Ever hair type requires its own, personalised care routine in order to maintain healthy, attractive locks. It’s no secret that natural afro hair can be somewhat difficult to tame and take care of at times, but it’s worth it for the beautiful appearance in the end. Dry hair is something none of us want, so it’s always good to know how to deal with it.

Here are ten things you can do tame your dry afro hair.

Sleep with a satin scarf

If you’re looking for a habit that’ll make you feel luxury, and protect your hair at the same time, it’s sleeping with a silk or satin scarf. Along with a silk or satin pillowcase, a scarf around your hair will protect it from friction with the fibres in your pillow and consequent breakage. In addition, it will help your hair to retain moisture, so you wake up with soft knot-free hair.

Satin is a slightly more affordable option than silk, but they both work equally as effectively.

Wear protective styles

Protective hairstyles are great way to style your natural hair if you want something different but aren’t interested in sacrificing your hair’s health. Unlike other styling methods, such as heat styling, protective hairstyles will minimise damage to your natural hair, and they require very little upkeep once complete.

Not only does the lack of daily retouching benefit your hair health, but it also saves you time every day, as you don’t need to spend time attending to your curls.

Skip the daily shampoo

It’s unhealthy to shampoo any hair type every day, as every time you wash your hair, you strip it of natural oils, which are required for maintaining healthy locks. When it comes to dry afro hair, this tip is even more relevant.

If your hair does get dirty on a daily basis, such as when you go swimming in a pool or the sea, give it a rinse afterwards using just water, and apply a conditioner to the ends to prevent drying out. Avoid using the shampoo too often, however.

Rinse with cool water after washing

When you wash your hair, a certain amount of damage occurs anyway, as the chemicals contained in your shampoo are intended to clean your hair, which means stripping it of essential oils, too. Using hot water in the shower can further contribute to this, too, as it opens the hair cuticles, allowing even more moisture to be lost.

To preserve as much hydration at the end of your wash, rinse using cool water, as this will help to close the cuticle, reducing additional water loss. As a result, your hair won’t be as dry.

Drink more water

You probably hear about the importance of drinking water all the time – not just for the benefit of your hair, but perhaps for the list of other benefits that it brings. From hydrated, plump skin to reduced water retention, drinking plenty of water is very important, and can be very advantageous.

It can also aid your dry afro hair, as it provides your body with more hydration, which can be transferred to the skin and hair. The more water you drink, the more hydrated you skin and hair will be.

Minimise heat styling

If you know anything about keeping your curls healthy, you’ll already understand how damaging hot tools can be for your natural hair, but it often doesn’t stop us from using them. However, heat styling is something worth sacrificing if you want to help your dry natural hair.

Instead of using hot tools and working against your natural hair, embrace your natural beauty, or wear protective styles.

You can never have too much conditioner

Although we’re not encouraging you to apply an entire bottle of conditioner on your hair at once, there’s no harm in adding a little extra conditioning product here and there. A good rule of thumb to follow is that conditioner will always benefit your hair after it’s been washed or rinsed, and every time you use a shampoo, follow up with plenty of conditioner.

And if you’re not already using a conditioner all the time, what are you waiting for?

Incorporate oils

Naturally, your hair secretes its own oils from your scalp, which is why the roots are always the oiliest area. These oils aren’t just secreted for no reason, and they’re an adaptation the body has developed to protect the hair and keep it healthy. But when your hair is washed, these oils are stripped.

If you want to give your natural hair a little TLC, try using some oils in your hair care routine. The ends are always in need of help from these oils, as the oils from your scalp often won’t reach all the way to the ends before your hair is washed.

Use a water-based moisturiser

If you’re using a moisturising product in your hair, the aim is for the product to add moisture to your hair and improve the hydration levels of your natural hair. Of course, there’s one ingredient we all know is unmatched for is hydration abilities and that’s water. Just plain, old water.

If your moisturiser is going to work, it will need to contain water, otherwise there’s no moisture for it to work with. For this reason, pick a water-based moisturiser for your hair.

Use a plastic bag with hair treatments

Finally, there is a handy life hack you can integrate into your haircare routine in order to improve the efficacy and efficiency of your hair treatments. Use a plastic bag and tie it around your hair when applying any hair treatments.

The plastic bag will insulate your scalp, and it’ll use the heat generated by your head to warm the product and open the hair cuticle, improving the process by allowing more product to penetrate into your hair, resulting in improved moisture.

Final thoughts

As you can see, there are lots of ways you can nourish and hydrate natural afro hair, and this is very important if you want to maintain healthy, luscious curls. If you follow the tips here, you’ll have your dream hair in no time!