Effective Afro Hair Care Routines

How to build an effective afro hair care routine

In this instalment of Heather Katsonga-Woodward’s book on hair growth, she takes us through her tips for building an effective hair care routine. These include following a weekly, wash-day routine, regularly trimming your hair, controlling frizz, wearing protective styles and developing a good night-time hair care routine. Here are those tips in a bit more detail.

1. Follow a weekly wash-day routine 

STEP 1. Finger detangle damp hair

• It is far easier to detangle hair when it is just a little damp rather than when it is wet or very dry. Dampening the hair and softening it with a little conditioner is called plasticizing the hair
• Product: use either a leave-in conditioner or a proper detangler
• Short hair detangles very quickly and easily; long hair needs you to allocate at least an hour, sometimes two hours just to detangling

STEP 2. Shampoo

• I only shampoo once regardless of how dirty my hair is because I don’t want to strip it too much of its natural oil.
• I did not section my hair at all at this point when my hair was short or medium length. The “natural hair gurus” had me believing this is a MUST but I didn’t seem to suffer for it then…
• When my length went 2/3 inches past the shoulders I did start seeing the benefit of sectioning. Leaving it loose exacerbated tangles.
• If my hair is very dirty I loosen one section at a time, wash it, re-twist then move to the next bit.

STEP 3. Deep condition

• At medium length, my hair was still loose at this point. When it grew longer I conditioned by section then re-twisted the section.
• I then cover my head in a shower cap, blow dry over the surface, then cover my head in a towel or a thick head wrap or a beany to trap the heat.

STEP 4. Detangle again but this time with a comb

• I take the shower cap off, untwist the hair, detangle again and retwist. This was the first time I twisted my hair at medium length.

STEP 5. Rinse out the conditioner

STEP 6. Moisturize and plait or twist each section.

• My hair has to be twisted or plaited to stretch it.
• As mentioned before, Wash & Gos don’t work for my type of 4C/4B hair; it shrinks too much by Day 2 making styling too tough.
• When it was shorter I only did 3-strand plaits because they were the most effective at stretching. Now that I have gone past shoulder-length, twisting stretches the hair enough to do all the styles I like.

(It’s not as stretched as it is with plaits but it takes a lot less time.)

• First, I massage just the scalp using Neno Natural’s Hair Growth Stimulator.
• Then I apply a creamy leave-in conditioner/moisturizer just to the hair and then seal with an oil or hair butter.

When not wearing braids

1.Spritz some water on your twisted or untwisted hair.

2.Cover head in a shower cap whilst you get ready for the day if hair is matted or very dry.

3.Add a little creamy moisturizer to soften hair, oil to seal, then style!

4.Twist hair before bed, massage the Neno Natural’s Hair Growth Stimulator into roots.

If you don’t moisturize all your hair then moisturize the ends only. Hair ends are the oldest and driest section of hair; they also tend to be weaker.

When wearing braids or twists

• I massage Neno Natural’s Hair Growth Stimulator into my scalp literally daily, especially in the early days.

2. Develop a hair-trimming routine

Trimming is important because:

1.It helps your hair look good and well looked after

2. It smartens you up. Unsightly hair ends are not attractive.

3. It gets rid of damaged hair. Damaged hair and split ends are more likely to get tangled with healthy hair; this extra friction encourages more hair damage and increased breakage.

4. It encourages growth

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t understand how this works but apparently taking care of hair ends helps hair grow. I think this is likely due to better length retention. It could also be due to a better hair care regimen generally.

There is no hard and fast rule for when you should trim. I would trim when your hair needs it. You know your ends need a trim when they are looking worn out, dry and frizzy. If you don’t get rid of those ends they will end up breaking on their own and this normally leads to more split ends, unkempt looking hair, tangling and even more breakage!

5.To keep it neat. If your hair is uneven and messy give it a trim.

6. To stop the ends from getting damaged

I made the mistake of over trimming! Every two weeks or so I was cutting off the ends because they were tangled and hadn’t been combed through properly. This is not necessary at all. What would be better is “dusting” the ends.

“Dusting” involves trimming so little hair that it looks like dust. This technique helps to stop split ends from happening. You can dust every 6 to 8 weeks. Seriously, snip off a tiny, inconsequential amount and see!

How To Trim Natural Hair

• When to do it: on wash day.
• What type of scissors to use: very sharp ones.

How to do it:

• After you have rinsed out both shampoo and conditioner, apply your leave-in conditioner or moisturizer.
• Using a wide-tooth comb make sure your hair is well detangled before you twist it for air drying.
• Twist your whole head. Once twisted trim the end of each twist.

But will your hair be even? It will be even enough.

3. Control the frizz on your hair

The number one tip to control the frizz on your hair is to rinse it with cold water. Warm water causes hair to frizz. However, in order to loosen dirt and oils from the scalp and hair during a wash, you need warm water. The solution to quell the frizzing is to rinse the conditioner out with cool water -as cool as you can stand. This tames frizziness, boosts shininess AND locks in moisture by flattening the hair cuticle.

Note: leave some of your rinse-out conditioner in your hair. Here’s why:

According to The Science of Black Hair, “If hair dryness and frizziness are major problems after shampooing and conditioning your hair, consider allowing a small amount of your “rinse-out” conditioner to remain in the hair after rinsing for additional control and sleekness.” Instant, daily use conditioners are the best type of rinse-out conditioners to leave in.

Top tips to keep the frizz at bay

Use a microfiber towel to dry your wet hair. A regular towel ruffles up hair fibres and causes the hair cuticle to lift and frizz. Microfiber is much more absorbent than cotton; it soaks up water without you having to rub the towel in your hair.

Try Argan oil. Argan oil is reputed as being the best oil for tempering frizz.

Master your hair drying technique. Don’t rub or ruffle the hair dry:

• Either just tie your microfiber towel around your head and let the water drip into the shirt or towel.
• Alternatively squeeze gently down your partitions, if you twisted or plaited your hair for the wash.
• Similarly, if you keep touching your hair you’ll also encourage it to frizz: lots of touching and rubbing causes frizziness because you tamper with the hair’s cuticle layer.
• Mix gel and serum. For more defined curls, mix a little gel with serum and scrunch (don’t rub) this mixture down your hair by lightly squeezing. Gel, as always, helps to set the style and the serum will smooth the hair down thereby blocking atmospheric moisture from frizzing the hair.
• Give the ends a little more TLC. The ends of your hair are older, weaker and therefore more prone to frizz. They need more moisture and (if possible) will perform better if they’re not rubbing against clothing.

4. Use protective styles to help your hair grow

Protective styles are vital if you would like to grow your hair long.

Here’s why:

• Hair strands are least protected when they are loose.
• People with dreadlocks partly grow very long hair because it’s always packed together; breakage is reduced significantly when the hair strands are close together. Also, their shed hairs remain matted to the loc whereas shed hair falls out when your hair is ‘free’.
• Protective styles are hairstyles that involve pulling your hair up (so it doesn’t rub against clothing) and, ideally, hiding the ends.
• It’s obviously more fun to wear your hair out and show it off but if you wear more protective styles, your hair will thank you with length retention.
• Protective styles are offer protection from the elements – when the weather is extreme, i.e. very hot, very cold, windy or rainy.

Try these protective hairstyles:

• Flat twists
• Bantu knots
• Crochet braids
• Twist up-dos

YouTube long-hair guru Seun Okimi offers her take on the best protective style for hair growth in this video:

Braids that break the hair

Is it okay to braid your hair? Does it increase hair loss and breakage? Some people with natural hair prefer not to braid their hair at all, ever! The main advantage of braiding your hair is that it gives your hair a rest from combing. However, braiding your hair will lead to breakage if…

• The braids are tiny
• You neglect your hair when it’s in braids

Braiding To Grow Hair

A few tips for braiding your hair in such a way that you don’t get breakage:

• Make sure you don’t put a large hair extension on a small patch of hair. The pulling impact could lead to breakage.
• Plait your hair without using extensions, e.g. by doing cornrows or single plaits and twists with your own hair only.
• If you do use extensions, consider cornrowing the hair on the front edge. It tends to be more prone to breakage.
• Ensure you treat your hair just as well in braids as you do when it’s not. This means washing, deep conditioning and moisturizing every 7 to 1o days.
• Continue to spritz it with water twice daily. This will ensure that when you unbraid the hair it’s not dry and brittle.
• Don’t go from one set of braids straight into a new set; have a break of at least 2 weeks between braids.

5. Develop a good night-time hair routine

Protect your hair with a satin bonnet when you go to bed. There are two things you want to do when you’re sleeping:

1.Protect hair from breakage

2.Protect hair from getting matted flat against your head

Dehydrated afro hair is much more prone to breakage. Cotton materials will draw the oils out of your hair; in addition, they have a rougher texture than satin so all your tossing and turning provides ample opportunity for your hair to break.

You’ll notice that the hair on top of your head grows faster than in any other place and the fact that it remains relatively untouched during sleep helps with that.

A satin bonnet and/or a satin pillowcase have been found to provide the best protection.

How to protect afro hair from breakage

A satin bonnet has a slippery texture and will therefore protect your hair better than cotton. You could also get a satin pillowcase for double protection.

How to protect your hair from getting matted

Try these top tips:

• Twist your hair prior to going to bed. Sleeping without twisting your hair causes the strands to stick together and the coils to get tighter making it hard to style your hair in the morning.
• If your hair does get matted, spritz using your water bottle and use your fingers to lift the hair out of its matted state.
• Avoid combing matted dry hair as this will lead to unnecessary breakage.

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Think of satin hair bonnets as your trusty partner in hair growth. In addition to their protective benefits, they also keep hair products off your bedding: who wants jojoba oil all over their lovely linen bedding? If you don’t know where to shop for your satin bonnets, try browsing the pan-African directory for suppliers!