How to care for your African hair - Requested by Nana <3

This post is going to be on how to care for your Afro/carribean hair. It was requested by my good Ghanaian friend Nana. I'm not an expert so I got help from my hairdresser - a professional. Let's get started xox. 

I'm going to be talking about 3 of the most common types of Afro carribean hair - natural hair, hair in extensions and relaxed hair. 

Natural afro carribean hair: 

Shoutout to all the girls who are rocking there natural black hair! It's so hard to maintain so big ups to you for maintaining it. Some can't take it and prefer extensions (lol that's me.) 

My first tip is cut down on the amount of shampoo your using. Since the 40's shampoo has been made with the same drying products as Laundry detergent. It makes your hair INCREDIBLY dry. How do I do this? If you must wash your hair with shampoo dilute it. Let's say 25% shampoo and 75% water. If you want a good alternative co wash your hair. Co wash is when you wash with conditioner instead of shampoo. Wash your hair once a week. 

My second tip is handle it with care. It will not grow if you are constantly combing it with brushes that have hard bristles. It won't grow if your always tying it too tight. Keep moisturizing. Use organic products such as almond, coconut, jojoba, olive oil and shea butter. The term organic means no toxic chemicals, antibiotics and pesticides that are harmful to animals. Avoid products that have sulphate in them. Please please please never use grease in your hair (gel & petroleum) it's terrible. It's one of the things that annoy me the most. A girl has the most beautiful hair but it's all forced into a pony tale under a layer of disgusting gel and when she touches her hair her hand is practically wet. Your hair shouldn't be like that. When moisturizing moisturise your ends too. Try and moisturise daily.

When sleeping plait or twist your hair when you sleep this is good because when you wake up the hair would of been stretched out. If for any reason you can't do that... Tie up your hair so the moisture stays in. Cover your hair when you sleep. Use anything you can find. I cut off the legs off a pair of tights and tied the ends and used it as a head tie Lol. You can also use satin scarfs. 

Avoid heat. Avoid tonging and always straightening your hair it gives it the ability to break.  Use wide tooth combs when your combing your hair also when doing a hairstyle do a protective hairstyle. If you tie it up make sure it's a bit loose so your hair isn't pulling from the roots. Also consider plaiting or twisting it. 

Afro Carribean hair with extensions 

Shoutout to all the girls who are rocking there extensions (me) and weave! I'm talking about Senegalese twist, pick and drop, box braids, poetic justice braids, rope braids, kenkey twist, Brazilian weave & Remy!  

The good things about extensions: There are a million ways to style your hair with them. The possibilities are endless. The struggle of combing is o-v-e-r! (Well unless you have pick and drop). It grows when it's in extensions too. 

However it's up to you to keep your natural hair protected when wearing extensions. DO NOT FORGET YOUR HAIR IS IN EXTENSIONS! Sometimes I have this problem. Just because you are getting up and not doing anything to it much doesn't mean you can just leave it to rot. If you do, that one day that you decide to take your extensions out you will find that along with your extensions coming out your hair will follow. Moisturise the insides (scalp). Wash your hair. Huh? How, it's in extensions?! Use a simple shampoo with no conditioner added. Massage your scalp and rinse then apply diluted conditioner to your hair and simply use a towel to squeeze the water out of your hair and leave it to air dry. The ultimate longest time for extensions is two months. If you don't take them out by that time your hair will be so entangled in the extensions it will be a nightmare getting them out later. You can remove them by cutting just below your natural hair. Then unravel the extension then wash it.

Relaxed African hair. 

At this point my hands are dropping off from the amount of typing I'm doing. So yeah. Shoutout to you girls too. 

Don't relax everytime you see new growth. Too many chemicals are not good. Wash and condition your hair once/twice a week. If you wish to do it more than that co wash it. If you have sensitive skin wash with shampoo without Ammonium Lauryl sulphate and sodium Lauryl sulfate. Avoid heat. Before you blow dry, air dry for about half an hour. Once again don't use Vaseline or gel, simply moisturise. 

Thanks for reading, Lauren x