African American Hair Care Tips

African American hair in general is more brittle, dryer and curlier (nappy) than those of non-African decent, because of its structure that makes more difficult for the natural oils to work their way from the scalp to the ends of the hair. So, black hair care needs are different from those with other types of hair. Since the most of African Americans are of mixed heritage, there’s a wide range of hair types – black hair and bi-racial can vary widely.

We’ll give you some quick general tips and solutions on taking care of Black hair.

Section the hair and plait it, tie it back or wrap it up using a scarf before going to bed - this will reduce the number of tangles you have to comb out the next morning, reducing the chances of breaking your hair.
Sleep with a satin scarf or sleep cap on your head or with a satin pillow case.
This helps reducing ends caused by rubbing your hair against the cotton pillow case.
Wash your hair no more often than every week to week and a half. More than that can dry it out.

Comb your hair out while you’re conditioning to remove tangles while it’s still wet and relatively slick.
Try pre-shampoo hot oil treatments with lighter oils like: safflower, cocoa-seed butter, avocado, clover, carrot oil, jasmine, calendula, Vitamin E, shea butter, sandalwood and alba root.
Daily shampooing is not recommended, ethnic hair is dryer than other types of hair, shampooing strips away the oils from your hair so try shampooing once every 3 to 7 days instead. Instead, you can rinse your hair even if you don’t wash it. Condition it afterwards with a daily leave-in conditioner.
Don't use a 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner, use a separate shampoo and conditioner, 2 in 1's aren't suited as well for dry hair.
Use a soft boar hairbrush on your hair daily which will distribute the oil at the root of your hair and scalp to the rest of your hair. Dampen the brush slightly before brushing.
Get a hot oil treatment once a month which will re-moisturize your scalp and hair.
Avoid hair products that contain alcohol which dry out your hair.

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