving ourselves. Once we have that space to love ourselves, we can relax and enjoy the little time. Use this time to wash your hair, give yourself hair masks, disentangle it and whatever your routine process is. Other days when you are in a hurry, just apply something to hydrate your hair; a little hair moose and you’re ready to go.
2. Friendly products
Picking out hair products can be frustrating, especially when you already have a go-to product and it stops working because your hair got used to it. Again, it’s frustrating, I know, like a little betrayal from the hair we love and take care of.
When finding a new product, it’s important to check out the ingredients. A very important tip is to not use anything that contains alcohol which usually found in gel products. Avoiding alcohol is necessary because it causes your hair to dry and become brittle. It can even burn if you use alcohol containing products too much and recovery is difficult.
As for something that’s great for your curly hair: coconut oil. Look for it in the list of ingredients of the products, and the higher the percentage, the better! I even recommend giving a hair mask of coconut oil at least once a month because it really gives life to the hair and leaves it shiny and hydrated. If at any time you want to mix things up, you can also explore with other oils such as castor oil, Jamaican oil or Argan oil. Don’t be afraid to blend oils until you find the right diy for your hair!
3. Cut your hair
I know, it is painful to cut hair that took so long to grow. But believe me, it suits us a lot to do this at least twice a year. It is a way to eliminate burned ends or curls that were stretched by the use of a bad product. It’s like detoxifying the scalp to allow it to grow faster. No, no kidding, your hair grows faster and healthier if you cut it. As I mentioned, the recommended time is every six months, but if you want, you can also do it once a year. Don’t let it go by for a long time. Another important technique is to notify when you’re cutting your hair, that you want it in layers. Cutting curly hair in layers is the best way to display all our curls because although all the hairs are different, most of us have hair that grows in an uneven way.
4. Hairbrushes? HA HA HA HA HA HA
Do not get me wrong, it’s not like we’re messy. In fact, our curls always fall into place. What I’m talking about is that we’re enemies of brushes, and we should never mention them. Our secret weapon is called a wide-tooth comb. These are available at your nearest pharmacy or wherever you buy your hair products. You should only use it when your hair is wet and with some conditioner applied because with dry hair it will not be very helpful. What we want to do with it is to untangle the hair because, for the curls, it’s much better to accommodate them with our hands and with the products.
5. Sleep without suffocating
Sometimes sleep is uncomfortable if you try to do it with your hair loose. For many years my favorite technique was to use a hair net. I was comfortable. However, I stopped using it because my hair no longer fit completely and the hairnets no longer worked. Another idea is to make, with a loose elastic band, a topknot, known as the pineapple style. Sleeping with the topknot has worked for me, and as I use a loose elastic band, it does not mark or undo my curls. If you sleep with your hair down, that’s fine, but maybe your hair does not like it very much since the friction of the curls with the pillow tends to entangle it. You can find a way where you feel comfortable and also protect your curls, so both can sleep peacefully and happily.
Another way to protect your hair while you sleep is by getting a silk pillowcase and/or cap. Silk minimizes hair breakage and is gentle on the curls.
Keeping a curly hair healthy is an art and without a doubt a privilege of nature towards us. I would never complain about my hair, it’s different, it’s unique, and it’s part of my personality and ethnicity. I have always liked finding new things that work well for my hair because it is part of the connection you want to have with your own body. It’s nice to be different; that’s how we are, and that’s how we love ourselves.