Many of African women suffer from dry, messy & brittle hair. With the relaxers and blow drying culture that we have makes even hair growth impossible. Lack of awareness about porosity, hair type causes even more problems.
But worry no more because I’m here for you!
With hair growth comes in a whole new wave of knowledge, that you will have to learn and also do it yourself (diys) as we like to call it.
Here are the starts of hair growth:
- Know your porosity
- Moisturize, moisturize!
- Deep condition regularly
- Sleep on silk or satin pillow case
- Trim, trim & trim!
- Comb hair correctly
- Use a hair growth oil
- Massage your scalp
- Eat a balanced diet
- Minimize heat Styling tools
Know your porosity
Many of you may have heard this but may not know what it means, porosity is the ability of hair to absorb and retain moisture. To be able to determine that you will have to do a porosity test. Pluck a strand of hair and put it inside a glass of water, if your strand settles at the bottom then yours is high porosity, if it settles at the center then yours is normal porosity, and if it floats then its low porosity. By knowing this, you will be able to know which products to use for your hair for maximum length retention.
Moisturize, moisturize!
To moisturize dry, coarse hair you will start from the inside out. Make sure you drink 8 glasses of water as recommended, and also use water based products if your hair is high porosity.
Use a hair cream or lotion to moisturize dry frizzy hair as a leave in conditioner daily. Make sure you put some more on the ends as sebum (the oil that is produced naturally) is not able to reach the ends because of the curly, coily nature of our hair, making the ends prone to dryness then later to break off! Follow up with a sealant like Shea butter or mango butter.
Don’t forget to dampen your hair before putting on any product.
Deep condition regularly
Deep conditioning is the process of applying a restorative formula to your hair it can be to moisturize or to strengthen (protein treatment) hair strands thus, offering healing properties to your hair. It’s mean’t to penetrate the hair shaft and restore elasticity to your strands!
Deep treatments vary according to the state of your hair. If for example you feel your hair is to dry you may want to use a moisturizing deep conditioner and if your hair feels brittle and breaks easily then you use a protein deep conditioner. Deep conditioning every other week or every after two weeks however, will depend on your schedule and hair length. Frequently doing this will definitely improve your hair texture and elasticity.
Sleep on a silk or a satin pillow case
Use a silk or satin scarf to tie your hair at night or sleep on a silk pillow case to ensure your hair is not striped of its moisture. Avoid using cotton pillow cases as they strip moisture out of your hair. Get yourself some silk bonnet or pillow cases.
Trim, trim, trim!
Hair grows approximately half an inch every other month for an average african woman that’s 6 inches per year. Unfortunately, there is no way of avoiding splits so with that, you have to trim those frizzy, dry coarse ends to be able to have manageable hair and enhance products penetration into the hair cuticle. If you don’t cut them off! It’s going to create tangles leading to more breakage then hair loss.
Comb hair correctly!
Combing hair is an area often neglected by many and combing it incorrectly causes even more damage than good. If hair is not properly detangled it’s not going to remove all the shed hair exerting pressure to the rest of the hair hence more damage. Start combing your hair from the ends all the way up, by that you will remove all tangles and shed hair effectively.
It also helps to stimulate hair growth and spread sebum from the scalp to the rest of the hair. Since our hair is curly, coily the sebum is not spread all the way down to our ends unless we comb our hair correctly.
Use hair growth oil
Growing long hair requires so much care and oiling the scalp is on of them! Dry scalp is prone to dandruffs, psoriasis and many other problems that later leads to massive hair loss.
Massage your scalp
Ensure you apply some oil of your choice I prefer some coconut oil/ jojoba oil for my scalp, it calms my itching scalp and moisturize also. Use also essential oils like tea tree if you have flakes on your scalp & peppermint oil which stimulates hair growth.
There is a wide range of benefits from a head massage and especially scalp massages.
It increases blood flow to the scalp thus stimulating hair follicles and enhancing hair growth. Massage your scalp with your fingers (not nails) in a clockwise motion two times a week.
You can use some hair oil to do this but it can also be done without.
Eat a balanced diet
Ensure that you eat foods with more nutrients and anti-oxidants.
Up your intake of vitamins especially in the mornings and also lots of proteins like beans which are plant-based. Get Omega 3s & 6s from fish and chia seeds or if you cannot get from food buy supplements.
Minimize heat styling tools
To see significant hair growth and retention, you will have to reduce heat usage upto seventy percent. Extreme heat temperatures damages your hair cuticle leading to dryness and breakage.
Some more tips
Wash your scalp properly and ensure you get rid of flakes. Also don’t wash your hair too often limit to once a week or once after two weeks but do a co-wash in between. Enjoy your hair growth journey by reducing stress and exercising.
If you like these tips go ahead and share with you friends! Also comment down below!
African skin & hair care maintenance 