One of things I have learned from many of the natural hair care sites out there is that having a hair care regimen is important to maintaining the health of your scalp and hair, which in turn will give you a moisturized and growing mane.
These days I only wash my hair (with a shampoo) about once a week. I generally co-wash (wash with a conditioner). Learn more about co-washing here. A once a week shampoo is typically what’s recommended for kinky, afro textured hair. For other types of hair a wash a bit more often is generally recommended (2-3 times per week). You can read more about washing frequency here. But as with anything, try out different techniques before you find what works for you. My regimen may not be the best fit for your mane.
So finally here are my steps to maintaining my fro:
- Shampoo once a week (Kinky Curly Come Clean Shampoo is my personal favorite)
- Deep condition with a hair mask immediately after shampoo (Right now I’m using Pantene Pro V Medium-Thick Intensive Restoration Treatment)
- Run my mane underneath the shower stream (like a super quick pass) to better distribute the deep conditioner
- Detangle with a wide toothed comb or my fingers (while deep conditioner is still in my hair)
- Rinse out deep conditioner
- Use a leave in conditioner (Currently, Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing Conditioner and Tresemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner)
- Style with Eco Styler Gel or a styling cream by raking through product then scrunching it in (with my hands)
It may sound like a lot at first but once you get practice doing it, you’ll have your own regimen down sooner than you know it. Two other days in the week I’ll co-wash with the Tresemme Naturals Conditioner then apply my styler. Read more about co-washing here.
Hope this helps!
Nice and simple regimen. Kinky-Curly Come Clean is also my favorite shampoo.
I absolutely love, love, love this blog. Can you tell I love the word love, lol…yep! I’ll be sharing with my comrades…more ppl need to know about you. I love talking about natural hair and to know there is a bruh out there doin’ his thing and still maintaining the masculinity, AWESOME. Keep up the great work.
Thanks!
So is this still your regimen or has it changed since you wrote this?
Yeah for the most part. This Winter I’ve been able to stretch and get some three day hair with products so that’s cut back on a co-wash during the week. Otherwise, the conditioners change depending on my mood but yeah that’s pretty much it!
Can I ask what the benefits are to running the faucet over your Deep Conditioner coated hair? When you dry, is your hair softer than if you were to skip this? I’ve never heard of anyone doing it before.
Also, how do you find the silicone deep conditioner compares to your curly guy/natural options? I’ve tried with silicones but my hair feels coated and plastic feeling then when it dries, Itis really dry! My hair seems happier with non silicone options.
Thanks!
Hey Benin, thanks for commenting! Running my hair underneath the faucet while the DC is in helps it distribute it through my hair more evenly and makes my hair easier to detangle. I don’t think it has any real benefit other than that (which is a big one, in my opinion).
To be honest, I haven’t found any noticeable difference in my hair’s condition after using the silicone conditioner. I think the negative effects tend to be exaggerated a bit because for what I’ve found, it really helps me detangle my fro. Unfortunately, I find that CG options rarely give me the slip needed to detangle my super thick hair. I’d rather use cones every so often than risk pulling out my hair during regular detangling.
If it doesn’t work for you, then by all means please don’t do it. But this Pantene DC is one of my best discoveries. HTH!
I’ve just come across your blog and I’m thinking of going natural with my hair.
My question to you is, what is your daily regimen? I know you only wash and deep condition once a week but what about the days in between? Just style with leave in conditioner? Or nothing at all?
I also read the drinking lots of water is good.
Sorry to be such a newbie. I just have tons of questions.
I already have an afro but its extremely dry. I was wondering if you have a night time regimen to maintain the moisture in your hair, cause I know my sisters wear silk caps, do you wear any type of hair covering to keep your hair moisturized while you sleep?