I know y'all are crying because this is my last hair blog, I am too. I've had so much fun writing these and really hope it had a positive impact on your relationship with your hair.
To close this series out, I asked my followers what other questions y'all had. So this blog is dedicated to anything and everything that I did not mention in previous ones. I will offer hair tips, include pictures of unique hairstyles to inspire y'all to try something new this week, and I'll also include my favorite hair tools at the end.
HAIR TIPS
You don't need to retwist or rebraid your hair every night. I would never recommend redoing your hair every day. That's a lot of work for you and a lot of manipulation to your hair.
Doing the same style over and over and over again may change your hair. I had to learn this from experience. I used to wear my hair in twists alllllllll the time and eventually I noticed my hair started looking thinner and flatter when I took the twists out. I think it took about 2 years, so it wasn't immediate, but I realized I needed to reduce how often I twisted my hair so that the texture and thickness wouldn't change. I think that as you do hairstyles consistently, your hair learns and adapts just as you do. Your hair trains itself. Try your best to switch it up if you notice negative changes to your hair.
Try tea rinses if you notice your hair is shedding more often than usual. Check out my favorite youtubers blog if you're looking for a video tutorial.
Day 2 / Day 3 Hair: For me, I maintain my styles through the way I sleep. Many people sleep with their hair in a pineapple (a ponytail on top of your head) and love that to maintain their curls. I tried a pineapple once and it did not work for me. My hair stays in whichever position I put it in, so if I want to wear my hair down the following day, sleeping in a pineapple does the opposite of lay it down.
- Embrace the volume, frizz, and big hair as the days go by! "Your hair isn't blocking the view, it IS the view."
- When I am trying to reshape my hair after sleeping on it, I spritz a little bit of water (not drench) and put some oil on my hair. You can use a leave in conditioner or gel to fix your hair on these days, but I don't like to put more product on top of the product that I already used from other days so that decision is up to you. It may lead to more product build up.
- If your day 3 hair is messy you can find unique ways to style your hair if you feel like you can't wear it down. Half up and half down, braids, twists, buns, scarves, etc.
Use HAIR SCISSORS to trim your hair, nothing else. Only use hair scissors on your hair. Using it to cut other things will ruin the scissors and then in return will ruin your hair lol. I always trim my hair myself (cause I don't trust stylists... more info on my experience at salons in this blog) and my goal is to trim 3 times a year (but let's be honest I forget). Trimming is just as important for retaining length and taking care of your hair as shampoo and conditioning is.
Protective Styling: It's only a protective style if you are not consistently touching your hair and you are still taking care of your hair. If you get box braids, keep them in for 2 months, and do nothing to your scalp or hair... I'm not sure what was protected. My favorite and most common protective style is mini-twists. They are easy to do and last a long time. My second is box braids / Senegalese twists with extensions. I also like
crochet styles, because you still have access to your scalp and it's easy and quick to put in. Lastly, wigs are a great go-to. You can take them on and off and have access to your hair. Just remember to continue to CARE for your hair while in the protective style.
I do want to get locs eventually! My hair takes a lot of time and care, so realistically I can see myself starting locs in my mid-30's when I may have a family and my life will be busier.
LENGTH CHECK: People often ask how you can grow your hair, but your hair is always growing. The more important question is how can you retain length. Here are my quick keys:
- Hair growth starts at the scalp. Make sure you SCALP is clean and consistently cleansed, healthy hair starts here.
- Deep condition consistently. This helps your hair to stay moisturized rather than being dry and breaking off.
- Use your fingers to detangle more than combs. Combs forcefully separate your hair and leads to breakage. If you don't have to, why do it?
- Low manipulation hairstyles. If you are always changing your style, always have your hands in your hair, always wearing your hair out... it just wears it down. Keep your hair in protective styles (but still care for your hair in that protective style) and always wear a satin bonnet / satin pillowcase when sleeping. Protect your hair from the environment.
- Use minimal heat. Heat damages your hair when used at high temperatures or used too often, try out different ways to stretch your hair.
- Take care of your ends. The ends of your hair are the oldest hairs. Tuck them away, you don't have to wear your hair out everyday. Treat your ends with extra care and trim your hair. It's discouraging when you have to trim but know that ultimately it will lead to more growth because you are making room for healthy hair and it's easier to detangle! If you don't trim your hair there will be single strand knots and dead ends that will eventually break off. Your styles will also look better with trimmed ends.
You can always substitute braids for twists or twists for braids in styles. You can even just roll your hair back and bobby pin it. Don't get discouraged if you see a hairstyle with braids but can only twist or vice versa. Also don't ever limit yourself to the mindset of "I can't braid, I'll ask someone else." You can braid, trust me. You just need practice. Start on a mannequin head and slowly transition into doing it on your own head. #NoLimits
Always use a heat protectant when blowing out or straightening your hair.
FAVORITE HAIR TOOLS
Shampoo Brush - This is great because my hair is so thick and sometimes my fingers struggle to actually find my scalp. It's really cheap and can also be used for massaging your scalp during hot oil treatments.
Hot Head Deep Conditioning Cap - I've been using this from the beginning of my natural hair journey and always will. All you have to do is microwave the cap. You can get one here.
Spray Bottle - I use this more than anything else I own. Rather than drenching my hair I can spray the amount I need.
Hair Clips - This is a necessity when sectioning your hair to shampoo, condition, or style.
Revlon One Step Blow Dryer - This blow dryer is in the shape of the brush and makes it much easier for me to blow my hair out. It doesn't get your hair laid, but it does the job. It's a lot quicker than other methods.
Humidifier - I have never used a humidifier, but applying products with heat helps your hair to absorb moisture better, so I feel comfortable recommending this even without using it. Since I use the deep conditioning cap I haven't felt the need to buy a humidifier, but I may purchase one in the future.
Elastic Hair Ties - You can DIY a whole bunch of these for cheap if you buy "Fold Over" elastic at Michaels. Here is a link to a DIY youtube video. It takes at most 5 minutes to make them.
Head Wrap - There will be days that you 100% won't like your hair and won't know what to do with it. For those days, I whip out my head wrap. They are versatile and quick to wrap your hair in.
Wide Tooth Comb - If for some reason I actually want to use a comb instead of my fingers, this is what I am using. Always detangle your hair when WET.
Rat Tail Comb - I only use this comb for parting my hair when I need a really CLEAANNNN part. I'm not sure who uses these tiny combs for actually combing their hair but I know that I would be bald if I ever decided to try it.
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