Beauty
See the 9 Natural Hair Mistakes to Avoid on Your Journey
Photo by Idowu Emmanuel on Unsplash
What if we told you, you’re probably are making natural hair mistakes that are preventing you from achieving your hair goals, but you are not aware of it?
Even if you’ve had natural hair all your life or are going back to your natural curls or coils, there are still new things to learn about caring for your natural hair.
We’ve put together a list of some mistakes you could be making (and not even be aware of how they’re harming your strands) so you can avoid doing them in the future.
High tension hairstyles
While you may love a box braid or a sleek bun, high-tension styles can do a lot of harm to your hair-especially your edges. You might want to experiment with low-tension hairstyles like twist-outs and other protective styles that won’t pull on your roots. If you do decide to wear a high ponytail or braids, don’t make them too tight.
Wearing a protective style too long
Protective hairstyles aid hair growth and give your hair a break from over-manipulation. However, many people make the mistake of wearing protective styles for too long. Wearing a protective style for a long period of time will put too much tension on your hair, and it may lead to breakage. Keep your protective style in for no longer than 4 weeks.
Over manipulation
It’s hard not to experiment with different hairstyles when you have defined curls. Some of those styles require manipulating your hair, but too much touching of your hair can lead to dry strands, breakage, frizz, and product build-up. As a result, this can negatively affect hair growth. Keep your hair healthy by choosing styles that don’t require a lot of pulling or combing.
Using the wrong hair products
Before picking that hair product off the shelves, think of what your hair needs, as well as your hair type and porosity.
Using too many products
A common natural hair mistake is using too much product. Too much product can offset your moisture levels and cause harm to your hair.
Forgetting to wrap your hair up at night
Just as you would without a protective hairstyle, you should always wrap your hair up at night to prevent flyaways and breakage. This alone will make it easier for you to keep up your protective style.
Avoiding regular trims
With natural hair, health should always come before length. No matter how scary it may be to lose length, visit your stylist regularly for trims. Hair trimming eliminates split ends, prevents breakage, and minimizes damage so that your tresses grow strong and healthy. Make sure you follow the directions on your products when you apply them to prevent any problems.
Using excess heat on your hair
Even though heat as a styling technique is widely used, overusing heat on natural hair causes more harm than good. Heat damaged hair will often be overly dry, have a rough texture, tangle, and knot, it’s also harder to style. If you are looking to grow your hair, minimize the use of heat styling tools.
Skipping deep conditioning
A common mistake people make with their natural hair is thinking that regular conditioning is all they have to do. Deep conditioning should be an essential part of your natural hair care routine. Depending on your hair texture, deep conditioners can be used twice every two weeks or once a week. It’s all about finding what works for your hair.
