Creating a healthy hair routine for natural hair can be a successful endeavor when you know where to start.
When individuals transition or return to natural, starting the journey on a healthy hair routine for natural hair often can cause feelings of overwhelm, confusion, and ineptness.
Why? Caring for natural hair requires commitment, learning, practice, and continuous improvement.
Too many naturals may simply dive right into trying to care for their natural hair.
However, they don’t realize a natural hair regimen sets the stage for healthy, growing hair.
A robust hair care routine incorporates the study, preparation, repetition, and changes needed for success.
Read on to discover how you can create a routine that works to promote natural hair health and growth.
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Make the Decision and Commit to a Healthy Hair Routine for Natural Hair
Avoid Letting Misconceptions about Nurturing Natural Hair Keep You from Making the Right Decision.
Misconception 1 – You care for hair the same way whether it is relaxed or natural. All I have to do is stop the relaxing, and my hair will be healthier and grow long.
Wrong! Natural hair possesses a different texture from relaxed hair.
As such, different hair care products and styling methods will be needed to get the results you may desire.
Additionally, it does take time and effort to learn and execute natural hair care properly.
Misconception 2 – Afrocentric hair textures cannot grow.
This statement perpetuates another common fallacy.
On average, every human’s hair grows about ½ inch a month.
Afrocentric, kinky, or coily hair textures can have more obstacles in retaining length, as the hair’s curly characteristic retards the movement of sebum down the hair strands.
Sebum, the hair’s natural hair oil, nourishes tresses and protects them from water loss.
Natural hair does grow, but hair loss due to breakage at the ends can make it appear as though no growth takes place.
Moreover, the hair growth process does not happen overnight.
Misconception 3 – All Type 4 hair is basically the same.
This is just not true. Every head, regardless of type, had its own uniqueness.
What may work for one Type 4 head of hair may not work for another.
One of the biggest parts of any natural hair journey entails finding what works for your distinctive tresses.
Misconception 4 – I don’t have good hair.
False.
The texture does not define good hair. Health does.
So, anyone who is willing to put in the effort can have “good” hair.
If you think you don’t have good hair, you are the only one keeping your hair that way.
Truthfully, a Natural Hair Journey Is an Expedition Just Like Any Other, Requiring a Conscious Choice to Begin and Strong Dedication to Continue.
The trip will have its ups and downs.
As such, learn to celebrate the achievements and work to overcome the obstacles.
Unexpected surprises will present themselves from time to time.
Hopefully, these heighten your excitement and motivation to continue down the healthy natural hair journey path.
Victory depends on the effort and determination you show.
Any goal you choose to pursue will require some determination if you want to triumph.
Natural hair goals are no different.
Commitment Reflects in Your Actions.
In order to succeed, you must choose to make room in your life for a natural hair care routine.
Mirror your commitment by scheduling time to consistently learn, plan, and practice your regimen.
Work to promote lifestyle behaviors for natural hair and body health.
Don’t forget to nurture your mind and soul on the journey and maintain a positive attitude.
Leave the self-doubt, comparisons to others, and negative internal commentary at the door.
Moreover, budgeting for expenses also signals your dedication to a routine for healthy natural hair.
You will need to buy and replenish products and secure hair tools you may not currently have.
You can’t expect your natural hair regimen to promote health and growth if you won’t commit any financial resources to the endeavor.
Start with a budget you can easily afford.
Furthermore, shop around to take advantage of sales, coupons, and rewards when making purchases.
Also, frequent low-cost retailers for products when possible.
Educate Yourself to Support a Healthy Hair Routine for Natural Hair
Learning about Natural Hair Care Constitutes the Foundation of Your Regimen.
Trying to construct a natural hair regimen without adequate research equates to striving to put together a bookcase without the instructions.
This knowledge acquisition stage helps you to uncover the products, methods, tools, and tricks you need while showing you the obstacles to avoid with your natural hair.
Ultimately, your natural hair routine will grow in strength as your knowledge of natural hair care increases.
Your Education Is an On-going Process, Not A One and Done.
A wealth of information exists about healthy hair routines.
As people innovate and continue to experiment, better products and methods (or old ones made new again) present themselves in the natural hair community.
In addition, you never know which new product, method, tool, etc. may present as your unicorn (i.e. the one thing that makes the real difference in your natural hair care regimen).
Taking an on-going approach to your regimen for natural hair health learning gives plenty of opportunities to frequently refresh previous knowledge.
What Basic Components of a Natural Hair Care Regimen Should Garner Focus During the Learning Process?
- Pre-poo (pre-shampoo) – prepares for the washing process; helps to mitigate the effects of shampoo.
- Cleansing – shampooing or co-washing (conditioner-washing) to remove dirt, oils, germs, and debris.
- Clarifying – aids the cleansing process to remove leftover product build-up, other residues, etc. and/or detoxify the hair and scalp.
- Conditioning/Deep Conditioning – adds moisture and emollients back to the hair after cleansing and clarifying; helps to close the hair cuticle.
- Moisture Sealing – methods to help lock the moisture from conditioning into the hair shaft to preserve moisture balance; helps to set a foundation for styling.
- Styling – arranging your hair to make it presentable for the world; in general, naturals will want to avoid heat and choose styles that require little to no manipulation on a daily basis.
- Moisturizing – done between wash days to assist with maintaining proper moisture balance within the hair.
- Treatments – processes integrated into a natural hair routine to address problems, boost growth, nourish, color, and/or fortify the hair.
Follow These Strategies to Make Your Best Natural Hair Education a Reality.
You will find your best start on YouTube.
Its videos contain lots of natural hair tutorials, product reviews, and general information to positively impact your journey.
Some of my favorite channels include the following:
Furthermore, another helpful source for natural hair care information are blogs like this one.
Blogs usually provide more in-depth explanations than what can be covered in a short video.
Additionally, many blogs also offer free resources, such as newsletters, e-books, planners, DIY product recipes, and checklists to help support your natural hair journey.
Moving on, Instagram and Pinterest can give even more assistance during natural hair education.
The visual nature of the sites tends to provide a good platform for good old fashion hair inspiration.
You can find an obscene number of natural hairstyles on both sites and both are excellent for quick tips.
Trial and Error in a Healthy Hair Routine for Natural Hair
A Natural Hair Regimen Will Never Flourish without Trial and Error, i.e. Practice.
Earlier we established that every head of hair is unique.
Practice helps you determine exactly what will and will not work with your distinctive natural hair.
Trial and error also provide opportunities to naturally build backups into your journey.
These may include products you may use infrequently but work well, go-to styles for an unruly hair day, and replacements for discontinued products.
We Learn Best from Mistakes.
Having something go wrong forces us to utilize our excellent problem-solving skills to reach solutions leading to better natural hair success in the long run.
For example, I recently performed what I would call a natural hair mistake involving chia seeds in a hair mask.
The experience taught me two things.
Lesson 1 . . . My hair loves chia seeds, as evidenced by the extreme moisture and revitalization my hair experienced after the mask.
Lesson 2 . . . Small seeds and coily hair do not mix, as demonstrated by the 2 hours it took me to remove all the seeds from my hair.
However, I did walk away with a better solution for the future.
Purchase chia seed oil and use it from now on when I want chia in a mask.
Start the Experimentation Process Early and Come back to It Often.
You’ve done your research and hopefully have received some excellent inspiration, so begin incorporating what you have learned into your healthy natural hair routine.
Experiment with different, products, tools, techniques, styles and accessories.
Then, keep at it . . . it may require a little time to find the best mix of products, techniques, and styles for your natural hair.
Now, I have a few words of caution.
Avoid becoming a product junkie, or a person who has to try every new product and often has a large overflow of merchandise they will never use again.
All this does is waste money and space.
Next, give yourself adequate time to see if a product will work for you.
Try new products at least 3 times, unless you suffer adverse effects or it requires you to do something you know you won’t do again (like my 2 hours pulling out chia seeds), before deciding whether you like or dislike a product.
Lastly, remain realistic in your expectations.
Especially in a new natural hair care routine, desired results may not come as quickly as you want.
Remember, you may not have achieved optimal natural hair health, acquired the proficiency to pull off certain techniques, or identified the best products for your hair at this stage.
Healthy Hair Routine for Natural Hair: Document Your Plan and Progress
Having Written Documentation Keeps You on the Straight and Narrow.
Your plan provides the roadmap to attaining your natural hair goal(s).
We will come back to goals in just a second.
The regimen design you create will make it much easier to keep yourself consistent and accountable.
Moreover, you can track your successes and challenges along the way.
Documenting Can Assist with Streamlining Your Natural Hair Care Efforts.
Keeping a record of your plan and progress allows you to avoid reusing products you may have tried in the past with failed results.
Additionally, it can refresh your memory to keep you from making technique-related mistakes more than once.
The best thing . . . once you have a robust plan that works, you can just implement it over and over again to promote natural hair health and growth.
Don’t Neglect Goalsetting.
According to Inc., you have a 42% better chance at success if you write down your goals.
Your goals need to be crafted as SMART ones – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.
As you think about what you want to achieve, consider targets for the short-, medium-, and long-term.
Construct the goals for the short-term ones to feed into the medium-term, which would feed into the long-term targets.
Furthermore, it’s best not to focus all your goals on hair growth.
These often take time to achieve, and you want to experience some quick wins early.
If you are doing what you need to do, your length will take care of itself.
What Resources Can You Use to Plan and Stay on Track?
Populating a natural hair calendar provides an excellent way to know what to do when and keep notes on products and hairstyles.
It also gives flexibility because it can be either hardcopy or electronic.
Alternatively, you may choose to utilize a task manager, which I describe as an electronic “to do” list with dates.
Task managers offer the same basic benefits as a natural hair calendar.
If you want to go the task manager route, Any.do or Asana (the one I personally use for work, home, and in between) should fit the bill.
What About Documenting Your Progress Toward Goals?
While you can document your progress in either your natural hair calendar or task manager, another method exists to better help you track your progress.
A hair diary allows you to keep detailed notes on what you did, any problems you encountered, how you resolved them, and your goals.
The diary can take various low-tech or high-tech forms:
- Journal notebook
- Notes on your smartphone or computer
- An application on your smartphone, such as The Hair Diary
- Excel, which is particularly helpful if you want to statistically analyze your progress (i.e., how many times did you actually hit your target; what’s my actual hair growth rate compared to the average, etc.)
Correct Mistakes and Enhance through Time for the Best Healthy Hair Routine for Natural Hair
Corrections and Small Changes Form the Basis of Continuous Improvement of Your Natural Hair Regimen.
Correcting mistakes helps you avoid doing damage to your hair, which may present a future challenge to correct.
In addition, your hair will experience changes over time, which require the addition of new products and techniques to keep hair looking and feeling its best.
Enhancements to your natural hair regimen also support you in reaching your hair goals.
Correction and Enhancement Prevent Your Routine for Natural Hair Health to Suffer from Stagnation.
Changing things can also inject some fun and excitement back into your natural hair journey.
For example, new hairstyles provide effortless ways to keep you from getting too bored.
Shopping for and trying new products always helps me break up the monotony.
Moreover, implementing corrections and enhancements in your hair routine for healthy natural hair almost forces you to keep up with your natural hair education.
You will have to do additional research to solve your problems and gather information on new ways to get to the head of natural hair you desire.
So, What’s a Good Plan for Continually Improving Your Natural Hair Routine?
Address mistakes as they occur by resolving any unsavory results with your natural hair.
Most importantly . . . don’t repeat your mistakes.
Next, you will want to build new goals on top of your previous ones.
The philosophy aligns with the short-term feeds medium-term feeds long-term goals.
Furthermore, it happens to follow the natural progression of your hair journey.
Another item to consider for your natural hair regimen continuous improvement would be making upgrades at set intervals.
You may ponder adding a new rinse, mask, or other relevant treatment every 3 months.
Alternatively, you may decide to replace an existing product in your regimen with an item that performs better.
Finally, use the information you keep on your progress to guide your changes.
Focus your enhancements on the things you noted in your documentation as successes, such as:
- Increased growth or length retention
- Decreased damage or dryness
- Increased manageability
- Things that saved time and/or money
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Final Thoughts
You can easily start on your way to a new natural hair regimen.
Additionally, having a systematic approach to designing your hair routine helps remove confusion and overcomplication.
When you center your healthy hair routine for natural hair around commitment, learning, practicing, planning, and continuous improvement, you create the best environment for success.
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How to Win at Building Your Healthy Hair Routine for Natural Hair.
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