Grow Long Black Hair (Part 1)

Hey y’all. Been a minute I know. Hope you are all well? I’ve wanted to post this up for a while but I have just been too lazy to start. I’m still trying to get the hang of blogging and want to try to stick to a particular routine. Please forgive me if it is still irregular I’m still trying to get comfortable with work. Going straight into it, this post is about how to grow black hair. Is there some magic mixture that makes your hair grow in weeks? Or does it simply require patience? In this post I will break down the basic needs of black hair into points to help YOU understand what aspects of hair care you have been doing correctly; and those that negatively affect the hair.

Disclaimer: These methods work for me and I have arrived at them due to thorough research from the internet and books. I am not a professional hair specialist; so feel free to disregard some of my statements.

I tried to narrow these points down to just ten basic tips but it turned out to be a little over that: D *embarrassed* So this post will be stretched out over three parts. Having cleared that, let’s get started.

No. 1: Moisture

This part of black hair care can never be over emphasised. Hair produces an oily waxy matter called sebum and because of the tight coils of our hair, the sebum is not able to travel down to the ends of the hair to adequately nourish it. This is why we need to devise means to moisturise these needed areas.

3 Basic Ways to add moisture to hair

1.       Moisturise and seal: This process involves the use of a water-based moisturiser and an oil or butter as a sealant. Water-based moisturisers usually have “aqua (water)” listed as the first ingredient. Any “supposed” moisturiser that does not have this listed first, is probably not a moisturiser but a sealant. Such moisturisers include: WATER itself, leave-in conditioners and other water-based products. An oil or butter, such as shea butter or olive oil is used to seal i.e. placed on the hair after the moisturiser. This should be done every day or every other day depending on hair needs.

2.       Pre-poo treatment: A treatment that should be done before “shamPOO-ing”. It basically involves adding oil, conditioner or both (like me) before shampooing. The essence of this is so that the sulphate contained in the shampoo does not strip the hair of its natural moisture. This is an essential step for retaining moisture.

        

3.       Deep condition: What Nigerians know as steaming, involves an intense moisture/protein treatment. It is usually left in for 15 minutes to an hour. Always deep condition on every hair wash day. More details on request.

     

     No. 2: Moisture/Protein balance

Though so much emphasis has been laid on how important moisture is, too much of it can leave the hair feeling soggy and overly elastic. This is where the use of protein treatments comes in. Simply put when your hair feels dry you need a moisture treatment and if it is soggy you’ll need a protein treatment. This is why it is always best to alternate between moisture and protein treatments on wash days.

No. 3: Avoid Excess Direct Heat

The use of hair straighteners, blow dryers and other forms of direct heat should be reduced to a great minimum. These appliances cause the hair to dry up and eventually break. Direct heat should not be used more frequently than once a month; the farther away from heat you are the better for your hair except steamers and hooded hair dryers of course which are not damaging to hair. Steamers are used for deep condition treatments for better penetration into the hair shafts.

So that’s it for this part. Hopefully next week I’ll post the second part. Here is the link to Lade's consultation service details as promised. Have a lovely weekend.