Low Manipulation Hair Regimen to Promote Growth: Fine Hair Care

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Last updated on April 14th, 2024 at 07:28 pm

When it comes to a daily natural hair regimen, it’s a good practice to revise your regimen twice a year (fall/winter and spring/fall). As someone who has fine hair, I’ve discovered that I retain much more moisture when I do it this way.

If you’re looking for a daily natural hair regimen that prevents dry hair and excess hair loss because of over-manipulation, then give this low manipulation haircare routine shared below a shot.

After years of trial and error, I truly believe I’ve finally “arrived” at a solid and simple natural regimen that’s low manipulation and promotes hair growth.

After more than 1/2 a year chronicling the wash days on my curly hair in great detail, there are certain tried and true hair routines that work to stop hair breakage and encourage length retention. Below I share a daily routine that you can easily follow as long as you can put your hair in a bun.

Key Factors for a Healthy Hair Routine

For a healthy hair care routine, there’s certain key factors to keep in mind:

• Moisture is key to preventing dry hair
• Hydration occurs when you deep condition.
• Use heat to deep condition. This is the only time you aren’t at risk of getting heat damage
• A protein treatment every now and again is key to preventing weak hair
• Use the right products for your hair’s porosity and hair health
• Lean toward using natural hair products
• Ingredients matter. Make sure your cleanser, deep conditioner, leave-in conditioner, and styler contain the ingredients that will nourish and not strip your hair of its natural oil
• Use natural oils to seal in moisture (albeit temporarily)

Sample Daily Routine Based on Low Manipulation

This haircare routine can be done regardless of the type of hair you have (4 C hair girls too!) products you use. In fact, it’s best that you use the products that work for your hair’s porosity, curl pattern etc. I mention the hair products that I use just for reference.

I also start on a Friday or Saturday but you can adjust this haircare routine for whatever suits your schedule.

The only thing to note is if you are taking your hair out of one of those long term protective styles, the best way to start your hair wash days is to remove shed hairs. Otherwise, those lone ranger hair strands will tangle and maybe even cause the rest of your hair damage.

Friday or Saturday

• The first step: Split hair into 4-6 sections, spritzing each section lightly with warm water (to favor my low porosity hair) followed by applying a pre-poo. (For my hair, I use one of my natural oils like coconut oil or olive oil and combine it with fresh cut aloe vera which I pulse in a food processor).
  
• Then, put hair into loose bantu knots, allowing it to marinate under a plastic cap or shower cap. Alternatively, you can use a plastic bag but it may not generate enough warmth.
  
• While rinsing out the pre-poo, lightly finger detangle
  
• After about an hour, shampoo (scalp only) with a sulfate-free shampoo to prevent stripping hair of its natural oil. If you notice product buildup, use a clarifying shampoo or clay wash.
  
• Use a protein treatment if needed. For herbal hair care, alternate protein treatments with a henna gloss every two weeks.
  
• On damp hair, work a deep conditioner from root to ends of your hair. Then, and allow your hair to marinate under a heat source for best results.
  
• Apply a diluted rinse-out conditioner over your deep conditioning treatment and rinse them out together. (this is a gold star tip I learned from a friend of mine, Shelli)
  
• Finger detangle followed by using a wide-tooth comb for complete detangling while you’re washing out the sections.
  
• Use the LOC, LCO (or replace the oil with a butter if you have high porosity hair) method to seal and further style

Every wash day I deep condition either solo or after my strengthening treatment.

• Moisturize and seal using the LOC, LCO or LCOC method (this depends on what your hair likes best as well as the climate you are in). Set hair in 10-15 twists (based on your hair’s density). Allow hair to air dry.

• At night, band the twists in two to four ponytails (4 if your hair is shorter). For a more gentle stretch, use satin scrunchies in place of elastic bands. This will stretch your curly hair. Its best to stretch natural curls to prevent tangling and breakage.
  
• Tie it all down with a scarf.

Sunday

• In the morning, for a twist out release twists, fluff hair and smooth edges with a hair butter like Mango Butter or Shea Butter. For a stronger hold, layer with a light coating of alcohol-free gel.
  
• At night, oil scalp and massage without disturbing the style (curls that have been set with the twists). Tie it all down with a scarf. No need to band the hair again on this day.

No detangling & very little manipulation on this day.

Monday

• In the morning, either rock the loose hair or put hair in a bun (including twists if you choose not to release them for a twist out).
  
• At night, scalp massage and following the prior day’s routine

No detangling & very little manipulation on this day.

Tuesday

• Repeat Monday’s morning routine.
  
• At night spritz hair with water (or a spray moisturizer) and scrunch in a little light weight hair oil.
  
• Band your hair again after it’s nearly dry to prevent the shrinkage caused by adding water to your hair. If still wearing twists, no need to do anything but moisturize. Seal the ends with a heavier oil like Jamaican Black Castor Oil or a hair butter.
  
• Then, tie down with a scarf.

No detangling & a little handling on this day but only to add moisture and stretch hair.

​Wednesday

• In the morning, remove bands (or twists) and smooth edges with gel/hair butter (optional). Wear hair out in a curly style. Pull it up off your shoulders to make it more protective.
  
• At night, remove any hair accessories if used. Scalp massage and oil strands. Then tie down with a scarf for bed.

No detangling & very little handling on this day.

​Thursday

• In the morning, Fluff and smooth edges. Refresh the gel that’s already there with a little water and tie down. Add a small amount of hair butter if edges are feeling a little dry.

I will usually then wear the back down and top up for a semi-protective style using a Goody Flex Barrette, satin scrunchy or banana clip. This is the only day I do a little manipulating and it’s mostly done in the front when smoothing my hair up.

• At night, release all your hair (including twists/braids) and spritz with a hair tea (make 1 serving from green tea, hibiscus tea or rosemary tea)
  
• Seal and then put your air into a loose bun.

No detangling & slight handling on this day.

​7 Tips for a Successful Daily Natural Hair Regimen:

While you may choose to alter the steps in this sample daily natural hair regimen, there are some key things to follow. These include:

1. Smooth the edges along your hair line with either your fingers or a soft toothbrush.
2. Always tie your hair down with a satin scarf and/or sleep on a satin pillowcase. If you get too hot, nix the scarf and just sleep on the satin pillow case.
3. ​Oiling for 2 days straight after washing helps with itchy scalp & also promotes hair growth.
4. In the cold months, I add a layer of mango or shea butter over my edges after smoothing with gel to prevent hair breakage. However, you can also use a little bit of a hair oil
5. When styling hair in medium sized twists for longer protective styling, the only thing that’s done from day to day is pinning of the twists into a bun (sometimes a different style ie: 1/2 up 1/2 down).
   
   At night, pins are always removed and the oiling/moisturizing/sealing/banding routine remains the same.
   ​
6. Banding the hair a couple of times a week helps keep the hair stretched so that it’s much less tangled on wash day.
   ​
7. ​When life gets in the way (as sometimes it does), wash day may shift to a Thursday or Friday. Every other days shifts but the regimen remain the same.

Monthly Treatments that Promote Hair Growth

The next step in developing your daily natural hair regimen is to add in some monthly healthy hair routines. Below I’m sharing two monthly hair treatments that helped me get past a hair growth plateau.

These treatments are what helped to strengthen my hair and promote hair growth. I don’t do them regularly anymore. Yet, if I ever found myself in need of growing all my hair back, I’d certainly follow this same set of hair routines at the same frequency.

Henna

Using henna on your hair monthly to bi-monthly helps add strength – especially for fine strands. It also helps keep unruly gray hairs at bay.

When I used to do a henna treatment, it was usually a full strength henna but then switched to doing henna glosses. To create a henna gloss, just add a couple tablespoons of pure body art quality henna to a deep conditioner. Then, proceed with conditioning your hair as usual.

When mixing a full strength henna treatment, I don’t typically use acidic mixtures. Yes, it’s recommended but I find that acidic mixtures like lemon juice and teas cause my scalp to rebel. So, I mix with water only. I still get a full dye release. This is more than likely due to using henna with a high lawsone content.

Hair Steaming

In the winter, I add in a monthly hair steaming session using my Q-Redew. This helps gives my hair a nice boost of moisture. I like to steam my hair when it’s dirty just as I’m applying the pre-poo.

Steaming your hair while putting in a pre-poo aids in opening the cuticles so that the pre-poo agent of choice is better absorbed.

Steaming fine natural hair, along with regular low manipulation AND protective styling in the winter helps natural hair to retain length.

Developing your hair care routines doesn’t have to be complicated. It just takes a few minutes each day to give your hair some love. Try the sample daily natural hair regimen I shared above and don’t forget to add in some monthly treatments for best results.

With consistency, you’ll notice longer hair in no time.

Lastly, if you noticed I didn’t share much on the products I use. I saved those for my article on my Essential Hair Products. The purpose of this article was to share more about technique and routine.

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