DIY natural hair-care tips to get you through the lockdown

If you’ve become unrecognisable because your natural hair is a mess and you just simply don’t know what to do with it, you’re not alone!

Let’s explore some natural hair-care tips to retain moisture, protect and keep our hair healthy until we can get back to the salon. Yes?

First things first, CLEANLINESS

When was the last time you washed your hair? Normally, natural heads wash their hair between once and twice a week. Some even wash once in 3 weeks. It all depends on the person and what hair style you have, all that matters is that you keep it clean without striping the natural oils.

The issue with waiting too long to wash, is that you may be sweating often and when not deep treating your hair/scalp, a warm and moist scalp breeds unwelcome bacteria. If shampoo is too harsh for your hair, you can try unfiltered apple cider vinegar. It also helps with itchiness and dryness (see below).

Also, if your hair doesn’t keep moisture for long, I’ve found that washing your hair with a conditioner, also know as “co-washing,” might help.

MOISTURE

You need to try your very best to keep your hair sufficiently moisturised. Don’t just take my word for it, listen to these hair-care influencers for the reasons why, as well as how-to:

“Okay, but what about product build-up/dandruff…?”

Some people even use mayonnaise to deep condition their hair.

Local hair influencer, Sinovuyo Mondliwa, once addressed a controversial statement she made when she said “so-called protective hairstyles aren’t actually good for your hair.” When breaking that statement down in one of her YouTube videos, she explained that the word “protective” needs to be used cautiously, as most “protective hairstyles” do not actually protect your hair and scalp.

Ideally, “for a hairstyle to be protective, it should leave your hair  in a much better condition than when you applied it,” she said.

So, here are protective winter hairstyles that we hope may appease the natural hair-care goddesses:

This one’s a little old but works for most LONGER and soft hair types.

This one is a little more updated but more suitable for medium to shoulder length hair types.

And finally… something for the shorter TWA tresses.

Sino also reiterates some of the points we’ve covered here, but speaks particularly to taking care of your hair during the lockdown:

If you feel that this DIY protective natural hair-care post was helpful, please share it with your fellow naturals 🙂