These are from our personal experience as well as with hair I have done on other people and, through getting my hair done.
1. Use distilled water on your hair at all times instead of tap water!! Now i bet your wondering how do i do that if I'm in the shower or washing my child's hair in the tub... The answer is this, there are filters that you can buy at the local hardware stores that you can attach to your overhead sprayer OR you could buy a sprayer with built in changeable filters (This would pay for its self in no time) because the water that comes through all of our pipes and through our faucets contain imbalances in minerals usually resulting in more than one type over another causing deposits and this can add to the consistent dryness of the hair making it brittle, dry and breaking off.. *Food for thought*
2. Use silk hair caps AND silk pillow cases together ALWAYS or interchangeably!
3. NEVER EVER comb brush or detangle dry hair NEVER even if it is just washed but fully dry.
4. Thoroughly THOROUGHLY educate yourself on all the harsh hair stripping chemicals possibly in potential hair products.
5.Thoroughly read EACH and EVERY bottle or hair package through each and every ingredient/component and DO NOT buy the product if it has these harsh or unnatural chemicals in them.
6.Keep in mind also that if you/ your child has finer textured hair such as type 1- type 3b you want to use LIGHT products, no waxes, pomades, oils, thick creams, grease or anything similar for this WILL weigh the hair down tremendously
7. It is also not recommended to use relaxers, heat or chemicals on hair period. With the finer textured hair if you choose to use oil as an after styling sealer use the LIGHT OIL SHEEN it must be SHEEN that indicates it’s a light mist and spray it extra lightly because a little goes a long way. It is best to find an oil sheen that is NON-aerosol also, because aerosol sprays have butane of some degree in them along with alcohol and other harsh chemicals.
8. With coarser kinkier hair you can use heavier products if necessary for maintaining form, style and moisture. But one must remember even with coarse hair light products are very beneficial but they have to be “saturated” with deeper techniques. EX: To gain optimum moisture that lasts a good tip would be Shamp and Wash with products as organic as you can get and right in or out of the shower apply your detangler comb/brush through with fingers or a wide toothed/bristled comb/brush. Then section the hair in 6-8 sections depending on amount of hair and apply your deep conditioner or two if that works best for you and massage into the scalp with your finger PADS never nails and work outward into your hair shafts and ends (I use squeezing motions and I go down the shafts of the hair through the ends so the moisturizer LOCKS itself in). Then you can choose to put a light mist of oil sheen to seal in the moisture.
9. NOW, this is where preference comes in also. The best penetrable method of gaining optimum moisture without using heat or chemicals or relaxers is by wrapping your now moisturized and sealed hair with a wet/damp towel and secure a non breathable wrap over the towel such as saran wrap, some plastic material hair covers, hair dying caps, shower caps (if big enough) or anything that you have on hand that would act as a non penetrable barrier to keep the moisture from the towel soaking into your hair and follicles and not evaporating into the air. This method is also great for hot oil treatments or other conditioning treatments. If you don’t oppose heat than you could do this process entirely but when you get to the applying of the non breathable barrier you would use a hair dryer no closer than 5 inches to the warm towel instead of that. (This would be more work and tiring but since your hair is protected under the warm towel the heat is penetrating the towel and not frying your hair.
10. If you can, avoid waxes, pomades and anything of that thick sticky waxy nature DO because those products are known to pull hair right out of the head, cause irreversible product build up, damage the hairs natural state, draw in airborne debris, destroy curl patterns, create unnecessary tension on the hair follicle and make the most beautiful healthy hair the complete opposite.
11. Use all natural store bought hair oils such as coconut oil, jojoba oil, safflower oil, olive oil, almond oil, carrot oil, castor oil, grapseed oil, sunflower oil and there are many more also. But as with this you must go through a trial and error because none of these natural oils are completely alike and they all can act differently on different hair types. This is also an inexpensive way to grow the hair and gain optimum healthy hair with consistent use.
12. Be careful with your sectioning clips and combs used. Even though the clips may only come in contact briefly with your hair get ones that help protect your hair from damage like rubber ones, plastic ones without hinges, material ones that have soft grips, or just use soft ponytails if desired. Duck bill clips are very popular and these also are very known for destroying hair since a lot of these have teeth, hinges or are metal. Pony tails and items alike are more time consuming but less strenuous on the hair.
13. DO NOT buy into hair hype and fashion trends without doing research first NEVER take advice blindly because what works for one doesn’t always work for the other its great to experiment with new products and accessories and it should be a cautious trial experiences so the natural curlees stay luscious and full of life with little needed maintenance :)
More to come in the future
Diva R’s Mommy- Kim
