Afro

Category: protective styles

  • Do you have a hair-care regimen plan?

    I have a few questions that can assist you in knowing how well you are looking after your hair.

    If you want to know how to retain afro hair length. Here are a few questions that will help you evaluate yourself.
    Do you ensure that your hair is moisturized often?
    How often do you colour and manipulate your hair?
    Do you do deep conditioning every month?
    Do you have a hair care plan?
    Are you using the right products?
    How often do you have protective styles?
    How often are you trimming your hair?

    If you don’t have a plan, the terrible news is that you may not see progress on your hair. But the good news is that anyone can start a plan just like if you did not go to the gym and decided to dedicate your time, energy and effort.

    It’s never too late to get yourself started. How do you begin?

    Well the key thing to begin with is making sure that the products you use are the best ones for your hair. How do you know a product is good for you? Nowadays there is a lot of information that can help you in getting the right product. Also it does not hurt to be consistent with a product for a minimum of 3 months as that can help you in identifying what works and what does not. Just like your skin, you need to make sure that your hair gets the same care.

    How do you begin your plan, well that’s not too difficult. You just need to create consistency with what you do. For example, if you decide that you will be washing your hair every week, are you doing that? Are you consistent with your trim every 3 months? Don’t just start the process and stop it, the progress will be a lot slower. Are you keeping your hair moisturized every single week?

    I will let you know that I was quite lazy in the maintenance of my hair, although I am aware that it can grow quite long. I left it to dry not really maintaining moisture and the other thing was that I was not trimming as often as I should.

    When I was young, I had extremely long hair. It was actually the longest in the class. Everyone loved it and nobody wanted me to cut it off. During my final year of primary school, I decided to cut my hair short and let’s just say everyone was really surprised. I don’t remember any photos from that time but I remember my mum asking if I was sure I wanted to cut my hair. I was so sure and I actually don’t think I regretted it at all. Not sure I would cut my hair that short again but that was something I have done before.

    I developed a hair care regimen that has assisted me in looking after my hair and it’s quite simple. Sometimes the simpler the hair care regimen, the easier it is to remain consistent.

    Planning List

    Here is a list of what should be done to ensure maximum maintenance and growth of hair:

    1. Select the right products for your hair and be consistent with it. Do not change your product unnecessarily just because a specific product is working for another individual. Research the product that your friend or family member has suggested first, don’t be running to buy it without research.
    2. Make sure that you are moisturizing your hair and that is well moisturized. A good tip, every 2 or 3 days make sure that you spray some water onto it and use a light oil such as argan, olive or coconut, whichever works for you.
    3. Minimize unnecessary use of heat. Make sure that you are not putting heat on your hair if you don’t need it. If it’s open you can try and get a protective style and make sure you are not using a straightener if you don’t have to.
    4. Trim your hair every 3 months. If you don’t trim your hair, you will find that it will grow but when you go to the hair dresser and it’s damaged you will get a hair cut and not a trim. That would mean that the growth you gained will be in vain.
    5. If you have chemicals on your hair, make sure that you are consistently retouching your hair every 6 to 8 weeks, don’t do it too frequently as that is not good for your scalp.
    6. Balance the protein treatment on your hair. Now some individuals cannot use protein on their hair and that’s something that you will get to understand the more you look after it.
    7. Low manipulation hair-styles are also suitable for afro hair as that means you are not tampering with your hair often.
    8. Lastly, make sure that you have a good diet as that will really help in growth of hair. Especially vegetables. If you must take supplements to make sure that you have everything, there is no problem with that.

    Remember that this takes time and commitment as you cannot just wake up and do this once and all will be well.

    Time will give you a good indication as to how well you are looking after your hair. Additionally, if you find that you hair is growing but it’s difficult to maintain your hair length, make sure that you are not manipulating it too much. The longer your hair get’s the more moisture will be required especially for the ends as the cuticle tends to get a little less stronger.

    Now I will certainly delve into selection of hair products. I live in a country where it’s difficult to source many products, however I will provide information on how I choose suitable products for a reasonable price.

    What other hair care regiment tips do you have if you have grown your hair? Let me know in the comments below.

  • Best protective styles for natural hair

    This document will be about the different types of protective styles are and how they can assist you in looking after your curly hair. I was fortunate that when I was a lot younger, since I have an interest in hair dressing I was able to learn how to put my hair in a protective style. I will also briefly cover what the benefits of some of the styles.

    Easy styles

    The easiest protective styles that anyone can put on their head is twists or braids with your own hair. Now after I realised how damaging the blow dryer can be, I stopped using it, I was not quite sure what to do with my hair. Since I wash my hair often I found it easy to put them in twists. Now everyone has a different opinion on them in terms of presentation but if it is a bother to you, there are lots of quality wigs nowadays that you can use, therefore it’s not too hard to put them on your head. The advantage of twists and braids on your head is that it can be quite easy to maintain and you can easily moisturise every night. The other great thing is that it promotes hair growth.

    Braids with extensions

    Braids with extension can be another style to have on your head. They are great because your hair will look presentable always and you can choose any length you want. In terms of maintenance, they tend to be a little tricky as if you don’t moisturise, your hair will definitely dry out. Secondly, there tends to be build up especially if you are trying to moisturise as often as possible. A few tricks to combat this problem is to either use some spirit to clean around your scalp area to reduce itchiness. Additionally you can add some light oil to avoid your hair drying out. Braids, have a time period and when they start looking messy, it’s definitely time to take them off. If you can get the front part redone, you should do that, however it’s best to remove once they are messy. You will minimise breakage. It also promotes hair growth.

    Hair with extensions

    Crochet Braids

    Trends are changing and gone are the days of long hours at the salon. When I first discovered Crocheting, it changed my life in ways you cannot imagine. I love this style. it’s so versatile and easy. Additionally, there is a lot less breakage on your scalp. When I do crochet, I don’t have to worry about much as most of the time it looks so natural whatever hair type I want. It does not take long and you can do braids, locks, afro’s or open hair. It normally last for about 4 – 6 weeks depending on how you look after it and I find that it can be a little tricky to maintain depending on what type of style you have. I think making sure that you use a deep treatment method will help in adding moisture to the hair after you take off your crotchet braids.

    Weaves

    People used weaves quite a bit back in the day and I think nowadays with the newer styles weaves are used only for certain sections of the head or to add a little body to the hair if necessary.  Weaves would be used a lot more for special occasions such as graduations, weddings and other types of events. Weaves tend to be the trickiest to maintain as if you do wash it, you must blow dry your roots, otherwise they will smell. It’s also wise to use a leave in conditioner before you braid your hair down to minimise any breakage as well.

    LOCKS

    Locks are quite common nowadays and if maintained appropriately, they look amazing. The beauty of locks is that you can style them in any way you want and they make your hair grow really fast. The trick with locks though is that when you wash them. You have to make sure that you dry them extremely well. Another thing with locks is that they grow quite fast, so you have to keep getting your root’s re-twisted almost every week which can be time consuming. Locks can be braided if you want a different look and can be styled in any other way if you want.

    Conclusion

    All these protective styles make afro hair so versatile and therefore even though you get knots and tangles, having the protective styles means minimising the trouble of taking knots out of the curly hair. The other things beneficial to curly hair is that if it’s left on it’s own without much disturbance it tends to grow quite a lot. I think that every individual with curly hair does have a preference for a specific protective style in general. Although we were born with curly hair, we don’t have to be limited to having it in the curly state all the time and that’s one thing I love about curly hair.

    What do I think is the best style, well for me I actually like the crotchet the best, when I consider all other styles, it’s the most convenient and easiest style to put on your scalp and maintain. However everyone has a look that they like. What about you, what look do you like?