5 Tips On How To Care For Natural Hair Daily

Learning how to care for natural hair daily can be difficult if you don’t know what to do and where to even start with but these tips will hopefully help you get started.

5 Tips On How To Care For Natural Hair Daily

5 Tips On How To Care For Natural Hair Daily

Cleanse Your Hair

For healthy hair to flourish, your scalp needs some breathing room, and your hair needs to be clean. Find a sulfate-free shampoo to wash your hair that works with your hair’s natural oils. How often you wash varies person to person, but your hair will send you clues if it’s getting washed too much or not enough.

An easy way to tell if there’s an imbalance is if your hair feels frizzy and dry, you’re likely overwashing. Alternately, if your hair appears greasy and lifeless, you could probably benefit from changing up your shampoo game.

Condition

When it comes to conditioner, there are three main categories you should be aware of: rinse-out (or daily), leave-in, and deep.

Leave-in conditioners are ideal for when your hair needs the extra special something after a wash. Use it on damp hair every once in a while to revitalize your strands and lock in moisture.

If you need something a little more heavy-duty, a deep conditioner is your best bet. They provide intense treatment and nutrients to help revive damaged hair while still pulling out all the stops that a rinse-out conditioner does (i.e. defrizzing, detangling, and all that good stuff). Use a deep conditioner every two weeks and see what it does to quench your parched mane.

Yes, there is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to conditioning your hair, and unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as “lather, rinse, repeat.” Leaving the rinse-out conditioner in for too long will weigh your hair down and possibly make it oily, while not leaving it in for long enough is pointless. It’s a delicate balance.

After doing some research, I realized I’d been doing it all wrong my whole life. The key is to apply it in long strokes, draining some of the water out as you go. This way, your hair can gulp up as much of the goodness as possible without excess water there to counteract the effects.

It takes rinse-out conditioner roughly two minutes to adhere to natural hair, so while your strands are coated, you can shave your legs (okay, one leg), wash your face, or sing about half of “My Heart Will Go On.” Your choice.

Moisturize

Moisturizing is super important because dryness is the root of most hair care woes. Maintain moisture in your hair, and behold as your frizz, breakage, split ends, and matting fade away.

Depending on your hair, you may need to moisturize every day to keep your locks hydrated. Make sure to get all areas of your hair, but really hone in on your ends – that’s where things tend to get the most dehydrated.

There are several methods for moisturizing, but the most popular include the LOC method (liquid, oil, cream), steaming in the shower, refresher spray, and leave-in conditioners.

Seal It In

Moisturizing is pretty much pointless if you don’t lock that ish in! After every moisturizing technique, apply a sealer or anti-humectant to keep your hair hydrated and radiant all day.

It might take a few tries to find the right sealer for you, but you’ll know when you land on one your hair loves. Shea butter is an excellent choice for my friends with thicker hair strands, while olive oil is best suited for those with fine, delicate hair strands.

Detangle

Although detangling usually isn’t anyone’s favorite part of their hair care routine, it’ll keep your strands attached to your head longer, so needless to say, it’s worth the trouble. Plus, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Find yourself a trusty wide-tooth comb, start at the ends of damp hair, and work your way up. If your hair is acting like a headphone cord that went through the tumble cycle, try throwing in some conditioner to make your efforts a little less futile.

Style (Bonus)

Last but obviously not least, the pièce de résistance is styling! In your pursuit of the perfect hairdo, don’t forget to practice safe styling. Low manipulation styles, like twists and buns, are perfect on the days where you just aren’t feeling it.

When you’re feeling a more styled look, use low levels of heat. That means having your hair dryer set to cool and low speed! Yes, it will take longer, but your hair will thank you for it.

Before bed, do a little protective styling by throwing a bonnet on or using silk pillowcases. You can also use hats and scarves to protect your ‘do from extreme weather. Taking this extra step will save you some repair time later, trust me.

What You Shouldn’T Do

Here are a few golden rules to stand by so you don’t get stuck spinning your tires in your pursuit for healthy natural hair:

• Don’t feel like you’re obligated to stick with a routine that’s just not working out for you. I’m not saying you should quit after a week if you don’t see results, but if a few months pass and you’re still unhappy, it might be time to switch it up. There’s nothing wrong with a little experimentation in the name of beauty.

• I know it’s always tempting to give your tresses a good scrub-down, but you should absolutely avoid overwashing your hair at all costs. In general, natural hair requires less washing as it can quickly dry out.

• Just because a routine works for your best friend (or anyone for that matter) doesn’t mean it’s going to do the same trick for you. The needs of your hair are unique and should be treated as such. Even if your hair looks just like someone else’s does, you still might require a totally different routine! As the old saying goes, don’t let your ice cream melt while you’re busy counting somebody else’s sprinkles.

• I’m not sure who said that applying petroleum or other synthetic oils to your scalp was a good idea… Sure, there are some benefits to putting certain oils on your head and hair, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to oil. Greasing the scalp with heavy petroleum-based products flattens the hair, leads to a buildup of oils, and ultimately causes scalp irritation.

• Please, for the love of all things sleek and shiny, don’t spend all your time trying to find the “perfect” products. Nobody’s trying to deny that there are a lot of products on the market with sketchy ingredients, but finding the right kinds of products is more important than adhering to a particular product or brand. Also, before you go switching up your products, first try changing the order in which you use them or the timing to see if that makes a difference in the results.

• Arguably the most important rule of them all: be consistent! Your routine won’t work unless you demonstrate some level of accountability and faithfulness to it. Do whatever you need to make it work and stick with it, such as setting a reminder on your phone or finding a buddy to join in!

There you have it, 5 Tips On How To Care For Natural Hair Daily

What tip has helped you care for your natural hair daily?

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See ya, “What the curly Diva”!