A natural hair regime is a routine that you set to care for your hair. It provides structure and consistency to the lifelong process of taking care of your hair, making sure it is always healthy. A good natural hair care routine involves processes and products that make your hair happy.
You can think of a natural hair routine as a meal plan for your hair. You plan what to feed your hair, follow through, and repeat for the best results.
Things to Consider When Building a Natural Hair Care Routine
Before building a natural hair care routine, several factors influence your choice of products and techniques. They include:
- Hair Type: Different hair textures have different moisture needs. For instance, wavy hair may do well with lighter leave-on conditioners while a coily hair needs more frequent deep conditioning.
- Density: If you have denser hair, it may take longer to dry and will require more products in your hair care routine. On the other hand, thinner hair will easily be weighed down when you use heavy products.
- Elasticity: Hair with higher elasticity is strong and bouncy, but low elasticity makes it more prone to breakage. If you have low elasticity, incorporating protein treatments in your hair care routine can be beneficial. Those with high elasticity usually need more moisture-focused products.
Key Steps to a Natural Hair Care Routine
A good natural hair care routine comprises several products and processes to keep the hair healthy. No matter your hair type, porosity, curl pattern, or hair length, following these steps will help give your hair the love and care it needs. Be sure to pick the product, frequency, amount, and order that works well for your hair in each step/component.
Step 1: Cleanse
A good hair care routine starts with proper cleaning of the hair and scalp. This helps to keep the hair healthy while removing any product build-up on your scalp.
- Pre-poo (optional): Apply a natural oil such as jojoba or coconut to dry hair before shampooing. This protects your strands from potential dryness caused by shampoo.
- Use a gentle, sulfate-free shampoo such as a hydrating avocado shampoo. For natural coily or curly hair, avoid relying on co-washing as it will not effectively cleanse your scalp and remove product build-up.
- Stick to a hair-washing schedule: Most people with natural hair wash their hair weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Find a frequency that works for you and stick to it. If you are trying to establish a natural hair care routine, it can be a good idea to start with once a week before trying longer intervals.
- Check if your shampoo schedule needs a change: You may need to change your shampoo schedule depending on how your hair feels and looks. For instance, you probably need to shampoo more often if your hair feels dull, limp, greasy, lifeless, and dirty or other products seem not to work anymore. On the other hand, your hair may benefit from extending the time between washes if it feels dry, frizzy, or brittle.
- Choose the right products: If you cleanse your hair less often, go lighter with other products to avoid buildup. For those who cleanse more often, you can benefit by being diligent with moisturizers.
- Dry your hair using a microfiber towel or cotton t-shirt: These are gentler to your hair and help reduce frizz compared to regular towels. It is also recommended to air dry your hair whenever possible to minimize heat damage.
Step 2: Condition
Choosing the right conditioner for your hair is important to its overall health. The more dry and curlier your hair is, the more conditioner you should be using. The three main categories of conditioners that you should be using include:
- Rinse-out (Daily) conditioner: This is a light conditioner that can be used daily. It hydrates your hair, making it easier to detangle and less prone to frizz. Use a rinse-out conditioner anytime you get your hair wet or whenever you find detangling tricky.
- Leave-in conditioner: Apply a lightweight, water-based leave-in conditioner to your damp hair immediately after washing and before styling. It helps to replenish the hair and maintain moisture.
- Deep conditioner: Leave a deep conditioner in your hair for a while before rinsing. It serves as an intensive nourishing and moisturizing treatment for your hair, delivering important nutrients that your hair needs to thrive. For best results, deep condition once every two weeks.
Step 3: Moisturize
Moisturizing your hair will address most of the problems, including dryness, breakage, matting, tangling, and hair loss. The frequency of moisturizing will depend on the porosity of your hair, which can range from daily to less frequently. Nonetheless, moisturizing (remoisturizing) is an important step you need to take to maintain your natural hair till the next wash day.
Some of the methods you can use to properly moisturize your hair include using steam such as in the shower, refresher spray, a moisturizer, or the LCO/LOC (Leave-in, Oil, and Cream) method. It also helps to moisturize your hair at night to protect it while you sleep and avoid being weighed down.
Step 4: Seal
The next step is to seal/lock in the moisture. Whenever you moisturize your hair, use an anti-humectant or sealer to keep the hair moisturized throughout the day. The choice of a sealer will also depend on what works well with your hair:
- Coarser/thicker hair: Go for Jamaican black castor oil or shea butter
- Finer hair: Try olive, jojoba, or avocado oil.
Step 5: Detangle
Detangle your hair often to reduce dryness, breakage, matting, and hair loss. The more often you detangle your hair, the easier it becomes every time you have to do it. Here are some important tips for proper detangling:
- Use your fingers or wide-tooth comb: Gently detangle your hair with your fingers or a wide-tooth comb to avoid damage. Remember finger detangling usually works when you have very fine or brittle hair, but you will still have to detangle with a comb most of the time.
- Start from end to up: Start detangling your hair from the ends and always pulling it down while working your way up to reduce breakage.
- Detangle the hair while damp: Avoid detangling when the hair is soaking wet and dry because it is weakest and brittle in this state.
- Use a conditioner to add slip: If detangling your hair is painful or difficult, applying a conditioner may help.
Step 6: Style and Protect
This is the last step of a hair care regimen, and it depends on what you want. Find out the styles that you like the most and can do well with your hair. You can start with low manipulation styles like twists and buns, which require less effort and time.
As you try out different styles, check for any product buildup from the styling products. This will also tell you how often you should cleanse your hair. Another important tip is to cover your hair with a bonnet at night to protect it from damage. You can also sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase to prevent hair damage at night. When out in extreme weather, wear scarves or hats for additional protection.
General Tips for Building an Effective Natural Hair Care Routine
Creating a natural hair care routine is easy. You just need to know the products and processes to include in your regime. The following tips will help you build an effective routine for better results:
- Build your hair care route with a weekly or biweekly structure that fits your lifestyle.
- Keep the routine as simple as possible to avoid getting discouraged along the way.
- Set a calendar. You could say Thursday is wash day and create time to just focus on your hair.
- Find an accountability friend who can text you or call every two weeks for follow-up.
- Trim your hair every 3 months to avoid breakage and retain length.
- Use a protein treatment monthly if you notice your hair feels limp or lifeless.
Natural Hair Care Routine Inspiration
Building a natural hair care routine can be a challenge, especially if you are a beginner. To give you an idea, here is a quick example for a curly hair:
- Wash day once a month – shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner
- Deep condition or co-wash biweekly
- Massage the scalp weekly for about 3-5 minutes
- Detangle the hair with a wide tooth comb or finger whenever I condition the hair and before styling
- Rock twists or buns weekly, moisturizing the hare with shear butter and sealing it with black castor oil
- Unravel the twist on the weekend and rock an afro or twist out
- Twist hair up or put it into a pineapple style when going to bed and wear a satin bonnet.
- Use a protein treatment every 2 months
- Trim hair every 3 months
Conclusion
Building a natural hair care routine may seem intimidating, especially if you have just started your natural hair care journey. However, the steps shared in this article will help you create a hair regimen that works just perfectly for you.
