Natural Hair // Wash Day Guide
Pre-shampoo
Pre-shampooing hair (also known as pree-poo) is optional but can be very beneficial and leave you with well moisturized, soft and easy to detangle hair. Some people like to use either oils, honey, avocados, bananas and even yoghurt! Personally, I prefer using honey, coconut oil, or some regular conditioner. I work it through the length of my hair while removing shed hairs and finger detangle. I then put on a shower cap for about 20-30mins and rinse out before I shampoo. (I sometimes like to heat up the honey).
Shampoo
It is crucial to make sure you cleanse your scalp because a clean scalp is a healthy scalp. You don't necessarily need to use shampoo as there are some other natural alternatives such as bicarbonate of soda or apple cider vinegar but as long as you wash your hair when it needs it, your okay. I tend to wash my hair about every 3-4weeks but it depends on what style I'm in. When washing your hair, try to focus on your scalp and the run off of water and suds will clean the length of the hair. Also a lot of shampoos contain sulphates in them which can strip the hair from its natural oils so make sure to use an adequate amount of it or actually try to purchase a sulphate free shampoo - the only thing is that these tend to be a lot more pricy.
Conditioner
Conditioning your hair is a very important aspect of looking after natural hair. Conditioners help to replenish and retain moisture and protein that shampoos and other harsh chemicals may have stripped away. It is essential that every time you wash your hair, you follow up with some type of conditioner. Most regular conditioners are meant to be kept on for about 5mins or so and all you simply do is work the conditioner through each and every strand and you can use a comb to evenly distribute the product and detangle, You then rinse out after the recommended time it says on the bottle.
Deep Conditioning
Deep conditioning is a great way to retain moisture and protein in natural hair. It has similar benefits to a normal conditioner but is more intense and is kept on for longer which means your hair will be left extremely soft, silky, moisturized, and strong. You can deep condition you hair as often as you wash it but I would suggest being careful not to overdo it as your hair can actually become over moisturized or over proteined. Doing protein treatments alone should be not be done with any less than a 3weeks gap until the next time as too much can actually cause breakage. When deep conditioning, follow the same steps as for a regular conditoner but make sure to add a shower cap/deep conditioning cap and try to keep your body temparature warm. Some people like to sit under a dryer for the first few minutes but you don't have to. You can also make your own DIY Deep Conditioner, check out my post on it here
Moisturize & Detangle
Now that all the above is done, you wrap your hair in a towel or cotton shirt and allow it to air dry. Once it's about 75% dry (so slightly damp), you separate your hair into sections and moisturize. A good method I like to use is the LOC Method which stands for liquid, oil and cream. For your liquid you could simply count the water as it since water= moisture. You could also get yourself a good water based leave in conditioner. The oil can pretty much be any oil of your choice so EVOO, Coconut oil, Jojoba oil, Sweet Almond oil, Avocado oil etc.At this point, you could also add a bit of oil to your scalp. Finally the cream can be anything that will seal in all the moisture so something with a thicker consistency. For example, Shea butter, Mango butter, Avocado butter, Castor oil, or a DIY mix , click here to see My Shea Butter & Castor Oil Mi etc. Make sure you pay close my attention to your ends! By the way, try to avoid petrolatum/petroleum based products.
Once your whole head is moisturized, you can either finger detangle or get a wide tooth comb and slowly work yo way up starting from the ends until the roots until you hair is tangle free! If you come across any knots or tight tangles , DO NOT nag the comb through it!! Stop and use your fingers to gently and safely remove it.
Style
Now that you are finally done, you can protective style your hair however you like; here are a few options:cainrows, twists, flatwists, updos, buns, braids, extensions and many more! The choice is in your hands! (Down in the comments, I will list all the products I use).
Thanks for reading,
Abbie x
Pre-poo: KTC Pure Coconut oil, All Natural Clear Honey, Conditioner
ReplyDeleteShampoo: Alberto Balsam Tea Tree Tingle
Conditioner:Tresemme Naturals Coconut & Jojoba oil Smooth and Revitalize
Deep Conditioner: Organics Olive Oil Deep Conditioner
Moisturizer: African Pride Shea Miracle Leave in Conditioner, Coconut oil, Shea butter&Castor oil mix
pre shampoo? this is new!! xx
ReplyDeletewww.emilyjanewebb.co.uk
Yea, you may have not heard of it mostly because its mainly common with people with curly, coily, afro hairtypes like myself! Xx
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