All too often going natural can have problems and one of the biggest is dealing with brittle hair. Our natural coils, curls and kinks are curving and bends and the natural oils from our scalp cannot make it down the strand and can cause our hair to be drier than straight hair. If you haven’t learned by now, natural hair needs massive amounts of moisture to keep it looking healthy and staying healthy. It requires some TLC but if you don’t know what it needs, you are suffering from what many assume is hair not growing.
Deep Conditioner, Best For Damaged Hair
Slapping grease or oil on your hair and scalp is not the answer so let’s take a quick minute to learn what is all too often the culprit for your dry and brittle strands. There can be several reasons, but these are the most common reasons.
When it comes to maintaining moisture in your hair, you also need moisture in your body. If you haven’t been drinking an efficient amount of water, then your hair could be reflecting it. Water is needed to keep every portion of the body healthy, including the hair. Not drinking enough water can cause dry hair, dry scalp, and many other minor physical changes that are totally preventable.
Try drinking at least 4-6 water bottles a day in order to maintain a healthy amount of water intake. Try fashionable water bottles as they are easy to carry around and make it less of a chore like the White Marble’ Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been asked about dry or brittle hair from readers and my first question is to ask if they deep condition regularly. 8 out of 10 times this is the problem. Far too many newbies skip the tried and true deep conditioning that should be done on every wash day or at LEAST monthly and with heat! This is not the step to skip too often.
Deep conditioners are penetrating conditioners that adds moisture, maintains elasticity, and strengthens the hair strands on a deeper level. They actually penetrate the hair shaft and not all products have that ability. That’s the magic behind a deep conditioner and why they are necessary on every single washday. The are there to not only protect hair and keep it moisturized but to also combat the damages you inflict on your hair during washing, styling and regular day to day wear.
If you are not doing this every wash day or even every other wash day, I guarantee you, your dry or brittle hair problem is dying for a DC. Apply heat with a plastic cap or one of my faves, Glow by Daye Cordless Deep Conditioning Thermal Heat Cap, for at least 30 minutes to get the full benefit of the DC.
Hard water is caused by too many minerals in the water supply, mainly calcium and magnesium. This high mineral content causes a film to form on the hair which causes build up on the scalp and prevents moisture from entering the
hair, resulting in dull or brittle hair.
If you find that you’re washing your hair in hard water, you can invest in a water softener, get a shower filter, do an acidic-based hair rinse like vinegar or lemon/lime juice, use bottled water or use a clarifying shampoo in order to both prevent and remove the film from your hair. You can also invest in a shower filter to remove those impurities from your water before they even get to your head like the HotelSpa® Ultra-Luxury 6-Setting Rainfall Shower Head & Universal High-Performance Shower Filter above.
This Filtered Shower Head is under $30 for $24.99 is ideal because it is much less expensive than buying a water-filter shower head which some can set you back as much as $250 dollars.
How To Go Natural: The First Most Important Steps
While these are only a few of many reasons as to why your hair could be a little more dull than you’d like, you should also remember that not everyone’s hair will have sheen and that’s okay! Sometimes the fact that your hair is not lustrous is just because that’s its natural state, so embrace it.
Are you having problems with dry or brittle hair strands?
Sabrina
