How to Take Care of Naturally Curly Hair

While naturally, curly hair looks adorable, taking care for them is a pain that no one but a woman with curly hair can understand. You have to focus on several things, right from combing on time to giving the correct amount of moisture to your extensions hair so they do not get rough and fizzy.

Begin by understanding the hair

Unlike straight hair, curly hair tends to lose moisture more often. They constantly feel under moisturized and hence most of the time goes into giving and maintaining moisture to the curly hair. On the other hand, and sadly, the scalp beneath the curly hair keeps on gathering oil which eventually puts you into a tight mess of dry hair and oily scalp. Therefore, most of the tips that focus on taking care of curly hair are aimed at dealing with and balancing these two problems.

See more Home remedies for maintaining your curls

Another thing that you should know is that the scalp is going to produce oil naturally. This hair oil treatment is meant to trickle down the hair and keep it soft and protected. Straight hair does not have a problem achieving it but since the curls are not so regular as the straight hair, the oil is unable to travel down the length of the hair strands and as a result of this, two things happen:

1. Your hair lack strength and a protective layer; and always feel dry.
2. The oil fails to leave the scalp and makes a gross situation in the head.

Next, what brushing does to your hair?

Straight hair has the oil covering their strands and hence brushing is a very good idea since it can help in spreading the natural oil from the scalp uniformly.

However, in case you have curly hair, brushing when your hair is dry can do more harm than good. But, this does not mean that you should not be brushing your hair at all. Brushing is a good thing and it makes your hair and scalp healthy. So, when should you brush?

The best time is after you have rinsed the conditioner of the hair. A simple trick here can be not letting all the conditioner escape the hair and then brushing the hair. This will make the conditioner act as much-needed protection for the strands and keep your hair moisturized.

Find your perfect shampoo time

While most women with curly hair shampoo every second day, I know women who shampoo every day and women who do it once every 4 days. 4 days might be a long time for women who have hard curls like me but if you have soft curls and short lengths, this time frame might work for you. BUT, before you decide on the number of days between two shampoo days, experiment.

How does your hair feel if you wash them after every 2 days compared to if you wash them after 1 day? Mostly, it has been noticed that washing hair every second day works but you can be different and so, EXPERIMENT.

Shampoo and Conditioner

Many women believe that since their curls are already very brittle, the chemicals in the shampoo can worsen the situation and hence they should be using a combination of shampoo and conditioner to make things better and softer for the hair. While this sounds good, it might not work as right as you think.

First, the shampoo and conditioner serve two different purposes: shampoo cleans the scalp while the conditioner takes care of the hair.

Mixing the two is just not going to do reach the scalp as it should and eventually you would end up using more shampoo (read chemicals) than before. And second, the thick conditioners can prevent the shampoo from reaching the roots and the scalp altogether.

This will lead to shinier hair and a dirty, itchy scalp which is a situation you definitely should not be ending up in.

See more- Home remedies for hair loss

So, the solution?

Go for the thin, natural (as natural as possible) shampoo. Do not invest in shampoos that have detergent properties or ingredients. Buy mild shampoos that can easily reach the scalp and still be polite on the hair.

See more- What causes hair loss

Using the extra conditioner or not

A quick way to add moisture in the hair is by leaving some amount of conditioner in the hair. We have already discussed how this can make the hair softer but does it really work? Well, it does but only if you have hard curls. Hard curls require a certain amount of moisture in the hair to get styled and conditioner can provide just that. But, on softer curls, leaving in the conditioner will mostly lead to frizzy hair. You can try leaving the conditioner in your hair on a Sunday when you are not going out of the house and understand if your hair can use a little bit of conditioner in them or do they need none of it.

Things to look out for

To cut short and keep it simple, avoid any product that includes Sulfates, Silicones and (or) Parabens. Sulfates are the harsh detergents that you do not need in your hair. Silicones are the artificial shine providers that can only be removed from the hair by sulfates, so they are out. And Parabens are cancer-causing agents so the reason is pretty straightforward.

Conclusion

Taking care of the curly hair is a hard start but once you know the kind of products your hair needs and the frequency of using them, you will realize that curly hair is not as hard to maintain as you initially thought. You would no longer feel like fighting the curls or straightening them because your best friend did. Curly hair has a charm of its own. You just need to venture in the right direction.