How to take care of your afro

Before we get into the content of this blogpost let me clear up something. We might all have afros, but our textures are not all the same. 

Your natural hair is your own.

 You might experience slight differences in result from what I get for the same amount of effort. 

Particularly with hair products. Different products may work well with some textures than others.

You need to own and embrace your own texture.  Experiment with your hair and find out what works best for it. 

Managing an afro is one of the biggest frustrations people have.  You can’t comb it, you can’t tame it, heck can’t do anything with it. 

However, it is not a lost cause. 

There are a lot of things you can do to your hair to make it manageable.  Some very tedious, but very much effective and some very easy and also effective. 

Both of these do require some amount of discipline and dedication. In this post, I am going to tell you how to manage your hair with the least amount of effort possible.  Let’s get right into it!

Braid/twist and wrap your hair before you sleep.

Braiding or twisting and wrapping your hair up when you sleep can do wonders for your hair. 

The aim is to reduce tangling, matting and shrinkage that can occur when you sleep.

Wrapping your head with a silk or satin scarf helps to reduce moisture loss from your hair when you sleep. 

Silk or satin fabrics will not absorb the moisture on your hair as opposed to your pillow and blankets. 

However, if you have a silk or satin fabric pillow, you can be exempted from wrapping your head—god knows it can get itchy and hot in there. 

Note that you will still need to braid your hair regardless.

Moisturize your hair with water and oil

This is a pretty basic or fundamental way of moisturizing your hair.  It is quick and easy,  and it makes it easy for you to comb your hair. 

Water is the best moisturizer for afros, and we use oils to seal in that moisture so that it does not escape as soon as it is put in. 

Just spray your hair with water (do not drench your hair) and then follow it up with an oil or a butter of your choice. Use an afro pick to comb your afro to perfection and vioalla! 

You have a soft fluffy afro to show off. 

Some of my favorite oils include:

Jamaican black castor oil, Extra virgin olive oil, and amla oil. 

Shea butter is also a very good butter sealant. Probably the best!

Click here to for more products to try.

The only downside to this method of moisturization is that moisture makes afro shrink. 

When your hair dries, and the moisture gets absorbed into the cuticle of your hair… it will shrink! 

It will still be soft and fluffy but shrunken. 

 But you already know that natural hair shrinks. That is just what it does. 

If you want to rock an afro look, you must appreciate the shrinkage because quite frankly, I think there wouldn’t be afro without shrinkage. Shrinkage is the ‘defying of gravity’ property that our hair has. 

So, let’s just embrace it.
Dare to make this your daily regimen and be impressed.

Remember that finding out what works for your hair is an experiment. Try different products, try different techniques and just find out what works best for your hair. 

Finally, drink lots of water, it is not just good for your health in general, but also reflects on your hair. 

When you take care of yourself, then your hair reaps the benefits too.

What is your regimen? how do you keep your hair moisturized?