The most frequently asked questions I get about my girl’s hair is what product line do you use? Products play a part in maintaining healthy hair but it is equally important that we find a routine and steps to cleanse, detangle, and moisturize our hair.  When I began my natural hair journey I had a tendency to jump around wanting to try everything.  In order to see what is best for you or your child’s hair, you should use the same products over at least two weeks before changing the routine.   As a mother of two girls with an abundance of curls, I have found these methods work to grow, combat dryness, and minimize the work for my kid’s hair. 

We experiment and rotate natural hair products looking for the best nourishment and moisture retention.  I am happy to see haircare lines catering to black women and textured hair cuties.  I love to add protective styles to my kid’s hair that keeps their hair growing long and strong and saves me time by reducing the times I have to restyle their hair.  Here are the six steps we do weekly:

1.  Wash or Co-Wash Weekly- depending on how much oil the scalp produces.  We love protective styling but it’s also important to unbraid, re-cleanse, and recondition hair regularly.  Co-Washing is less stripping than traditional shampooing and when you are dealing with textured hair it takes a little more swerving to get the moisture to those ends. 
2. Detangle Hair Wet- if you make it sound like a daunting task it will be a daunting task.   Tangles happen and they are no fun but that doesn’t mean you cannot conquer them.  I’ve always just wash/co-wash my kid’s hair in the bath and I bring a wide-tooth comb, I use a reasonably priced conditioner and I lean over the tub and comb their hair out from bottom up.   By the time I am done detangling in sections, I can rinse the conditioner out and move to the next step.
3. Deep Condition Weekly- There is a difference in regular and deep conditioners when it comes to softening your hair.  This doesn’t have to be a time-consuming part of your child’s wash routine. Immediately after detangling add the deep conditioner of your choice to their hair.  Cover with a plastic cap and wrap with our Swurly Microfiber Towel.   The heat from the bath will drive the products into their hair.
4. Layer products that lock the moisture in.  The products that will work for your child’s hair is dependent on many factors, like their curl pattern, hair porosity, and if their hair is sealed and protected after you style their hair.  You can read our past post to find out what works for my girl’s 2a/3a & 3a/3b  type hair.  Play with the order that you layer products in, some people like oil before cream, some people prefer oil at the end.  Try both ways and see which way locks the moisture in.  Clumping of curls is a good sign and see when you see the ends of the hair shrink and curl up it means they are hydrated.
5. Create a cocoon to cradle your mane while you sleep which will avoid the nightly damage routine.  Stretch your products by not giving a nightly dose of your hair and face creams to your thirsty pillow and sheets.  Get rid of the polyester bonnets that are suffocating your strands and protect them with naturally hydrating mulberry silk instead.  
6. Protective Styling– There is strength in numbers by grouping and clumping our hair we exposed less individual fragile stands that can be snatched, grabbed, and entangled.  Helping us to retain the growth of our hair.  See our Catalog of protective styling ideas for young textured hair girls.

We have the staple products that we keep on hand, however, we are open to adding new items in.  If something doesn’t hold moisture after two wash days, we rotate it out and add something else in.  When I unbraid their hair I expect there to be definition and hydration still remaining in the strands.  If it has completely dried out in less than 3-4 days than the product isn’t a match for their hair type, their porosity level, or the density of their hair.