We all love natural hair, but it can be overwhelming and tricky. We’ve put together some natural hair tips to help you with your hair journey.

  1. Hair Steaming

This treatment is finally gaining the attention it deserves. Just like our bodies, our hair thrives when being supplied with water. To maintain a clumped curl, lasting hairstyles, retain moisture, overall health, and manageability, every Natural should be steaming.

  1. Hygral Fatigue

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much water. Many Naturals wet their hair every day or every other day to restyle or refresh their hair. If you are someone that has a habit of spraying your hair often and you are noticing your hair is just different, this could be why.

Hygral Fatigue is the constant expansion and contraction of the cuticle when it opens to take in water and closes to dry the water out. Overworking your cuticle will cause damage and could make the hair feel rigid. Your hair may not react to products like it used to and it also may seem like it is not retaining moisture.

Correcting this problem takes weeks but can be done. You would have to avoid wetting your hair many times in a week and get your water from water-based creams like moisturizers. Try achieving styles that will last you about five days to a week so that you do not have to wet your hair to restyle. You would then use a creamy moisturizer to refresh.

  1. Pre-Detangle

99.9% of Naturals do not detangle their hair every day. Hundreds of strands try to shed off freely but they are getting caught in our natural styles.

On wash day, it may be easier to detangle your hair before you shampoo it. Detangling before shampooing will get rid of most of the tangles.

You can spray your hair with a leave-in conditioner or use a moisturizer to soften up your hair and protect your ends so that it does not break while detangling. You should not detangle your hair without applying a product to soften it up and give it elasticity.

  1. A True Moisturizer

A moisturizer will have water as the first ingredient. If you look at the definition of moisture, water is present; water opens up the cuticle to allow the other ingredients to penetrate and work on a deeper level.

Using oils and butter as moisturizers are not going to be as effective. Oils will nourish, seal and even soften the hair temporarily and so will butter. Using oils and butter daily will repel the moisture your hair is craving, which you can get from your hair steamer as mentioned in tip 1.

If you use a water-based, creamy moisturizer daily or as needed this will be more effective. Using a moisturizer will give you long lasting moisture, even after you cleanse your hair.

  1. Cut, Trim, Shape

I know you’re tired of hearing this, but you have to! Sometimes the only thing holding your hair back from being as healthy as possible is getting a professional trim or by cutting off what is damaged. Keeping your hair shaped is important too if you wear your hair out often. Split ends will happen to the best of us which is why trimming your hair 4-6 times a year is recommended for healthy hair.

You want to get your hair trimmed by a professional for two reasons, their shears, and attention to detail. If you trim your hair with scissors, you are already setting your hair up to split because scissors are not sharp enough for a clean cut and if it isn’t a clean cut it will split right after the cut.

Professional hair cutting shears are best for trimming and cutting. You want to cut above where your hair has split, and a good hair stylist can show you exactly where that is. A professional hair stylist will use different angles to get all of the split ends for an even cut.

  1. Treat Before You Protect

If you are thinking about doing a protective style, doing the proper treatments will ensure your hair health coming out of the style. A steam hydration treatment and a protein treatment are a great start to prepping your hair for a style that will last longer than two weeks. You want to protect healthy hair not damaged hair.

  1. Take A Break From Wash n Go’s

Say what? Yes, you read right! Taking a break is a tip for those that wear this style often. The reason you should take a break from wash n go’s is because this is a style where your ends are always exposed, and it’s nearly impossible to moisturize every strand.

You cannot visibly see when your hair is breaking. Hair that is trying to shed off freely gets caught in the curls stealing moisture. Try twists or other styles that are more controlled and that you can moisturize efficiently.

  1. Inside Out

We all know that keeping yourself healthy will translate into your skin, scalp, and hair. If you don’t eat a healthy diet, your hair could suffer.

It’s important to mention and know that your hair doesn’t contain vitamins since it’s not a living structure. If you’re eating a balanced, nutritious diet there is very little benefit gained from taking hair vitamins and supplements.

If you focus on eating proteins, dairy products, fruits, vegetables and whole grains you can help your hair reach its full potential without the supplements. However, if you aren’t eating a balanced, nutritious diet, or even have a medical condition, you might need vitamins and supplements to help your hair.

Don’t be afraid to consult with your doctor to determine if a multivitamin is right for you.

  1. Product Junkie

To get the most out of hair products you try on wash day, your hair has to be cleansed and already healthy enough to react to the products the way it is supposed to. Use a deep cleanser before switching products and try the other tips mentioned to make sure your hair is healthy.

Many styling products work best on healthy hair. Therefore, it will not give you the results you want if your hair is unhealthy.

  1. Using Bonnets and Shower Caps

Protecting your hair is as important as what you put on your hair. You want to use a silk or satin head covering that is not too tight around the hairline. Silk and satin lock in moisture, whereas cotton or other fibers steal the moisture from your hair.

Even protecting your hair in the shower with a shower cap is essential if your bathroom gets steamy and you take hot showers. The water particles from the steam your hair takes in from daily showers can be a form of hygral fatigue mentioned in tip 2.

  1. Straight Natural

If you are a Natural but prefer your hair to be straight or blown out it’s all good! Wearing your hair straight does not mean you aren’t a real Natural or that your hair is damaged. Just like your hair can be trained to curl it can be trained to be straight making your silk press last longer and not requiring much heat to achieve your styles.

A heat protectant in the form of a leave-in or a blowout cream will help avoid damage but most of all it is the technique and the tool. You want to go over your hair once or twice with a flat iron. Use a flat iron that is not only ceramic but also has tourmaline or titanium plates that will protect your cuticle Like our Hybrid Titanium Pro flat iron.

  1. Hair Butters

Some natural hair girls don’t realize that natural hair butter can help keep their hair naturally soft, silky and healthy. Using natural butter allows you to avoid the hard to pronounce and unknown chemicals in most popular hair-care products.

Hair butter can help with the following, but not limited to:

  • Keeping your hair stronger
  • Preventing split ends
  • Reducing damage from coloring your hair and help the color stay locked into your hair for longer
  • Renewing damaged hair
  • and much more!
  1. Proper Maintenance of Styles

Pineappling is a quick nighttime styling method to preserve your curls allowing them to still be great another day. There are a few things to consider when doing this technique to properly maintain your style. Before doing so, it’s best to use a silk material to hold it in place.

Do’s

  • Dry before doing this technique
  • Be patient

Dont’s

  • Wait to apply a product
  • Don’t use a towel to dry hair
  • Limit nights of “pineappling”
  1. Drying Techniques

There are a few things you can incorporate in your hair care routine or cut out to properly dry natural hair by air drying. Check them out below and see the benefits of air drying your natural hair.

  • Cut usage of shampoo
  • Detangle with wide tooth comb while in hair is wet
  • Nourish your hair to avoid frizz
  • Care for your ends, they’re super prone to breakage when drying
  • Deep condition faithfully!