Afro hair hacks: Our top tips & tricks for styling

Looking for handy tips and tricks to help you style your beautiful afro hair? We know, it’s not easy finding easy and reliable hacks for black hair in the sea of information available, that’s why we’ve gathered a few practical styling tips to help you have a great hair day – everyday! So, what are you waiting for? Scroll down to discover what they are now.

4 Afro hair styling tips & tricks

1. You can never have too much moisture!

Any lady with afro hair can attest to the fact that it can get quite dry. The tightly-coiled shape of each strand makes it a little more difficult for sebum to travel down the hair shaft, which means it’s more prone to dryness than other hair types. So, when it comes to moisture and afro hair, you can never have too much of it!

But how can you keep your hair supple and your moisture levels high? Leave-in conditioner, of course!

Using a leave-in conditioner – like the Toni&Guy Prep Leave In Conditioner (£6.99*) – daily can help keep your tresses moisturised and easily revive hairstyles. And if you’re a fan of the LOC, LCO or LOCO, you can use it as part of your liquid step, too.

Tip: Why not invest in a travel-sized bottle of your favourite leave-in conditioner for on-the-go moisture?

2. Ditch the comb

Don’t worry, we don’t mean completely. But if you have curly or tightly-coiled hair, you might find that combing your mane is a painful process. If you’re looking to detangle your tresses, you might want to try finger-combing or just using your fingers to gently detangle before you actually comb your afro hair. Before you balk at our suggestion, hear us out: finger combing can be a gentle way to rid your hair of knots and twists, because your fingers act like a malleable version of a wide tooth comb. Smart, right?

Simply spritz your hair with your leave-in and gently divide your hair into four large sections. Then softly and slowly rake your fingers through each section until you’ve ‘combed’ all of your hair. Easy-peasy!

3. Make your hairstyles work double time

Yes, braids, twists and bantu knots are pretty in their own right, but they can also be used as protective ‘dos – to help retain length and heatlessly style your afro hair. Try doing your braids or knots after you’ve washed your hair, then you’ll be able to wear them for a few days as a protective hairstyle. Then, a couple of days before you’re ready to wash your hair again, you can undo them to create a beautiful twist-out or braid-out! Type 4 hair types, or ladies that have a lot of shrinkage: you’ll find that these ‘dos will also help you retain your length!

Tip: Before styling, make sure to keep your afro hair hydrated by working a few drops of Dove Pure Care Dry Oil (£6.99*) into it. It’ll help give a nice, healthy-looking shine, too!

4. Stop getting so handsy!

Sounds like a weird suggestion doesn’t it? But let us ask you one simple question: how often do you touch your hair? Probably a lot, right?

Well, you might want to trade in this seemingly innocent habit if you have afro hair. In fact, hand-in-hair syndrome (AKA HIH) is a term that was coined to specifically describe the habit of constantly touching, rubbing and generally playing with your hair!

You may find that if you’re transitioning, you’re touching your hair more because you’re still getting used to the change in texture – and we totally understand that it’s a hard habit to break – but do bear in mind that excessive manipulation of delicate afro hair can lead to spilt ends, breakages, fairy knots/single strand knots and dryness (eek!). So if you feel like completely stopping is easier said than done, why not try various updos and protective hairstyles that’ll keep your tresses safely out of grabbing reach, instead?

*RRPs are Unilever suggested retail prices only, it is at the discretion of the individual retailers to set the actual price.