How to start a hair care routine – kinky curly hair
Ever wondered where to start with hair care? How to go about it? How often to wash and moisturise? What products to use? And will my hair even benefit from all this. There is a lot of information out there already, but it can all be confusing. Starting a hair care routine for kinky hair can be simple.
I’ll talk about each step from shampooing to styling in separate posts to break it down in a logical yet simple way to understand. Welcome to the Hair regimen mini-series!
Overall, the goal is to maintain moisture in your strands and scalp. There is cleansing, conditioning, locking the moisture in and maintenance between hair washes. We’ll kick off with the cleansing step. PS: you don’t need to take a whole day off to wash your hair. Ok, maybe at first. But with time, washing your hair can be done in 2-3 hours. It really depends on your hair type and length. Then everything becomes routine.
Many natural hair enthusiasts recommend pre-pooing. However, I prefer to skip this as it doesn’t really make a difference to me. My hair is type 4a, I suggest a trial-and-error kind of approach. Just take it slow to really understand what works best for your hair.
If you skip this part, you can start off by gently detangling any big knots. Gently! Dry hair is fragile and prone to breakage, take your time. Afterwards, I fully wet my hair and detangle. I find it a lot easier to detangle during this step but feel free to try it after conditioning. This usually takes a few minutes.
I then apply African black soap and massage my hair and scalp, making sure to get to those itchy spots. Shampoo bars are the best, they are easier to use compared to liquid shampoos. They also last longer as you don’t need to use a lot of it. African black soap in particular is moisturising. It doesn’t leave your hair feeling dry and this prevents further tangles from forming. Other shampoo bars I would recommend are Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil, Saru organics and Obia coconut shea shampoo bar.
The only downside to the African black soap is the ashy particles it leaves on hair after rinsing. Therefore, I follow up with Auntie Jackie’s moisturising shampoo. It has a peachy scent that lingers subtly even after rinsing. And yes, it has the main properties we look out for – moisturising. It does not strip the hair dry and leaves it soft. Moreover, by the time you are shampooing for the second, you only need a dollop.
Personally, it all comes down to the moisturising effect when buying shampoos. Oils like castor, shea butter, avocado, coconut are good to look out for. Ingredients to avoid are silicones, phthalates and parabens. However small amounts are fine (usually listed among the last ingredients).
Other shampoos I recommend are:
- African Pride moisture miracle honey and coconut oil shampoo
- Shea Moisture Jamaican black castor oil
- Auntie Jackie’s oh so clean
- Maui moisture curl quench
- JessiCurl gentle lather shampoo
- As I Am Restore and Repair Jamaican black castor oil shampoo
- TGIN sufate free amal and coconut shampoo honey and coconut shampoo
Next time, I’ll dive into the world of conditioners.
