All around the world are women with different types of hair. But two are common among African women: relaxed hair and natural hair.
While the former is a chemical-induced offshoot of the latter, the latter, otherwise known as virgin hair, is the pristine hair of every black woman. Natural hair, as the name implies, is any hair in its natural state.
And for black women, this specifically means your afro-textured hair that hasn’t been permed or relaxed.
Back in the day, it was a popular trend among our mothers and grandmothers to rock the afro hairstyle. But with the proliferation of relaxers, we saw a decline in the rate at which women rocked their kinky hair.
We can’t say the same today.
The natural hair movement returned in the 2010s and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
From Youtube to Instagram, Pinterest, and even Google, pictures of women rocking their virgin hair abound. The name “natural hair” has gone beyond a name to become an identity for every black woman at home and in the diaspora.
But is that all there is to know about afro-textured hair? Of course not.
How do you grow this hair without suffering from hair breakage? What products work best on this type of hair? What hairstyles suit this hair?
You’ll find the answers to these questions in this post. So, let’s jump in.
What is Natural Hair?
This hair type is the signature hair of Africans. It grows in a tiny, angle-like corkscrew or spiral shape. That is, they mostly look like the letter S or Z.
The hair is known to shrink in size and looks longer than it appears when stretched. It’s denser than relaxed hair and is mostly wavy or kinky-coily.
Furthermore, this hair is delicate. When not given adequate care, it suffers breakage or stunted growth.
That’s not all.
It’s also expensive to maintain. This means if you aren’t ready to invest the time, energy, and money in using the right products, you may have to live with your hair not growing longer or healthy.
With this in mind, let’s see…
Products for Natural Hair
The best products for natural hair are natural oils like coconut oil, shea butter, palm kernel oil, castor oil, almond oil, etc. They moisturize your hair, soften it, and stimulate hair growth.
Besides these natural oils, other industrial products help to maintain kinky hair.
For instance, there’s leave-in conditioner, shampoo, leave-in strengthener, hair oil, etc. You need all these and more to ensure your hair is clean and shiny always.
However, when buying products or your natural hair, it’s crucial to check the first five ingredients of any product.
Why, you ask?
It’s because most times, the first five ingredients of any product contain the highest and most active concentrations.
Say you checked a product’s ingredient and coconut oil is the tenth or eleventh ingredient on the list. If your hair needs more coconut oil, don’t buy that particular product. The coconut oil in it won’t suffice for your hair.
Instead, check for another that has coconut oil within numbers one to five.
This goes without saying that checking your natural hair product ingredients helps you determine which product will be adverse to your hair’s health. But that’s not all you have to check.
We detailed in an article how to choose the right products for your natural hair. Feel free to read it now. But if you would rather do as at your free time, let’s proceed.
How to Grow Your Natural Hair
Do you think your hair isn’t growing? It could be because you’ve been using the wrong products, not eating the foods for hair growth, not drinking enough water, styling your hair with heat equipment, or any of these ten reasons your natural hair isn’t growing.
How do you salvage that?
Start by massaging your scalp, washing your hair regularly, moisturizing your hair, and using all the natural hair growth tips that give you healthy hair.
Hairstyles for Natural Hair
Many protective hairstyles exist for kinky hair. And you can achieve them with or without hair extensions.
Let’s talk about the ones without extensions.
From cornrows to bantu knots, twaid-out, dreadlocks, twists, bounce twists, etc., you’re free to pick any natural hairstyle that meets your need and go for it.
But if you would want to switch things up, attachment hairstyles are there for you. You can use the extension to achieve African braids such as Senegalese twists, box braids, knotless braids, etc.
Natural Hair Care Routine
For healthy afro-textured hair, you have to follow a regimen. Just like having a skincare routine, you should also have a haircare routine for the betterment of your hair.
This includes imbibing some healthy habits that preserve your hair’s sheen and save you from any hair malady. They include:
- Cleansing your hair
- Detangling
- Applying hair mask
- Styling often
- Sealing and moisturizing daily, etc.
We detailed how to go about adopting a healthy natural haircare routine. Read it to arm yourself with the right information.
Is Heat Styling Safe for Natural Hair?
No, heat styling isn’t safe for any kind of hair because it poses dangers like hair breakage and dry hair.
But you can heat-style your hair once in a while to stretch it when achieving different coiffures. And when at this, be careful to keep the heat low or better still, use a heat protectant.
That aside, a non-harmful way to stretch your hair without heat is the African threading method. This style not only stretches your hair but also makes it grow.
So, when you get bored of weaves and other hair extensions, give thread hairstyles a shot.
They’re super suitable for natural hair.
