How to Keep Natural Hair Moisturized

It's been about two years since I stopped relaxing my kinky textured hair, and began to wear it in its natural state. Now it's a breeze to care for, but when I first went natural I was shocked by how easily it could become dehydrated and rough even though I did my best to moisturize it regularly. Through trial and error I've found the best ways to keep my hair soft and moisturized, read on for tips on how you can do the same.

Know When (or If) and How to Shampoo

Shampoo can literally determine whether your hair is going to be soft and moisturized or stripped and rough, since most are way too harsh for dry strands. Most people wind up losing a lot of moisture through shampooing so they have to spend the next few days using products that replenish that moisture, only to repeat the cycle the next time they wash there hair. So how do you end it?

You can either use shampoo a lot less - or just give it up altogether.

I haven't given up shampoo completely, but I use it less often. Instead of once a week, I now use it once every two weeks. When I do, I always use gentle, sulfate free shampoos - my favorites are by Carol's Daughter. I love the Rosemary Mint and Black Vanilla versions.

I use a quarter size drop and I basically just focus on getting my scalp clean. I don't cleanse my hair too much because it's so dry that it needs the oil, but if it feels like it has too much product build-up I just slide the lather gently down my strands. Once I rinse, I don't shampoo a second time.

Those who give shampoo up altogether (or just use it rarely) usually do the no-poo method. Sometimes they use light conditioners that produce light lathers to cleanse their hair. They'll either use a gentle shampoo, baking soda, rinses, or just plain water to cleanse their scalps.Get A Great Conditioner

I'm a downright snob when it comes to selecting shampoos, but when it comes to conditioners I'm much more lax. I don't really care how much it costs or what ethnicity it's marketed to. It can be light or heavy as long as it moisturizes my hair enough.

I've found good high-end conditioners, but most of my favorites have come from the drugstore, I love Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (or just about any of their conditioners) and Tresemme's Flawless Curls when I need light conditioning.

If my hair is super dry I make sure to give myself a deep conditioning treatment under a hooded dryer for 20-30 minutes. I also regularly use leave-in conditioners which I can apply to my dry or wet hair throughout the week to maintain moisture levels.

Use Natural Oils

When I first went natural I tried just about every product - gels, creams, puddings - I could find to define my curls and add moisture.

While I've had some success with a couple of those products, the best thing that ever happened to my hair was when I began to use natural oils on it the majority of the time, while reducing my usage of products with lots of silicones, mineral oils, petroleum, and other heavy or synthetic ingredients.

Natural oils (my favorite is coconut oil) soften, hydrate, reduce frizz, and define curls without smothering or weighing them down.

Add Water

When I first began to learn about natural hair, I kept finding that a lot of other natural women considered plain H2O to be one of their top hair products. Sure, I always used water when I was oiling my hair, but other than that I didn't see what the big deal was.

That was until earlier this year, when I had my hair in twists for a few days and they began to feel a bit hard and dry. I didn't feel like taking them down to oil my hair again so I lazily took a spray bottle filled with water and spritzed my hair allover, then I just worked the water into my hair a bit.

It only took about a minute but the water worked a mini-miracle. It softened my strands, hydrated them, and re-activated the oil that was already on my hair. The only downside was that it made my roots a bit puffy, but I didn't care.

So my trick to maintaining moisture levels in my curls is to spritz them with plain water (or water that's been mixed with a light conditioner) at least every 2 to 3 days.

If I've neglected to use water on my hair within 5-6 days, it begins to feel very rough and dehydrated. So during those occasions I will hop in the shower and instead of using shampoo or conditioner I'll just simply allow the water to really penetrate my hair. I've found that the water alone rejuvenates my hair incredibly, my curls are left feeling hydrated, plump, and touchably soft.