Afro-textured hair is notorious for taking a long time to style. Although some girls devote hours to their hair, many naturalists are low maintenance and constantly on the go. Here are some hair care tips that are ideal for your lovely lazy lifestyle without having to sacrifice much.

Natural hair can be hard and stressful to manage at times. Whether you’re a professional or a new naturalist, here are some hair hacks to try the next moment your hair is acting up. Some of these suggestions are simple logic, and others are tips you never considered.

• Ever thought of using your fingers before using a comb?

Not that you totally replace combs with your fingers. However, combing afro-textured hair has always been a painful and stressful experience. If you want to detangle your afro hair, try combing with your fingers or use your fingers to gently detangle it before you try anything else. Before you reject our advice, consider this: finger combing is a gentle way to remove knots and twists from your hair because your fingers act like an easily manipulated version of a wide-tooth comb. Basically, all that is needed is to gently massage your hair with a leave-in conditioner and divide it into four large sections. Then, gently and slowly rake your fingers through each section of your hair until you’ve ‘combed’ all of it.

• One protective style or two?

Indeed, braids, twists, and Bantu knots are stunning as hairstyles, but they are also used as protective hairstyles. This is to help retain healthy hair and heatlessly style your afro hair. Try making your hair when it is still damp. Then, a couple of days before you’re ready for your wash day, you can undo them to create the perfect twists for an easy wash! Afro-textured hair suffers a lot of shrinkage: you’ll find that these are normal and a usual occurrence. Another fascinating thing about protective hairstyles is; styling a protective hairstyle in several ways. An example is styling braids as Bantu knots. Nice, right?

• Try to wash your hair while it is twisted.

If one of the reasons you try to push back your wash day as much as possible is that detangling your hair is a nightmare, how about dividing it into sections and twisting it before adding shampoo? This ensures your hair is already divided into sections and one section of the hair is not more focused on than the other, it will also reduce tangling and potential matting. Then, after rinsing your twists, you can work your fingers or a wide-tooth comb through your hair. Not only will this process make washing unchallenging, but it will also help with proper and adequate scalp wash.

• Try soaking your rubber bands in essential oil before you use it

Ever thought of why rubber bands are discouraged?

Because most afro-textured hair is dry, which is why no matter how snag-free the rubber band is, it will cause friction between your hair and the elastic or rubber band. First, before using any elastic or rubber bands in your hair, ensure you moisturize your afro-textured hair thoroughly and seal it with oil. Never use rubber bands to secure your hair in the front; instead, use a silk/satin scarf. Based on when you remember, try to soak the rubber bands in oil for an hour to a day. If constrained by time, you can quickly rub them in essential oil to make sure the rubber bands are well moisturized.

• Before you dispose your torn pantyhose 

Search no further than your old ripped-up pantyhose if you can’t keep your ponytail holders, or you know using your silk bonnet will only end up messing up the ponytail you need the next day. The bands on them are exceptionally stretchy and pose no risk of breaking your hair. You can also wrap them around your locks as several times as you want. They are among the most affordable and “safe” ponytail holders available. 

Trust me, this hack is actually dependable and affordable (wink).

• Wash your combs

A case scenario will help explain this better.

You’ve had a comb for a year, but you have never tried cleaning it; you use it before and after washing your hair, applying treatments, or styling your hair.

The dandruff on your hair might not be as a result of your hair products, but as a result of your comb. Of course, this makes your hair more susceptible to dandruff and other germs. It is also necessary to wash combs and brushes, just as to clean makeup brushes. This is done to help sanitize or remove germs and dirt from the hair while causing no additional damage.

• Don’t bother breaking the bank for moisturisers

Sometimes what moisturizer to buy can indeed be confusing and piling up products upon products on the hair could not only damage the hair but also cause the presence of unnecessary chemicals on the scalp. Rather than using moisturizers, you can get a spray bottle and mix in a leave-in conditioner, essential oil, and water. Spray the mixture on your hair as much as possible. 

This is my favorite economic hack.