7 Natural Hair Tips for Building an Easy Natural Hair Care Routine
Learn some crucial tips on creating an effective natural hair care routine.
You either currently have natural hair and are seeking a change to your natural hair care regimen, or you may be wondering how natural hair can be maintained on a day-to-day basis. Either way, worry not: We’re here to help you take care of your hair with ease. Building a natural hair care routine takes time; it’s not rocket science, either. It may take some trial and error, but once you know what products to use, how they work, and when to use them, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to ace the proper natural hair care routine for your hair type.
How to Care for Natural Hair: 7 Natural Hair Tips You Need
Read on to learn more:
When building a Black hair care routine, you’ll first need to realize one simple rule: No curl is created equal. There are different natural hair curl patterns. Also, understand that your texture will likely differ from your besties— we all have beautiful heads of curls and need to take a unique approach to their care! Here are some helpful tips:
Tip 1: Cleanse your hair weekly or bi-weekly.
One of our top natural hair care tips is to know how your hair reacts to washing. As a rule of thumb, it is best to wash natural hair types every two weeks, as this type is typically dry. However, this may change from person to person; you may opt for washing your hair once a week or even twice a month.
Many people with natural hair are on the fence about shampooing and whether they should use a sulfate-free shampoo or not. What do you do in this case? The answer: It’s your hair, do what suits you. When in doubt, we like to recommend the use of a cleansing conditioner, like Love Beauty and Planet Purposeful Hydration Cleansing Conditioner, because it offers some slip.
Shampoos help cleanse and get rid of grease and oil from your hair and scalp. Try Suave Professionals Sulfate-Free Cleansing Shampoo, which is formulated specifically for curly hair types. Those who co-wash their natural hair using a traditional conditioner should cleanse their hair at least once a week with shampoo in order to remove grime as well as residue from hair products such as daily styling products.
Tip 2: Condition weekly.
Curly hair craves moisture, and conditioning your hair is the best way to replenish and hydrate your strands from moisture loss. Be sure to condition at least once a week to reap all of the hair benefits your conditioner has to offer. Be sure to focus on any dry areas, especially the ends where your hair is the driest. We love Suave Professionals Moisturizing Curl Conditioner as a second step to your natural hair care routine.
Tip 3: Detangle your hair.
A good conditioner will leave your curls feeling soft, quenched, and well-prepared for the detangling process. You may opt to detangle while the conditioner is still in your hair as it helps to provide slip, making the detangling process that much easier.
Detangle hair using conditioner like the TRESemmé Pro Pure Detangle and Smooth Leave-In Conditioner and gently work through the knots using a wide-toothed comb. If you don’t have a wide-toothed comb, use your fingers, and don’t substitute for a fine comb as it will create tension and may lead to pulling out some of your precious curls.
Tip 4: Apply deep conditioner or a hair mask.
For an added boost of conditioning, you’ll need to add natural hair treatments into your routine. You can simply apply a deep conditioner or hair mask after your conditioning process or in lieu of it. Deep conditioners and hair masks help nourish and restore your curls.
Sometimes, your ringlets deserve special treatment; along with restoration and revival of your curls, many deep treatments help prevent frizz since they penetrate the hair cuticle, helping define curls and hydrate the hair.
Attention, natural hair transitioners: You may want to do this step weekly, as your hair is super fragile during your transition. You want to make sure the hair, especially the demarcation line that separates your chemically treated hair from your natural texture, is always handled with care. This part of your hair is very weak.
Weekly treatments will help to strengthen the hair, making your transition much easier. We love the intense nourishing benefits dry and even transitioning hair gets from Dove Anti-Frizz Oil Therapy Hair Mask.
Editor’s note: For more natural hair tips on how to have a seamless transition to natural hair, use our guide.
Tip 5: Use leave-in conditioner treatments weekly.
Leave-in treatments are optional but beneficial to your hair care routine. Many leave-in treatments and conditioners provide slip as they moisturize and make your hair more manageable and easy to detangle while keeping ringlets intact if you skipped the detangling step while conditioning, you can slide it right back in during this step.
Apply a leave-in conditioner, like Nexxus Humectress Moisture Restoring Masque, and detangle with your fingers or a wide-toothed comb. Detangled hair allows for a no-fuss styling routine.
Tip 6: Style weekly or as needed.
There are many different natural hair tips for styling, so it’s best to stick with what you’re comfortable with if you want to keep it simple. Wash and go, twist out, braid out, high puff—whatever your heart desires, try it! Make sure, however, to use an oil-based product or oils like coconut and almond during the take-down process of your braids or twists or while styling the hair to prevent any unwanted frizz.
Tip 7: Moisturize and seal daily or as needed.
Love Beauty and Planet
Love Beauty and Planet Hope and Repair Coconut Oil & Ylang Ylang 3-in-1 Benefit Oil
Water is your friend when it comes to moisturizing dry, natural hair. Some curly girls may not need to moisturize daily, while some may need to do it every other day. Whenever your hair feels dry, just add some moisture. You can simply do this by spritzing water onto your hair or using a daily leave-in. Seal your moisture in with an oil, which helps trap in the moisture. Try out Love Beauty and Planet Coconut Oil & Ylang Ylang 3-in-1 Benefit Oil as a post-wash aid for alignment and smoothness of hair.
Are you thinking about incorporating any of these tips into your natural hair care routine? Share the results with us over @AllThingsHairUS!