Natural African American Hair

Apr 5, 2012

Ari T.

I am mixed and I have African American hair, I really don't want to relax or perm it. I have been wearing it in a pony tail with a thick headband for years, and get a tone of crap about it at school. I just want it to look healthy and a lot less frizzy. any tips?

Apr 5, 2012

April F.

Moisture is very important for curly hair. Using products that are geared for your hair will go a long way towards making your hair managable and giving you some more styling options. Also believe it or not having the right hair cut can also help make your hair more easy to work with. As far as product goes, there isnt one magic product that works for everyone, but some good lines to start with would be mixed chicks(yes that really is the name of the line lol), shea moisture, devacurl, and miss jessie's. Hope that helps and good luck on your healthy and frizz free hair journey : )

Apr 5, 2012

April F.

Also if you can stay away from anything with sulfates. Those are like kryptonite for curly hair.

Apr 5, 2012

Ari T.

Thnx!

Apr 5, 2012

Roxie C.

April is definitely right you should definitely moisturize your hair helps get those curls looking alot better. I have curly hair and what I like to use is moroccan oil just a tiny bit and some MIXED CHICKS ( this stuff is amazing). Almost a year ago I lost my curls b/c of too much heat being applied and this stuff just brought it back to life. I'll be posting a tutorial on curly hair tomorrow if you wanna see exactly what I do to my hair. Hope it helps. :) 

Apr 5, 2012

Ari T.

thanks!

Apr 5, 2012

Ari T.

With the hair cut thing, around 1 or 2 years ago I got my hair cut at Toni&Guy and the instructor told her to straighten my hair before they cut it! I think they layered it so in the front it is short and long so its Really weird. is there something to help with that?
 

Apr 5, 2012

Marla W.

There are alot of methods on youtube that can help you when trying to define your curls. I have been natural for three years and have found moisture is key as the other ladies said... also have you looked up methods for defining your curls? I've seen it done with a product of your choice and a denman brush. There are tons of videos of the method on youtube... heres a link about defining curls.... hopefully it helps :)

http://youtu.be/MX7f8jJgWJU

Apr 5, 2012

April F.

With the hair cut thing, you'll just have to wait til it grows out to a length where you can get a proper cut. Next time you do get it cut, explain to the stylist that you'll be wearing your hair curly most of the time and dont let them straighten it to cut it. That method almost always results in the stylist taking off way too much and honestly to me its kind of a cop out for a stylist who doesnt really know how to work with curly hair. A good stylist should be able to cut your hair in its curly state without any problem.

Apr 5, 2012

Joi K.

MIXED CHICKS !!! can't scream it enough it works for every hair texture but for naturally curly and thick hair its the best thing out there it gives u a wonderful natural curl pattern and if u ever decide to straighten it they have a hair serum just for u. all of their stuff including the shampoo works great I have two interracial clients with that same issue and when I cut their hair even just to trim I always do a wet cut and then go through to refine the shape dry and they love it although mixed chicks products are pricy they are hands the best for your hair type also deep conditioners periodically are excellent in addition to moisturizing daily with their leave in conditioner . 

Apr 11, 2012

gee m.

I have been natural for almost 10 years and even though my hair is short it still takes a lot of work. You definitely have to try a lot of products out to see what will work for you and give you the look that you desire. I think once you decide the look you are trying to achieve as far as hair style hair cut you will have a better ideal of the products you may want and need to use. Like the ladies above stated you for sure want to keep moisture locked into your hair and use some sort of frizz control. Dealing with natural hair just takes some paying attention to, to see what works and does not work for your hair.

As far as the people at school complaining about your hair don't worry about them honey no matter how your hair is styled straight, perm, or curl, someone will always have something to say about it. 

Apr 14, 2012

S S.

You sound just like me. I used to wear it that exact same way for a few years.

What you should do is work on returning the moisture to your hair. It's a little tedious, but after each time you wash your hair, put it into small braids/twists and wear it like that. This helps to prevent damage to the ends.

The great things about twists/braids are that you can wear them in a lot of different styles and they prevent damage so your hair will get longer in a quicker period of time (after all, all hair grows at similar rates; it's the amount of damage that affects how long it gets in a period of time).

Hope that helps :)

~S

Apr 14, 2012

Shonie D.

CONDITIONER IS A MUST FOR NATURAL HAIR..IT MAKES IT REALLY SOFT AND EASIER TO STYLE....

May 8, 2013

Marcia M.

I went natural for about 3 years. My hair was bsl (bra strap length) and I cut it down to the 1 inch of new growth. I wanted to do something different. As my hair grew back out it became a bit of work. The frizzing, dryness, combing it out, washing. I just wasn't what I was used to. When my hair was long, I didn't do the 6 or 8 week relaxing like most people do, I got a relaxer every 16 weeks (3 times a year) in between I used a blow dryer to straighten my roots and other things to keep my hair low maintenance.
With my natural hair, I discovered something big for all my problems (dryness, frizzing, combing it out, washing and issues with manageability)
EVERY WEEK (Saturday's for me) this is what I did & I began to notice a change in the softness of my hair and how easy it was to manage. My hair never got dry during the week.
3 table spoons raw coconut oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of honey
1 table spoon shea butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice (real lemon)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise

melt the coconut oil, shea butter, and honey together and stir it. add mayo, stir. add in the egg (bet it before you add it) stir it in. add olive oil and lemon juice.

put this on your hair working from the ends to the scalp. let it sit for an hour with a shower cap. rinse it out with hot water. then use your fav conditioner (vo5 is mine cheap strawberry kind I think) and then rinse it with cold water. You will be surprised how your hair feels. It loosened my curls and softened my hair. I co washed my hair daily with vo5 conditioner and put my hair in bantu knots or twists for sleep, covered with a silk scarf to sleep. I went back to relaxed when my hair got to big which was a little under 3 years. Hope this helps