Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Successful Regimen For Long, Fine, African American Hair

Straightened Hair with Front Section Pulled Back For School
A Regimen For Length: Fine, Afro Textured Hair  


Quick Background on Dimple's Hair:  It is extremely coily, seems easy to break. To look at it in it's coily state, you would make the mistake of thinking it was thick. Probably because it has extreme shrinkage, and it has great coil definition. However, I find her hair to be fairly fine. And to compound the situation of fine hair, this little diva chopped off approximately 3-4'' of length on about 8 braided plaits. This not-so-funny incident occurred about 18 months ago (when she was about 4 years old). It can break easily, so the following info is the best regimen for length retention that I have figured:

PRE - (SHAM) POO (Conditioning and detangling or Oil/Conditioning before washing):
It took me a while, but I figured out that her hair must be conditioned for slip and detangled before I even wash it. I take a spray bottle, mix some conditioner and water (maybe oils sometimes), and spray her hair so that I am able to section (never manipulate dry coily hair). Once her hair is sectioned into 4, then I saturate the ends in the conditioner mix, and detangle each section. Put each section into a two strand twist until ready to wash.

WASHING/CONDITIONING/DEEP CONDITIONING: I wash her hair in sections (either 2 sections or 4). The hair is already in 4 sections from the PRE-POO that was done. With the pads of my fingertips, I massage her scalp with a small amount of shampoo. Once the shampoo is rinsed out, I will put the conditioner  on the section, and place the section into a Bantu knot. Same process for the other 3 sections. Once all sections are in Bantu knots that have saturated in the conditioner, I will rinse out in sections. I deep condition her hair once every 2 weeks. I steam treat her hair at least once a month.

STYLING: I do low manipulation styling on her hair. That, for me, includes wash n go's, two strand twists, box braids, braid outs, or most styles you can think of. How I make those styles low manipulation is by creating the texture on wash day, putting the hair into the style of the week, and keeping the style for the rest of the week (between 7 to 10 days). So basically, we don't change the style up and risk split ends, or any sort of breakage.

DETANGLING: I only detangle her hair during a pre-poo with the ends saturated with conditioner/mix. I begin by saturating with water/conditioner, then use my fingers, then with a wide tooth comb, then use a specific paddle brush to finish up the detangling process. I detangle in sections (4 sections minimum).

 African American Girl With Long Length Hair

It took me about a year to come to this regimen. I will be consistent with it, because it works well for her. Going by the motto "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Not everybody's regimen will work for you, but if you are a coily girl with fine hair, and experience breakage easily, as well as knotting easily, you may want to try this if you haven't quite yet figured out a regimen.

9 comments:

  1. How do you stream treat her hair?

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  2. @Hotmomc I put her deep conditioner onto about 8 two strand twists. Then I put the two strand twists up into a high ponytail atop her head so that all of her ends will be under the steamer. I have an old steamer (one that is both a hair dryer and has the mist option). She stays under there about 20 minutes.

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  3. This helps me so much I have twin girls who will be two in October and I've been lost as to what to do with their hair. The texture is similar to that of your daughters. I was wondering if you could tell me what product brands you use...

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    1. Ohhh NICE 2 Angels!! We will be doing a post on that soon, but a quick rundown off the top of my head is Giovanni 50/50 Conditioner. You could probably check out the Shea Moisture Curl Control Shampoo (I think that's what it's called--it's very creamy). A great leave in that I used to use on her is the knot today with jojoba oil and a little castor oil. I keep it real natural, since I'm allergic to most everything. I just started using Trader Joe's Conditioners on her (tea trea and nourish spa). Hope this helps. Thanks for the message.

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  4. I am glad I found this blog. I watched a couple of your videos because you seem to have a curl pattern similar to my 7 year old daughters. I have been searching for ways to manage her natural hair. I love her curl pattern, probably because it is so different from my hair. I find it fascinating and beautiful. Unfortunately some in my DH's family will ask questions like, when can you perm her hair. My answer is always Why? I love her hair as it is. I want her to love it so she will want to keep it natural. I read beadsbraidsandbeyond and she has great tips, but your daughters hair is closer to my little girls pattern. Soooooo, the long and short is thanks for being willing to post help for us who are clueless. With all of the great info I am finding, my daughters hair already looks healthier and shinier.

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  5. Aww, thanks for the message sweets :o) Sadly, the "must relax the hair" mentality is a fact of this here life LOL. Good thing is you know what you want, you know what you're doing, and then it wont matter what anyone says. I relaxed my older daughter's hair because I didn't know what I was doing. That's definitely a pitfall. I appreciate this message a lot.

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  6. My baby girl's hair is exactly like your baby's. I have tried everything on it, even the things that I use on my hair, but I found that it just continues to stay dry. I am going to try your regiment to see if it makes a difference. She has experienced a lot of breakage at the bottom of her hair, but the top is still growing nicely. I attribute that to the dryness and the fact that I comb it while it's dry..Bad mommy..lol..I am going to try the Pre-poo to see if that helps us. Thanks for your help...

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    1. Thanks for the message Shenna. We appreciate you

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  7. this is the ExACT regimen I follow. I have very fine hair also. For my prepoo I mix a little coconut oil, pumpkin seed oil, water and aubrey organics gpb condish. it is amazing. my curls pop before i even wash them and detangling is a breeze

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