HOW TO SOFTEN NATURAL HAIR

Procrastination they say is the thief of time and I couldn’t agree more. You guys don’t want to know how long ago I decided to put up a post concerning the manageability of our natural hair but procrastination has dealt with me. So today I have decided to overcome it and finally put this up.

A lot of people message me asking how I have managed my hair all these while without giving up and not planning to give up either; so instead of replying them individually, I decided to put it up here for the benefit of everyone. I’m not in any way saying that the journey is rosy, neither am I saying that if you apply the tips I’m going to highlight your natural hair journey is going to be rosy all I’m saying is that the tips I’m going to highlight below would help you figure out your kinky hair and learn how to manage it better. Truth be told, it will never be as easy as it was when you were relaxing your hair because your hair at its natural state is kinky and as such it needs special care to thrive.

Honestly speaking, 90% of the ladies on natural hair weren’t born with soft hair rather the care they are giving the hair is what is making the hair manageable. The tips I’m about to highlight aren’t expert advice but they are tips that have worked for me in the span of four years.

1. The first step to manage your hair is to completely erase the myth that natural hair isn’t manageable because no matter how tough your hair is right now, with the right routine and products it’d be manageable.
2. The major reason why you can’t put a comb into your hair or why your hair feels dry and brittle is because your hair isn’t moisturized. Girl, moisturize your hair! Because the importance of this cannot be over emphasized so get yourself a routine that has moisture incorporated into it. Wake up in the morning and spray water on your hair, apply a water based leave in. Jump down from the bandwagon that believes that butter e.g. Shea butter or oils e.g. coconut oil is enough for your hair because that lie is horrible.
3. Sealing in the moisture you are putting on your hair is as important as moisturizing your hair and this is where your beloved Shea butter or coconut oil comes in. The oil creates a barrier between the moisture you added to your hair and the harsh weather thereby helping you retain moisture.
4. The next point I’m about to raise is going to crash some tables. Trim your hair! Now some ladies never trim their hair because they believe they’d be reducing the length they have managed to retain. You know the way you jumped down from that bandwagon I mentioned in point 2? Do the same now and with immediate effect. The reason why trimming is so important is because the ends of our hair are the oldest parts of our hair and the most abused in the sense that they are the parts that rub against surfaces so they are prone to single strand knots and other irregularities. Refusing to trim your hair can be detrimental to your natural hair journey because it could be the cause of you not retaining length. A whole post would be dedicated to this topic in future because this won’t be enough to highlight its importance. I am not asking you big chop your hair, all I’m asking is that you trim the ends off.
5. Deep conditioning your hair is another staple thing you need for your hair. Overlooking the relevance is equivalent to you sweeping the factor that’d make your hair soft under the carpet. You can check out my complete wash day post here and my DIY deep conditioner post here. They’d give you an insight on how to deep condition your hair. Deep conditioning is one of the major factors that soften your natural hair; it can be done weekly or bi-weekly; although I’d advise on weekly if you are trying to revive your hair.
6. Rinsing your hair with either tea rinse (to stop breakage) or apple cider vinegar (to balance the ph level of your hair) etc has proven to be very useful. If you are experiencing breakage, try black tea rinse on your hair, that stuff is truly amazing.
7. Putting your hair away for some time also helps. I’m not in any way asking you to put your hair away for weeks, nope that would defeat the point where I told you to deep condition weekly. You can check this category on simple weekly hairstyles you can make with your natural hair. Avoid over manipulating your hair.
8. Get yourself a satin bonnet or a satin pillowcase. I rarely use my satin bonnet because it always falls off my hair when I sleep so I got myself a satin pillowcase and that has made life easier for me. Satin pillowcases and bonnets help to protect our hair while we sleep.

I could go on and on, but this is the basic stuff you need to have at the back of your mind to maintain your hair and I hope you incorporate this into your regimen.

 

If you have any question, do drop a comment and I would reply.

I’m starting a hair growth challenge next month and I’m thinking of incorporating few people for accountability purposes. If interested, send a mail to barr.namba@gmail.com and we’d go from there.

 

Cheers

Machi.