Curls
Caring For Your
When going natural, caring for your curls should be of the utmost importance.
Finding the right products is the key and figuring out your hair porosity is
imperative. To do that, you need to pluck a strand of your clean product-free
hair and put it in a glass of room temperature water.
If the hair stays at the top, you have low-porosity hair, meaning your hair
does not absorb product easily. Combat this by including heat in your hair-care
routine: when doing a hot oil or deep conditioning routine, use a hair dryer to
fully open the hair cuticles. This will allow the products to nourish the hair. In
addition, any time you use water on your hair, make sure it’s hot water. When
choosing creams and oils on your hair, go for light texture — heavier products
will weigh the curls down and make them limp.
If the strand of hair sinks to the bottom, you have high-porosity and your
hair absorbs very quickly. Heavy cream is your friend as it will prevent the hair
product from being taken in instantly. Also, when washing your hair, using
warm water is fine, but at the end of the process apply cold water to close the
hair follicles, so that they do not soak the product up immediately. This will
help your curls stay moisturized long term.
If the hair floats in the middle, you have medium-porosity hair. It strikes the
right balance in terms of absorption, and your options are wide open, just
make sure you do not overdo it. If you use a thick oil, try combining it with a
thinner leave-in conditioner.
Knowing hair porosity is a great first step to caring for your curls. The thing
that is not at all helpful, though, is to compare your unique coils to others —
every natural hair journey is different and beautiful. We wish you good luck in
your way and in your next trip to Target!
by: Nwadi Oko