One of the biggest struggles in the 4c hair community is dry hair. As a 4c naturalista myself, I have to admit that I sometimes struggle with this problem, and let me tell you that it’s not fun! Dry 4c hair is not only discouraging, it’s also damaging to the overall health of your hair because it often leads to breakage, which might make it seem like your hair is not growing at all or it’s growing slowly.
Not only do you have to deal with dry hair, you also have to deal with breakage and stunted growth. As a naturalista, this isn’t a good place to be in. This is why in this article, I will be sharing how to achieve moisture in your hair, so that you can finally grow your hair to great lengths.
I will be talking about 5 easy steps you can implement into your hair regimen starting from today. These tips are simple, because i’m a simple naturalista myself and I believe that natural hair doesn’t have to be complicated.
For this article, I’ve partnered up with CoilyCurlyTresses to share how you can easily get rid of dry hair and grow your 4c hair.
1. Shampoo
One of the reasons why you may be experiencing consistently dry hair could be due to product build-up, grease, dirt, pollution, and other impurities that have accumulated in your hair overtime. As a result, no matter how many products you apply in your hair, you will not see any result because they are not absorbing into your hair to perform the job they’re supposed to.
So you might find yourself buying popular products, expensive products, all-natural products, and nothing is working! Before condemning those products or asking for a refund on your purchase, I will suggest shampooing your hair with a good moisturizing shampoo. To do this, I recommend using a clarifying shampoo.
2. Deep Condition
I remember when I was relaxed and clueless. Back then, I would only shampoo my hair and occasionally condition my hair. I never deep conditioned my hair and I didn’t even know what they were! Now that I look back, I can now understand why my hair was always dry and why I never grew my hair past my chin. But like Maya Angelou once said, “when you know better, you do better”. Now you can avoid this mistake I once made in my clueless days.
A deep conditioning treatment is very crucial for 4c hair. They help to restore moisture back into the hair, repair damages, add shine and nourish the hair. Most importantly, deep conditioning treatments helps your hair to feel less hard and more stretchy and comb-able. Now you no longer have to worry about breaking your favorite comb each time you try to detangle your hair.
To prevent breakage, we suggest deep conditioning your hair every week, so that your coils can get all the nourishment it needs for the week. To achieve soft and healthy hair, I recommend using the CoilyCurlyTresses nourish treatment masque. Simply apply this deep treatment mask in your hair after shampooing, cover with a plastic cap and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Rinse with room temperature water afterwards and proceed to the next step.
3. Detangle with Love
One of the reasons why you’re not seeing growth often has to do with the way you manipulate your hair when it’s loose. This is why a lot of hair gurus will tell you to always keep your hair in a protective style so that you can avoid breakage.
I completely disagree with this tip because a lot of Black women have experienced severe hair loss while their hair was in a protective style while many like myself have seen massive growth with loose hair. I believe that you should be able to enjoy your natural hair while it’s loose and only do protective style when absolutely needed.
Anyway, to avoid breakage and a painful detangling, you want to make sure that you only detangle moisturized hair. You want to apply a softening moisturizer such as the CurlyCoilyTresses Enrich Moisturizer on water saturated hair before detangling. To detangle, you can start with your fingers first, then proceed to a large tooth comb, and a smaller comb, depending on the hairstyle you’re going for.
This will not only reduce hair loss, it will also reduce pain and unnecessary frustrations, not to talk of broken combs! This is a crucial tip for mothers with young kids who can’t get their kids to sit still while styling their hair.
4. Keep Your Hair Moisturized
Another important step that I never practiced during my clueless days was moisturizing my hair. I would just shampoo and proceed to styling. I didn’t know what leave-in conditioners or sealants were. As ridiculous as this may sound, it was embarrassingly true.
If you want to have moisturized 4c hair that thrives without much effort, you have to give your hair the same attention you give your skin. The same way you’ll apply lotion on your skin after having a bath, you’ll also need to apply a moisturizer in your hair after washing it. And just like you’ll re-apply cream on your skin during the day to keep it soft and supple, you might also need to re-apply a moisturizer in your hair during the week as well.
After washing your hair, you might need to apply a leave-in conditioner such as the CurlyCoilyTresses Enrich Moisturizer and seal it with the CurlyCoilyTresses Organic Pumpkin Seed Oil.
5) Protect Your Hair
As tough and strong as your hair may look, it’s actually quite weak and fragile. This is why 4c hair needs so much love and attention. You should strive to protect your hair from breakage or any damage of some sort. This might involve being careful of the way you handle your hair, style your hair, and the products and tools you use in your natural hair.
I also recommend keeping your hair in a simple protective style such as two strand twists for a few days at a time. I find that my hair retains moisture much longer when it’s in twists, versus when it’s in a twist out. It also retains length and grows faster. I also recommend covering or wrapping your hair every night with a silk or satin bonnet as it’ll eliminate friction and the drying effects from cotton fabric, which will ultimately prolong your hairstyle. I also suggest you keep your ends trimmed regularly to prevent breakage.
Conclusion
As you can see, caring for natural hair is very simple if you know the basics. If you want to finally put an end to dry hair, you’ll need to shampoo your hair at least every week, deep condition weekly, detangle with love, keep your hair moisturized and protect your hair. It’s also important to use quality hair products that will help make your hair journey easier.
If you haven’t tried CurlyCoilyTresses yet, I highly recommend you do! They were featured on Oprah’s magazine as one of the best 4c hair products in the market. You can get started with their Enrich Moisturizer Leave In Styler + Organic Pumpkin Seed Oil Serum + Nourish Treatment Masque Trio HERE.
If you’re looking for more hair growth tips for 4c hair, I suggest getting the e-book they’ve written “4C Slay 10 Easy Steps To Lasting Moisture And Hydration™️” over on Amazon.
Try them with a 10% coupon code, just enter“curls&glory10” at checkout to save 10% off your purchase.
I’m curious to know, how do you deal with dry hair and what do you to keep your hair soft, moisturized and growing? Comment below.