Expert Approved: How To Take Care Of Curly Hair

1. Follow A Pre-Shampoo Treatment

If you have frizzy hair, you must follow a pre-shampoo treatment. Moreover, this ensures less breakage and also keeps your hair soft. This step involves detangling the hair, applying a hair mask or a deep conditioning oil at least 20 minutes before your shampoo. To trap the heat, you can wrap a shower cap or towel around your hair. Commonly, this is perhaps one of the best methods of how to take care of curly hair. 

2. Detangle And Section Your Hair Before Washing

Another common best practice on how to take care of curly hair is to part your hair in sections and detangle it before washing. Nothing can be worse than having tangles and rubbing and scrubbing your hair with a shampoo. Usually, this can either lead to an unthinkable tangle or excessive breakage. Section your hair and then apply a small amount of shampoo or cleanser and work gently.

3. Only Wash Your Hair When Needed

The main purpose of washing is to make your hair look clean and remove bad smells. If it is still clean, why do you have to wash it? Over-shampooing not only takes time, it also can further dry the hair. Depending on your everyday activity and the environment where you live, you can decide when to wash your hair. Also, look at the ingredients of your conditioner. A good conditioner will ensure the moisture is locked in and your hair is well protected against dust and pollution.  

4. Wisely Choose Your Shampoo

It is essential to know what ingredients are in your shampoo. The reason being, shampoos cause the maximum damage to your hair when you have all the wrong ingredients. Our suggestion is, use a shampoo that is sulfate, paraben, and alcohol-free. These elements can irritate your scalp. If you are not able to omit these, try to find one that has these ingredients in mild quantities. 

5. Hot or Cold Water?

Washing with hot water is a relaxing therapy, but hot water will strip moisture from your hair and make everything worse. On the other hand, we agree, showing with cold water may not be the most comfortable. Moreover, if your hair is oily, cold water may not help. But cold water will promote the closing of pores, which will lock moisture in. If you don’t like washing with cold water, you can wash with lukewarm water and then rinse your hair under cold water to have the same benefit

6. Choose The Right Hair Conditioner

Many manufacturers add special ingredients, silicon and formaldehyde for example,  into their product to make it smooth immediately. However, in the long-term these ingredients will damage your scalp and hair cuticles. Then your hair cannot absorb any moisture, we call that “dead strand”.

In this article, we cannot tell you what brand and what product you should avoid or point out the best products for curly hair. However, there is a list of toxic ingredients in hair products you should avoid.

7. Protect Your Hair From The Sun

Not only cause aging to your skin, heat and UV rays from the sun also damage curly hair. The UV rays will dry your hair from deep inside and change its characteristics. Why do you protect your skin with sunscreen but you do nothing to your hair? Sun protection for hair wil help you a lot. Combining with a wide-brimmed hat, your hair will get the best protection.

8. Protecting Curls While Sleeping

Protecting curls while sleeping is very necessary. When you’re sleeping, your head may move side to side. It tends to cause your hair to become frizzy and lead to breakage and frayed ends. At the following, I will let you know how to take care of curly hair while sleeping

Using A Satin Or Silk Pillow Cover: Satin or silk pillow covers offer a myriad of advantages, making them a luxurious and beneficial addition to your bedtime routine. 

- It does not absorb natural oil from your hair

- Does not scratch your hair strands and make it rough

- Keeps the scalp cool and prevents sweating

Tie Your Hair Into A Pineapple: Another solution to help your sleep with curly hair is by wrapping your hair into a top-knot with a satin cloth to avoid knots and frizziness. You can use silk or satin headscarf to tie your hair too.

Twist Or Braid Your Hair: A secure way to avoid more hair strands from rubbing against the bedding is by braiding your hair. You can simply part the hair and tie it into braids.

Plopping: Plopping involves wetting your hair, adding a cured gel, or any other curl-shaping product. And then you will have to flip the hair into a t-shirt and fold the cloth behind your neck and tie the arms of the t-shirt into a knot. You can sleep with the t-shirt and wake up to beautiful curls.

>>> Read more: Styling Curly Hair: Common Mistakes And Tips To Maintain Healthy Curls

9. Avoid Using Heat Tools

Generally, this again is a no-brainer. Heat styling tools like- curling irons, flat irons, blow dryers should be as far away as possible while styling your curly hair. There are alternative tools like foam rollers that can be used to re-define your curls.

Conclusion

On the one hand, it must be overwhelming to follow these many steps to keep your curls intact. But on the other hand, curly hair, if maintained well, has a different beauty. Curly hair looks fabulous, and you can rock it without making much effort. We understand it takes a lot of strategic thinking to take care of curly hair. But simple changes in the hair care regime can help you achieve shiny looking hair in the long run. Now, I’m sure you’ve already read the entire article and know how to take care of curly hair. Hope it help you!