Eight Ways to Completely Destroy Your Hair If You're an African American Woman

Eight Ways to Completely Destroy Your Hair If You're An African American Woman

If you are an African American woman with hair that is relaxed, there are several ways you can completely annihilate your hair. If you don't treat your hair with the respect it deserves, it will strike back at you with a vengeance. Here are five no-no's when it comes to caring for your hair.

1. Use heat. Okay, people. Heat is not your friend. If you are constantly blow drying your hair or using a curling iron every day, you are just asking for trouble. Your hair will become so dry that it will eventually start breaking off. Soon, you will be shopping around for stylish wigs to disguise your woefully short hair.

2. Never condition your hair. If you don't use a good conditioner on your hair, you can pretty much kiss healthy hair goodbye. African American hair that is chemically treated needs a good conditioner after a shampoo. Conditioners strengthen the hair after all of the abuse we put our hair through.

3. Use a fine tooth comb. If you really want to end up with absolutely no hair, comb it roughly with a fine tooth comb. Your hair will instantly rebel. Continue using a fine tooth comb and you'll end up bald in no time. If you want to keep your hair on your head, find the widest tooth comb in the store and buy it. Gently comb your hair from the ends to your scalp. If you end up reaching a tangle, use your fingers to comb through it and untangle.

4. Get a touch-up every three or four weeks. If you get your chemical treatments too close together you'll end up over-processing your hair. Before you know it, you'll have more hair in the comb than on your head. You should get a retouch only after about 6 weeks have gone by. If you can, try to wait until at least 8 weeks have passed. The longer, the better.

5. Let someone who doesn't know what the heck they're doing give you a chemical relaxer. Do you really want someone who doesn't have a cosmetology license putting serious chemicals in your hair? Let's put it this way. The same chemicals in a depilatory are the same chemicals used in relaxers. Need I say more?

6. Going to an inept stylist. See number 5 above.

7. Don't sleep with a silk scarf or pillow case. A good way to dry your hair out and cause serious breakage is too sleep on a cotton pillow case. Cotton makes African American hair, that is already dry, even dryer! If you want to keep your precious hair, protect your tresses with a silk cap or scarf. You can even buy a silk pillow case. Your hair will slide against the silk instead of being caught by those treacherous cotton fibers.

8. Never get your hair trimmed. If you want to completely wreck your hair, stay away from scissors. Let your split ends travel up the hair shaft so your hair looks frizzy. On the other hand, if you want your hair to look healthy, get regular trims to keep those ends looking good.

So if you hate your hair and want to completely destroy it, follow these handy tips and you'll be hairless before you know it. Don't follow these tips, and you will be well on your way to growing a healthy head full of hair!