The curly hair routine: Three tips and tricks to look your best
A lot of women have a love-hate relationship with their curly hair, especially on wash day. While it’s absolutely beautiful, and often the envy of straight-haired women, curly hair requires work. A quick shampoo and conditioner usually doesn’t cut it. Curly hair needs more moisture than straight hair, it may require some detangling and there’s usually a lot of styling that goes with the territory, too.
Once curly hair becomes dry, it can take some time and effort to restore its moisture levels. But even if your hair isn’t particularly dry, you’ll still need to take a few extra steps to ensure your curls look and feel their very best.
Here are our three top tips:
1. Find the right shampoo
If the word “shampoo” makes you want to run for the hills, we don’t blame you. Shampoo and curly hair have a notoriously tricky relationship. Yes, all hair needs to be washed to remove dirt and bacteria, but shampoo also removes oil, including that precious oil produced by the scalp. Therefore, it has the ability to strip even more moisture from the hair, leaving it dry and damaged. The trick to successful hair washing is to find a shampoo or co-wash that’s free from sulphates (these can be very drying), that’s moisturising and that’s designed for use on curly hair. How often you wash it is entirely up to you, but the further apart you can stretch your wash days, the better.
The Perfect Hair Mango & Marula Curl Care Silky Soft Shampoo (R89.99) is a soap-and sulphate-free detangling shampoo enriched with creamy mango butter and rich marula oils to soften and cleanse your hair, leaving it with a wonderful tropical scent.
Cantu Shea Butter For Natural Hair Sulfate-Free Cleansing Cream Shampoo (R195.00) has a rich lather that removes heavy build-up, but a gentle formula that helps prevent breakage.
2. Condition and then condition some more
Curly hair is thirsty at the best of times, and even more so after a shampoo. Apply a generous amount of conditioner after your shampoo or co-wash has been rinsed out, and be sure to gently massage it all over, so that it gets to every strand. You may want to leave it on for a bit longer than recommended, especially if your hair is very dry.
Nilotiqa Shea Butter & Coconut Replenishing Conditioner (R59.95) with Avocado Oil easily conditions and softens your hair. It penetrates deep into the hair to help restore moisture and combat damage.
Curls In Bloom Moisture Boost Me! Creamy Conditioner (R119.95) is a creamy conditioner that easily detangles, conditions and moisturises your hair, leaving it soft, smooth and naturally defined.
3. Detangle
It’s best to detangle your curls while your conditioner is still on. The most important thing to remember when you detangle, is your patience! If you rush you might rip through your knots, causing breakage in the process. Split your hair into sections, and work with one section at a time.
Cantu Shea Butter For Natural Hair Coil Calm Detangler (R215.00) uses the moisturising power of pure shea butter to deeply nourish hair and get rid of tangles and knots.
Evolve Flow Through Detangler (R52.95) unique design features bristle rows that separate for gently detangling and smoothing with ease. No snagging or pulling with flexible detangling bristles. It is suitable for use on wet or dry hair to promote healthy hair retention.
Nilotiqa Shea Butter & Coconut Detangling Hair Cream (R59.95) uses Panthenol, which is a naturally-occurring material that has a smooth film that provides excellent slip between adjacent strands of hair. The deep moisturizing and detangling properties make it easy to get knots out and easy to manage hair while minimizing breakage and restoring hair volume.
