African American Natural Hair Care Product Types & Tips

Shampoo (optional): Some people prefer to use a shampoo and some use conditioner to wash their hair. If you must get a shampoo, make sure it contains some kind of moisturizing ingredients. A lot of African American hair is naturally dry so moisture is essential.

Conditioner (required): Since conditioner works with the water to help moisturize our hair, I'd say conditioner is essential to evey natural haired female's cabinet.

Deep conitioner (required): Deep conditioners go a step beyond conditioners to penetrate the hair shaft and moisturizes the hair on a much deeper level. Afterwards, the hair is extremely soft and moisturized. Deep treatments are left on for a longer time than conditioners.

Protein treatments (optional):I would highly recommend protein treatments, but there are some who are protein sensitive. Protein is kind of like the building block of the hair. It can leave hair strengthend to the point of some slight hardness so always follow through with a good deep conditioner.

Leave in conditioner (optional): Some people like to use leave in conditioners. Leave in conditioners are exactly what they are called. It is a conditioner that is left on the hair. It is not required however because daily moisturizers can go on the hair afterward and normally do a better job of moisturizing the hair.

Moisturizer (required): After washing and conditioning our hair, the moisture stays, but eventually, we will need to add more moisture to it. Moisturizers are typically in the form of a cream and applied to the hair mostly when dry but can also be applied to wet hair.

Oils (optional): Oils seal the hair when a moisturizer is in. Oils are very healthy for the hair and very good for it. Oil is not required because even though it seals the hair, it does not provide extra moisture so it is used sparingly.

Styling gel/cream (optional): Some take it a step further and use different creams to style and define curls. Even though some styling gels and creams can make hair look different, they don't always provide moisture so be sure to apply moisturizer before certain styling gels or creams to ensure moisture.

Wide Tooth Comb (required): A wide toothed comb serves better than a small toothed comb because it is able to glide through the hair easier. It is strongly recommended to only use a wide tooth comb while the hair is soaking wet and full of conditioner. That's when detangling is the easiest. Never comb the hair while it is dry and without product because it will hurt. It should never ever hurt while combing your hair.

These are the very basics concerning products for natural African American hair. Not every product will work for you because everyone's hair is different. It may take some trial and error before finding those staple products but once they are found, it will be well worth it. If a product works for you, it is highly recommended to stick with it. Whether organic or not, whether from the Beauty Supply Store or from the Beauty Salon, whether it costs one dollar or forty dollars. If your hair likes it, then you like it.

Anything that grows out of our scalp is there to make us beautiful so to care and nuture the very head of hairs we have can equal a lot more satisfaction and happiness in ourselves and with ourselves without shame.