5 Natural Hair Tips for An Effective Hair Regimen
Last updated on August 5th, 2024 at 07:16 pm
Have you been looking for natural hair tips as it relates to your complete natural hair regimen?? I’ve got you covered!
Understanding the unique challenges that come with having fine natural hair, I share many natural hair tips here on Fine Natural Hair and Faith.
In today’s article, I’m sharing a wealth of black hair tips garnered from years of my personal experience and expertise.
It’s been roughly two decades, since I started my natural hair journey. I’ve learned a lot when I started to embrace my God-given curls. Fast forward to today and my fine hair has grown to near waist-length. What supported my hair growth accomplishment is regularly fine tuning my natural hair regimen.
If you’re struggling with your natural hair regimen, below you’ll find helpful tips to get you on the road to renovating it so that it can start working for you and not against you.
5 Reasons to Overhaul Your Natural Hair Regimen
Below you’ll find five reasons that would lead you to overhaul or reset your natural hair regimen along with a solution to address all five of those reasons:
- You’e had a life change
- Your hair has drastically changed
- You’ve decided to go from long to short hair or vice versa
- Hair goals have changed
- Financial circumstances have changed
1. You’ve had a life change
Regardless of your hair type, so much goes into having a successful hair regimen. Those of us with curly hair need to do a bit more to our hair to maintain it’s health. Regardless, if you’ve had a life change you may need to revise your regimen.
For example, if you moved from an apartment to a house (or the other way around), your hair regimen will likely need adjusting. This is because the space in which you store your products and even do your hair will be drastically different.
If you’ve had a baby, your hair regimen will need to change because Lord knows, time available will be a determining factor. Your wash day may need to be shortened or changed altogether.
2. Your natural hair has changed drastically
This is a big one. If your hair has changed in any of these ways, your regimen should change right along with it:
- Porosity change due to hair damage
- Coloring your hair – this can cause excessive dry hair and will required you to make adjustments.
- Turning Grey
- Scalp changes
If you’ve gone from low porosity or medium porosity hair to high porosity hair, you will need to incorporate certain products into your regimen like:
- apple cider vinegar – in a rinse to help seal the hair cuticle
- thick oils or hair butters (more preferable) like mango butter or shea butter – to slow down the escape of moisture
For hair that has been damaged, you will need to use a more hydrating deep conditioner that’s rich in essential fatty acids. Or, you may need to start using oils in your hair that you may not have previously needed. Oils like:
- coconut oil to protect the protein integrity of your hair on wash day
- olive oil to boost your hair’s moisture levels
- argan oil for light weight sealing of the hair shaft
Scalp changes can also occur and if not addressed can lead to hair loss or excess shedding. To restore a healthy scalp, you may need to use a clarifying shampoo to remove build up from the hair follicles.
Lastly, if your hair has begun to turn gray, definite adjustments need to be made to your natural hair regimen.
​My Experience with Graying Hair
One thing I’ve noticed about my fine natural hair that’s rapidly turning gray is its need for more natural ingredients. I now tend to use more natural hair products to prevent dry hair while supporting my hair health.
Below are some additional natural hair tips for those with gray hair.
Gray hair can quickly feel wiry. Especially when that gray is afro-textured hair. So, I’ve made these adjustments to my own hair regimen to protect my hair’s natural moisture so I can continue to grow longer hair:
- make sure to use a sulfate-free shampoo when cleansing to prevent stripping my hair of its natural oils
- doing regular scalp massages to encourage blood circulation in my scalp (aka growth) of my hair gray or not
- keeping my natural hair texture stretched out as much as possible to prevent tangling and hair breakage
- when wearing straight hair, I use two heat protectants when heat styling (Beyond the Zone Turn up the Heat and Olaplex bonding oil – Read all about using Olaplex on naturally curly hair).
3. A Length Change – Longer or Shorter
If the length of your natural hair has changed, that may mean adding more protective styles to your regimen. It may also mean that the hair routines you do need adjusting.
The longer your hair strands get, the more protection they will need. Especially, if you want to experience continued healthy hair growth.
The good thing is, with longer hair you’ll enter a new era of being able to try different styles on your natural hair – styles you could not have easily done when your hair was short.
If you decide to cut your hair and go from longer hair to shorter hair, your hair regimen will need to change as well. Your natural hair care routine will definitely change on wash day.
​You’ll likely need to change your hair routine when styling too.
4. Hair Goals Have Changed
This is pretty much a given. There are myriad of hair goals and in this ebook, you’ll discover how to achieve the 7 most popular hair goals.
Certainly, if your hair goals change there’s much that can and will change with it like:
- ensuring you use the right products to support your hair goals (for example: increasing hair thickness)
- reducing heat styling
- getting more regular trims
- switching from blow drying to air drying
These are just a few things you would need to adjust to doing (or not doing) to support your new goals. It really depends on the hair goal.
For example, I have a hair goal of growing my entire head of hair to waist length. While the back has nearly achieved that as of the writing of this article, my crown layer has a bit more of a ways to go.
Some things I’m doing to support my hair goals of longer hair overall is:
- Using a lightweight oil at the root of my hair (for scalp massages) and heaving oils like castor oil on the ends of my hair.
- Wearing my hair in twists or large box braids infused with hair strengthening herbs.
- Using natural hair care products containing essential oils that stimulate hair growth
- Adding flaxseed gel as an additional protective layer to my ends
5. Financial Circumstances Have Changed
This last natural hair tip can have a negative or positive effect on your natural hair routines.
Obviously, if you find yourself in a financial crisis you’ll need to tighten your purse strings and not be able to purchase as many hair products as you once used to. You may need to even start using more inexpensive hair products.
The good thing about this is you have a lot of natural ingredients at your disposal. These will not only be beneficial for your wallet but also your hair.
Ingredients like:
- natural oils (jojoba and shea butter are pretty inexpensive)
- aloe vera (a whole leaf is less than $2 at the grocery store)
- apple cider vinegar in place of a clarifying shampoo is very affordable
- goat milk in place of an expensive protein treatment (check out this DIY Goat Milk Conditioner Recipe)
On the other side of the financial coin is an increase in income. Your hair regimen can completely elevate with higher quality hair tools and products.
Some higher quality hair tools you can use with a higher income include:
- RevAir reverse hair dryer
- A silk pillowcase instead of a satin pillowcase
- Silk hair ties
- Ceramic flat irons designed with technology that protect the hair
- High speed ionic hair dryers
- Top notch hair tools like the Mason Pearson Boar Brush
FAQs: functional black hair tips and appearance
How can I make my natural hair look better?
There are many ways to improve the appearance of your natural hair. This includes:
- ​getting your hair shaped for an instant improvement in how your hair looks and feels
- adding shine to your hair because dull looking hair just isn’t as attractive. To add shine however, you may need to first clarify your hair of product build up.
- accessorizing also helps to make your natural hair look better
Lastly, the word “better” is a subjective word. Natural hair is beautiful in all textures and hair types. If by better you mean a visual improvement, then the tips provided can help you.
How Can I Increase My Natural Hair?
Natural hair can be increased in length mostly. Thickness is subjective because it’s mainly genetic.
Ways to increase your hair length include, but are not limited to:
- Keeping your natural hair balanced with moisture and protein
- Protecting your ends from fraying by keeping them sealed with a heavy butter/oil and an alcohol free gel. This is called double sealing.
- Wearing protective styles
- Reducing manipulation
- Protecting your hair from damage by avoiding harsh chemicals, excessive heat styling and rough handling
Ways to slightly and/or temporarily thicken your hair include:
- Using hair thickening herbs like Henna that build up on the hair shaft
- Doing scalp massages with a blend of oils that include essential oils like rosemary oil
The thickness of your hair is dependent on the number of hairs you have on your head. This is called density. Individual strands can also be slightly thickened. This is the circumference of an individual strand.
Lastly, trimming your hair in a layered fashion will provide the illusion of thicker hair.
Is sweat good for black hair?
Sweat is not good for any hair. This is a myth.
While exercising, blood flow is stimulated in your scalp which is a good thing but the sweat needs to be cleansed away. Allowing sweat to remain breeds bacteria which can either cause scalp conditions or smelly hair.
​A clean scalp and clean hair are the best breeding ground to growth for all hair. If you aren’t able to shampoo your hair after sweating, you can use a dry shampoo or wipe your scalp with a damp cloth. The damp cloth should be moistened with a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar.
The damp cloth technique is best when your hair is secured in a style like box braids or mini twists where the style won’t be disturbed too much.
Final Thoughts: black hair tips and regimen changes
When it comes to your natural hair regimen, it will always be susceptible to changes. To achieve the best results from your regimen, you’ll want to stay on top of knowing when adjustments are needed. Keep these 5 reasons for making changes in mind.
Sign up for this 30 Day Hair Regimen Reset to get all the natural hair tips you need to foster a complete hair regimen that supports all your hair care needs.
Read More:
Practical Tips to Thicken and Grow Black Hair
Low Manipulation Hair Regimen to Promote Hair Growth
