Six Tips for Healthy & Beautiful Natural Afro Hair
Our natural hair is fragile and requires special care and maintenance to ensure healthy growth. There are a lot of options when it comes to buying hair care products, but is this enough to achieve perfect, healthy hair? Here are six essential tips to adopt in your hair routine for healthy and beautiful hair.
Avoid tight braids and certain so-called protective hairstyles
It is essential to know that while many people think that the best way to protect natural hair is to wear protective hairstyles like braids with extensions or wigs, the reality is quite different. Braids such as cornrows, singles, twists, etc., and wigs are unsuitable for our natural hair, as they often require extensions and are usually very tight, contributing to hair breakage. If you need to wear protective hairstyles, it is best not to use extensions, and above all, you should avoid making your braids too tight so that they do not damage the scalp.
Adopt a healthy and balanced diet
Diet plays a significant role in the health and growth of our hair, especially natural hair. Poor dietary hygiene and a diet lacking specific vitamins can affect hair growth and cause hair loss. For longer, stronger hair, we need to regularly consume protein-rich foods such as eggs, avocado, fish and seafood, dairy products, etc., as well as omega-3-rich foods such as tuna, sardines, walnuts, green leafy vegetables, soya, etc. We also need to include foods rich in vitamins and minerals. Spinach and foods rich in vitamin C should also be included in your diet, but water is the most important thing you should always consider. All these foods will contribute to hair more resistant to breakage resulting in a healthy and beautiful crown.
Choose the right shampoo
Regarding shampoos, it would be ideal to opt for mild shampoos for our natural hair because, whatever your hair condition, mild shampoos will not harm your hair, unlike shampoos that are too aggressive. How can we tell which shampoos are suitable for our hair type? Choosing the right shampoo and ensuring it is mild is essential. All you should do is read the label and check that the ingredients used in the shampoo are natural and gentle for natural hair. Also, ensure that the shampoo contains essential oils such as argan, olive, coconut, or shea butter.
Avoid and ban relaxer creams
Hair relaxers are very harmful to natural hair because they contain many chemicals that attack and unbalance our hair's natural pH, making it more fragile and brittle. Moreover, once relaxers are applied to our natural hair, they directly penetrate our scalp and consequently penetrate our body through the scalp, which can also be dangerous for our health due to the high concentration of chemicals in these products.
Always moisturize your natural hair
Natural hair tends to be dry, and the causes can vary. However, one of the primary sources of dryness in natural hair is lack of moisture. Natural hair is often insufficiently moisturized, and we usually assume that all we need to do is apply some hair grease or pomade to make it soft, ignoring the fact that it also needs to be moisturized. The easiest solution for well-moisturized hair is to apply water so it is not overly wet but relatively moist. Repeat this routine regularly, especially during winter, which is the season when our natural hair tends to be dry.
Avoid straightening irons and hair dryers
You may not have known it, but the heat from hair dryers, curling irons, and straightening irons is one of the number-one enemies of natural hair. They dry out and damage natural hair, altering its nature and slowing its growth. If you want to straighten your hair for a special occasion, using a heat-protecting hair serum that you apply before straightening would be preferable. However, try your best not to use them as often.
Mouniratou Sinare Zeda is a social media marketing intern at Hope Magazine. She is passionate about public relations, social media, and communication, and is pursuing a Master’s degree in professional communication and leadership.
