how to care for african american natural hair

Having natural hair is a wonderful thing.  Not only do you look great, but you can feel good knowing that its natural state is the best way for your hair to stay beautiful for years to come.  However, you might wonder how to care for African American natural hair.  You might be haunted by visions of an out of control Afro.  However, if you take certain steps to care for your hair, you should be able to enjoy a natural head of hair with very little hassle.

The first rule of keeping beautiful hair is to keep it moisturized.  There are two things that you should do, one in the morning and one at night.  Right before you go to bed, take a few minutes and do an oil massage.  Take a dollop of coconut oil and rub it into your scalp.  Then finger comb the oil into your hair.  Press it into all the strands until your hair has been coated.  Then wrap your hair up in a scarf so all the good oil stays in while you are sleeping.  Next, when you wake up in the morning, before you even think about styling you hair, take a small spray bottle of ordinary water and wet down your hair.  Don’t soak it; just spray it down until it is moist.  Let it evaporate while you’re eating breakfast and then style it as you would normally do.  You’ll quickly find that hydrated hair is much easier to manage than dry hair.

Next, you need to combat the demon of split ends.  These come from dry hair that breaks when improperly styled.  First of all, you need to get rid of any metal brushes you may have.  Those things just rip through your hair and cause a lot of damage.  Finger comb as much as you can or use a soft bristled brush like the ones make out of boar’s bristles.  You should also try to style your hair with as little heat as possible.  Heat can also make your hair brittle.  If you do need to use heat, try to use products with shea butter in them to hold your hair in place.  Then you can keep the style that you like without damaging your hair over much.  Essentially, how to care for African American natural hair is all about keeping it hydrated.