Basic Tips For Healthy, Thick, & Long Natural Hair
In many cultures around the world, healthy and luscious hair
is one of the signs of good health in both women and men. This also applies to
scalp hair and facial hair for men.
Most people have come to the conclusion that kinky hair doesn't grow or at least at a fast pace. Many believe that genetics is the only reason why their hair isn't growing. People often ignore and overlook other factors that encourage hair growth and retention.
Hair health is equally as important as hair styling. Healthy and beautiful hair is considered to be thick, long, and lustrous.
Here are some tips to make your hair healthy, long, and thick so you can rock every hairstyle you desire:
1.) Handling Your Hair
When handling hair there are two areas you should focus on;
*The handling technique
* Frequency of styling your hair
Handling technique
This is all about how you comb your hair, how much tension you apply to your hair when styling it, and the hair tools you use.
Combing
When combing your hair, for instance, start combing from your ends all the way to the roots of your hair. You can use a detangler to soften and quicken the detangling process. You can use store-bought detanglers or homemade ones. If it's on your wash day you can use some regular old-fashioned conditioner.
Aloe Vera gel is an amazing natural detangler, for natural hair. It has many benefits for your hair, plus you get to save some coins. Apart from its many perks, Aloe Vera has an unpleasant smell. You'd be better off using it on your wash day as a pre-poo or when using the greenhouse method to grow out your hair.
When styling your hair, Castor oil or even Jasmin oil can also be great detanglers. Bear in mind that castor oil is thicker so use it with caution to avoid ruining your clothes.
For more safe hair detangling tips check out:
5 Amazing detangling ingredients you need in your
regimen
How to Properly Detangle 4C Hair Without Breaking it
Styling
When styling hair, be keen on the tension you apply to your hair roots, shaft, and ends. Pay more attention to your roots and ends. A well-done hairstyle doesn't have to be a tight one.
Tight hairstyles damage your roots and hair follicles and also snap your hair shaft. They also choke your ends. So be gentle and apply some TLC (tender loving care) on that mane.
Check the hair tools you are using when managing your hair as these also determine the health of your hair. Using the wrong hair tools is a sure way one loses hair without even knowing it.
When choosing combing tools for kinky hair, the bigger the gaps between the teeth of the comb, the better. If your hair is straightened on flat ironed, feel free to use a fine-tooth comb. Never use a fine-tooth comb on kinky hair, ever! It is abominable!
Get to know about Must-Have Hair Tools For Every Woman of Color With Natural Hair
Styling/ Handing Frequency
Optimize hair growth by reducing the frequency of handling it. Try as much as you can to keep your hands out of your hair. Let it be. You can use protective styles to help you look good and keep your hair growing. Good hair products also help the protective style to last longer.
Over-manipulating your hair can disrupt the hair growth process. It weakens the shaft, and especially the ends of the hair, which are the oldest, causing them to break off. This is the major reason why most people think that their hair isn't growing.
When growing out your hair, focus on two main goals, the actual growth and retaining the hair on your head.
2.) Hair Products
Different hair types thrive on different kinds of hair products.
For type 4 hair, hair products with a creamy and slippery consistency are ideal. They make hair more manageable and even enjoyable to handle. They also help to reduce breakage. This means that your hair will have the care and attention it needs to grow healthy, thick, and long.
You also want to pay attention to what your hair products should not have. Look out for sulfates, parabens, formaldehyde, and isopropyl alcohol. These compounds dry out and damage your hair a great deal. These kinds of chemicals actually cause weakening and breakage of type 4 hair.
Nourishing Natural Ingredients for Black Hair
Top 10 Ingredients to Look For in Natural Hair
Products
15 Ingredients to Avoid in Natural Hair Products
Top natural hair products in Kenya
3.) Reduce/ Avoid Heat
Heat is one of the greatest enemies of all kinds of hair. Even animal or pet hair! Reduce and if possible avoid heat on your hair like a plague! Heat damage to your hair can be irreversible, and might even cause you to chop off all your hair. This can take you quite far back in your hair growth journey.
When you must use heat, make sure you apply some heat protectant product to your hair. Even so, ensure that you apply the lowest setting of heat. You'll still get the results you are looking for.
There are some non-heat and non-chemical methods and products you can use to style your hair. They help to reduce the task and the risk of applying any heat or excessive heat on your tresses. For example, you can style your hair when wet, then allow it to air dry. You can also use a diffuser and attach it to your blow dryer.
Heat-Styling Tools That Won’t Fry Your Hair
Best heat protectant hair products that prevent damage
4.) Hair Oils
There are two major categories of hair oils. Essential oils and carrier oils. Both types perform important and unique roles in the growth and health of your hair. Both types of oils are extracted from plants.
Essential oils are more concentrated, so you might want to dilute them. This is where the carrier oils come in. Some examples of carrier oils are olive oil, coconut oil, and castor oils. Essential oils include rosemary oil, tea tree oil, and lavender oil.
Hair growth oils are amazing for hot oil treatments. You can use them for greenhouse method treatments. You can also warm them up for your Ayurvedic scalp massages which help to speed up hair growth. Use the double boiler method to warm the oils. I like to make a cocktail of different essential and carrier oils in large batches.
Essential oils can get quite pricy. To make your own DIY growth oil, mix different carrier oils or use one type and infuse some potent herbs in the oil(s). You can use herbs like rosemary, fenugreek, lavender, and aloe vera, among many others. This is my absolute go-to.
15 Best Oils For Healthy Hair Growth & Thickness
5.) Ayurvedic Scalp Massages & Head Inversion
When trying to grow out your hair, massaging your scalp is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Ayurveda has some of the best head massaging techniques that promote hair growth.
There are different types of Ayurvedic head massage techniques. Inverting your head downwards is one simple yet effective way to speed up the growth of your hair. It involves laying on your bed and bending your head over on the edge of the bed. From that position, gently massage your scalp using a hot oil treatment.
You can also invert your head downwards when standing or sitting. Bend the top half of your body frontwards and downwards, then begin to massage with the hot oil. Both of these techniques encourage blood to flow to the scalp. The blood carries oxygen and nutrients that promote hair growth.
Here are some tips on how to give yourself a great scalp massage:
Everything You Need To Know About Scalp Massages (And Yes, It
Really Helps Hair Grow!)
6.) Deep Conditioning Treatments
Deep conditioning at least weekly or bi-weekly makes hair strong and more manageable. This helps to achieve results of thick, long, and healthy hair fast.
Depending on the porosity of your hair, you may or may not need to apply heat to your hair while deep conditioning it. There are two main types of deep conditioning treatments, each with different benefits.
* The protein deep conditioning treatment
* The cholesterol deep conditioning treatment.
The protein deep conditioning treatment strengthens your hair. The cholesterol deep conditioning treatment moisturizes, repairs, nourishes, and restores damaged hair. You can alternate between the two methods to get the most benefits in the long run. Both methods enable you to manipulate your hair with ease.
You can also whip up ingredients found in your kitchen to make a good DIY deep conditioning mask. The good ol' egg, avocado, and banana mix work wonders on hair. Flaxseed gel, aloe vera gel, and fenugreek paste also give amazing results. What you eat should also be good to apply to your hair, so eat right!
DIY Homemade Deep Conditioners Deep Conditioners That Add Serious Moisture to Natural Hair
7.) Protective Styling
You may have heard by now that protective styles are the way to go when trying to grow out your hair. Yet, not all "protective" styles are protective, in fact, they may be more damaging than helpful.
To know whether a style is good or damaging, there are a few things you'll have to consider. Check if your edges are tight and if your hair appears dry and weak when you take it out. Also, if you need to refresh/ re-do your hair often, its somewhat beets the logic of a protective style.
Protective styles should help you reduce how many times you manipulate hair. A good protective hairstyle allows you to moisturize your hair. Moisture and products should be able to reach your hair even when you're still wearing the style.
40 Protective Styles for Black Hair
8.) Eat Right
I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "you are what you eat". Well, let's take it a little deeper. You are actually what you absorb. The health of your gut directly affects the health of every part of your body, and your hair is no exception.
Even though hair and nails are made up of dead cells, our diet plays a significant role in how well they grow. The ideal diet for healthy, hair consists of lots of proteins, vegetables, and fruits.
Hair is made up of 95% Keratin which is actually a kind of protein. Fruits provide the nutrients that hair needs to grow and thrive.
30 Best and Worst Foods for Hair Growth
Foods That Fight Hair Loss and Support Thick, Healthy Hair,
According to a Dietitian
9.) Drink Water
If you're trying to grow out your hair, it's definitely a good idea to drink lots of water throughout the day. Water helps to flush out the toxins from your gut and body so that you can absorb nutrients better. It also helps your hair to have a more lustrous appearance and be more flexible.
Drinking water is inevitable if you're looking to have healthy hair. If you don't like the blunt taste of water, you can try adding a few healthy additives to make it taste better. You could drop in a few slices of cucumber, lemon, mint, or strawberries, whatever you fancy. Always make sure you get a good amount of water in your body. Most health experts advise taking eight glasses a day, with breaks in between.
AWESOME BENEFITS OF DRINKING WATER FOR HAIR
10.) Exercise
Moving your body often helps to increase blood flow to the head and upper region of the body. This means that the scalp gets an adequate supply of more oxygenated blood. Oxygenated blood carries good nutrients for hair growth.
Exercising also helps to release good hormones or happy hormones. These hormones reduce stress and also have a positive effect on hair growth.
The Best Way to Exercise for Hair Growth:
Complete How-to Guide
Simple & Best Exercises For Hair Growth Faster At Home
11.) Manage and Reduce Stress
Excessive stress has a detrimental effect on hair growth, health, and retention. Stress is inevitable. Everyone gets exposed to stressful situations at some point in their lives.
There are many reasons why one should learn to manage and reduce stress. One reason is to grow a beautiful and luscious head of hair. Stress makes your body release large amounts of "bad" hormones. When released in excess, these hormones can be harmful and even cause damage to your hair.
Your body needs to be in a state of balance and so do your emotions. Also, be sure to look after your mental health. Guard your heart. You can also try exercising for stress relief. It helps to release good hormones that are good for your hair.
If left unchecked or unmanaged stress can cause hair to thin out and even break off more easily. Give yourself a break often to repair, recharge, and reset. You'll be surprised at how much this can help your hair and overall health thrive.
Hair Loss And Stress: How They’re Linked, & Ways To Treat It
12.) Sleep
Last but not least, you need to get your beauty sleep. Your body heals, repairs, and recharges the most when you're asleep. Your hair also benefits when you sleep.
Organs that supply the hair with nutrients perform their best during sleeping hours. Doctors recommend adequate sleep that lasts for about 7 - 8 hours.
This Is How Getting More Sleep Affects Hair Growth, According to a
Sleep Doctor
Conclusion
With the right information, practice, and patience, growing your hair can be quite easy and stress-free. Always remember that all types and kinds of hair grow. Getting a full head of long and healthy hair is all about hair growth and retention.
For questions or suggestions about type 4 hair, feel free to share them in the comment section below. Also, check out these blogs for more tips on how to handle your hair for maximum thickness, length, and health:
Best Ways to Promote Length Retention for 4C Hair
From Root to Crown: Unleashing the Potential of 4C Hair for Growth and Strength
From Root to Tip: The Delicious Diet for Long & Thick Hair
Go forth and grow thy hair!
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