Yesterday I received a question from a young lady who recently cut off her hair because it was damaged. She wanted to know what she should do to get her hair softer as she transitioned to a healthier regimen.
Natural hair is naturally dry and when it is really dry it does not feel as soft as it can potentially feel. If you get rid of the dryness your hair will start to look and feel better as you grow it out.
I learned this early in my hair journey and after years of practice, I finally figured out what my hair likes and how to keep it moisturized month to month.
Here are my top five tips on how to get rid of dryness:
1. Do a porosity test
A porosity test will tell you how your hair reacts to the moisture when you add to it to your hair, so that you can be strategic on how you attack dryness.
Get a glass of water, grab a strand of hair and drop it in the water. Make sure the strand you pick is freshly washed with no product on it. If the strand floats on the top of the water, not sinking, you have low porosity hair. If it sinks to the bottom, your hair is considered to be high porosity. If it settles in the middle of the water, your hair is normal.
For those of you who are in the low category, this means that your hair does not absorb moisture well but once it does get moisture in, your hair can hold it for a long time.
If your hair is in the high category it means that your hair can get moisturized easily but it will lose moisture just as fast.
Normal porosity is in between the both of those scenarios and is the most ideal place to be in when it comes to porosity.
2. Deep condition weekly
Now that we have gotten porosity out of the way, let’s talk about conditioning. Low porosity strands need to be deep conditioned with heat at least once a week to retain moisture.
High porosity strands need the same treatment to help the strand retain moisture much longer than it would if you had just slapped some conditioner on your hair for two minutes.
3. Protein
If you have high porosity strands, use protein in your deep conditioner to strengthen the strand so that you can retain moisture for more than a day.
If you have low porosity strands you do not have to use protein as often, so try to pick conditioners that have moisturizing ingredients and less protein.
For those of you lucky girls with normal porosity, you can alternate between using a protein conditioner and a moisture based conditioner as your deep conditioner.
4. Pick quality products
I prefer sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners that have mostly natural ingredients without cones. Conditioners that have mostly natural ingredients can also double as a leave-in conditioner which is great for the budget.
5. Use your products in the right order
Moisturizer, then oil, then styler. Always add your moisturizer on your freshly washed hair then add your oil on top to seal in your moisture. Your styler is always last because that just shapes the style you are trying to achieve!
If you have tried everything I have suggested but only on a weekly basis, try overnight deep conditioning mid week with a simple conditioner for a mid-week cowash. Be consistent with your routine and you will see a difference in your hair in no time!
Photo cred: @chiara.Johansson Instagram
