Starting your natural hair care journey requires determination, time, patience, and consistency.
Whether you currently keep a natural hair or you are in the process of keeping one, to figure out the balance between hair needs and goals such as retaining your hair length, discerning hair type and porosity, what products to use and what not to use, what causes breakage, receding hairlines, how to prevent and cure dandruff and a lot more can make hair care and treatments very tiring and utterly confusing most times. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen a woman who got it so right with her hair and did not face any challenges.
With constant practice, you find yourself executing your hair care routines with perfection and with less effort. This makes it interesting.
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How To Go About Your Hair Care Journey?
If hair care were that easy, everyone would have gotten their natural hair care journey right. But unfortunately, keeping and maintaining healthy hair is a deep-rooted journey. The hair care tip that works for your friend or favorite hair blogger might not work for you. Also, what worked for you years back might not be what is working for you today.
With this in mind, here are some simple essential tips that would help you, putting you on the right track to a premium natural hair care journey.
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Study Your Hair
The first hair care tip you should know when venturing into the natural hair care journey is;
Spending quality time to observe your hair; being well equipped with knowledge on certain aspects helps make a great deal of difference.
‘QUALITY TIME’ means dedicating a bit of your time, at least some hours and at most a day, to take note of certain details concerning your hair.
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Study Your Hair’s Reaction To Products
Hair products such as shampoos, conditioners, curl creams, hair waxes or gels, hair butter and oils, hair texture sprays, and a lot more can either respond negatively or positively when applied during a hair routine. Many fake store-acquired products and others with harsh chemicals lead to severe hair breakage, itching, and scalp damage. With the numerous lineup of products, we have nowadays, the type of product you’d use depends on your hair type ( after you successfully discern your hair type ). As you start or want to improve your natural hair care journey, it is up to you to be very observant while choosing the products your hair loves best.
Read also: TOP 10 BODYBUILDING FOODS IN NIGERIA
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Study Its Reaction To Heat
Hair styling involves using heated tools like flat irons, curling irons, blow dryers, straighteners, and stretchers. Unfortunately, heat styling causes more damage than good, bringing us back to why you need to study, observe and be sure how your hair responds to it.
If you find heat styling as your go-to hairstyle, make sure to;
- Make use of a heat protectant.
- Reduce the frequency at which you heat style.
- Reduce the temperature of your Styling tools.
High temperature is another thing to observe; it greatly impacts your hair. It breaks the protein bond of the hair fiber. This damage could be caused by the sun. The sun affects the hair as much as it affects the skin. The hair is prone to damage by long-term sun exposure.
How can you tell if your hair is sun-damaged?
Sun-damaged hair shows symptoms like color change, dry, brittle hair, and split ends.
Sometimes you want to go out showing off your hair and wonder how you can protect your hair against this. Here are some tips;
- Using SPF to protect your skin against harsh rays, use hair products with a sun ray filter.
- Avoid direct contact with sun rays on the hair.
- Protect hair with floppy hats, scarves, or an umbrella.
As a newbie naturalist, you shouldn’t start your natural hair care journey with heat styling, as this might cut short your hair growth. Also, as an experienced hair keeper, do not indulge in heat styling if you have never tried it before. It is advisable to research heat styling on your hair type, watch videos and read books before embarking on it.
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Study Its Reaction To Manipulation
This is another hair care tip to be conversant with in your natural hair care journey. How you handle your hair matters a lot. Constantly touching and styling your hair exerts intense pressure on your strands and scalps. We have two forms of manipulation;
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OVER MANIPULATION
Natural hair is fragile. You could overdo it while caring for your hair. Over manipulation cuts short-length retention. You over manipulate your hair when you;
- Make scalp-pulling hairstyles like ghana weaving, braids, tightly pulled ponytails, and hairstyles that require gel application. This causes damage to the hair edge, baldness, and receding hairline.
- Style your hair more than once daily will only cause hair shedding and breakage. Most of us are guilty of the “hand in the hair” act of twisting and twirling our hair with fingers, leading to knots and tangles that are difficult to detangle.
- When you wash your hair every day, according to research, the pH of shampoo is between 6-7, while that of hair is between 4-5. Washing your hair daily will disrupt the pH balance of your hair, sapping it off moisture and natural oils, thereby causing dryness, severe hair breakage, shedding, and product build. It’s advisable to wash just once every week with mild shampoo containing Botanics.
- Detangle your hair when dry, and doing so with a small tooth comb will do more damage to your hair than good. De-tangling the wrong way can cause frizz, scalp burn, and pain which might bring you close to tears. The right way to detangle is to do so while your hair is wet with products like conditioner or detangling cream, after which you finger detangling before proceeding to use a wide-tooth comb or detangling brush.
II. LOW MANIPULATION
It’s okay to manipulate your hair while caring for it. Introducing protective hairstyles to boost hair growth is tagged as low manipulation. Hairstyles like twists braid out, wash-and-go, and loose buns are great for every hair type and for repairing hair breakage. Low manipulation is the solution to over manipulation.
5. Hydration
Hydration is a hair care tip that plays a major role in the natural hair care journey. It is the absorption of water. Like the body, hair follicles require enough nutrients to produce healthy hair. The right way to keep your roots and strands hydrated is with WATER. Intake of water in the right proportion supplies nutrients to your scalp to encourage fast hair growth. It is advisable to take two liters of water per day, spraying your hair with water twice a week to initiate moisture, then sealing it with oil or a leave-in conditioner is considered most effective.
Read also: HABITS TO PRACTICE TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IN NIGERIA
6. Have A Clear Hair Routine
This fixed hair care tip is crucial in starting your natural hair care journey. Another important aspect of your natural hair care journey is how you wash your hair, the products you use, and how you carry out the task. A hair care routine is the step-by-step guide to having a successful wash where you achieve thoroughly cleansed and moisturized hair.
This takes us to the orders of your hair care routine. We would visit them one by one as a sub-topic here.
7. Pre-pooing
Pre-pooing is the first hair care tip of the hair care routine. It is the process of applying a treatment to your hair before the actual shampoo process. This is helpful because shampooing can strip your hair of its natural oils, and applying a conditioner after shampooing isn’t enough to restore lost moisture. Therefore, pre-pooing is one of the best ways to get your hair treated before having a wash. Pre-pooing can be done with labeled products specified for that purpose or natural plant materials, e.g., Aloe Vera gel, avocado butter, Shea butter formulae, honey, banana paste, and so on.
8. Shampooing
This is the second hair care tip of the hair care routine. The shampoo is a hair care product in liquid form and is also available in solid form. The process of shampooing is the thorough cleansing of hair strands and scalp, getting rid of clogged pores, dirt, and flakes. Some store-bought shampoo usually contains harsh and toxic chemicals that damage the hair. I recommend making your natural homemade shampoo or looking for mild ones made with botanical ingredients like Aloe vera.
9. Conditioning / Deep conditioning
An essential hair care tip used to initiate hydration. No matter your hair type, deep conditioning is a must to maintain soft, strong, and hydrated strands. A deep conditioner or conditioner is a thick creamy hair mask with apt conditioning agents that are produced to restore your hair’s moisture, reduce hair breakage, and improve hair elasticity. Do not forget to rinse out after use.
You may also need clarity on the areas we discussed in this article, feel free to join our Insight Whatsapp Community and engage in insightful conversations.
10. Leave-In-Conditioning
As you continue your natural hair care journey, your hair must not lack this. Leave-in conditioner is a no-rinse. They’re not washed out compared to conditioners applied to damp hair. It substitutes for conditioner after shampooing and helps detangle. After applying a small amount to your hair, brush it to detangle. Then, let the hair dry and style as desired.
11. Lco / Loc
LCO is the abbreviation for liquid, cream, and oil, while LOC is liquid, oil, and cream. Both are application orders of products to the hair. LOC is used for low porosity hair, while LCO is used for high porosity hair.
12. Protein Treatment
This hair care tip is also very essential. Our hair is made up of protein, KERATIN precisely. Although, along your natural hair care journey, hair loses nutrients and the protein, keratin, breaks down, providing hair with protein treatments is best for healthy hair and scalp. Avoid protein treatments that contain ‘formaldehyde.’
13. Trim When Needed
Trimming does not make hair grow faster. It only promotes healthy hair growth and is needed at least every three months. This helps eliminate frizz, split ends, knots, and tangles at the tip of the hair. Do not trim yourself to avoid cutting off large chunks of hair; an expert does it better.
14. Eat Healthy
Do you wonder if this is a hair care tip? I’ll tell you.
Eating balanced diets rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, biotin, and Omega-3 fatty acids like fish help promote hair growth. Your body can not generate these supplements alone; eating healthy makes it possible. If your body lacks the necessary supplements, you will likely experience hair loss. Foods like;
- Eggs, almonds, and soybean are great sources of biotin and protein.
- Olive, mackerel, sardines, and salmon are sources of omega-3 fatty acids.
- Fig, berries, oranges, and spinach are sources of vitamins and minerals for the hair.
Foods to avoid are; Dairy, Sugar, Nuts, Greasy Food, Carbonated Drinks, and Alcohol.
Read also: THE RELEVANCE OF NUTRITION TO MENTAL HEALTH
15. Wear A Satin / Silk Bonnet
This is the most uncomplicated of all the hair care tips, and it is the simple act of putting on satin or silk material such as a bonnet or scarf to bed. You may ask which is better? Silk and satin are known for maintaining natural oils and moistures, protecting dryness, frizz, and breakage by reducing the friction between your hair on rough surfaces like pillow cases. Silk is made from natural fibers, while satin is made from materials like nylon and polyesters. Which one is better is solely up to your choice.
This content certainly didn’t cover all content about hair, and We’d make sure to upload more content on hair.
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About the Author
Lawal Jesutofunmi Mary is a Skin care expert, hair care consultant and content writer communicating helpful information on hair and skin care through writing. I am a bibliophile who loves to broaden her horizons through reading. Writing reviews of books on personal growth and self development gives me joy.
About Author
- Lawal Jesutofunmi Mary is a Skin care expert, hair care consultant and content writer communicating helpful information on hair and skin care through writing. She is an avid reader who loves to broaden her horizons through reading. Writing reviews of books on personal growth and self development gives her joy.
