5 Ways to Tell if Your Natural Hair Routine is not Working

• hair + beauty, Thank God Im Natural
• April 14, 2020
• Ashley

Whether you’ve had your natural hair routine for quite some time or even if you just started a new one, sometimes our natural hair routines just don’t pan out the way we would have hoped! If you are struggling to figure out what the issue may be, it could quite possibly be one of these five on our list.

1. Excessively dry hair

If your hair constantly feels dry it could be because you are either washing it with drying sulphate filled shampoos, washing with shampoo too often, not moisturizing enough or have a lack of water in your diet. Our body naturally heals itself from the inside. Our bodies are made up of majority water and need water to properly function. Add more water to your diet to increase growth, moisture and retention. If you are using a shampoo or conditioner with sulphates, switch to tgins Moisture Rich  Sulphate free shampoo and Triple Moisture Replenishing Conditioner to leave your hair feeling soft after every wash.  You should also be applying a moisturizer after every wash. Our Daily Butter Cream  Moisturizer and Green Tea Super Moist Leave in Conditioner are perfect for adding moisture to dry hair.

2. Excessive Hair Loss 

If your hair seems to be shedding excessively it could be due to improper detangling, lack of water intake, sleeping on cotton pillow cases, as well as lack of moisture. Detangling should only be done when the hair is wet and with either a wide tooth comb or your fingers. You should start from the ends and gently work your way up, separating the hair as you go. Again, water intake is very important to our overall health as well as appearance. you should be drinking at least 8-10 glasses of water a day, lack of water can cause hair to shed as well as break and become brittle and dry. Finally, cotton pillow cases can cause breakage from the friction of your hair rubbing across it at night. Use a satin pillowcase or satin scarf to wrap your hair at night.

3. Hair is Limp 

Limp hair can come from too much product, over conditioning as well as heat damage. If your curls don’t seem to be very curly, you have straight ends, or your hair has a weighed down/ limp appearance it most likely is due to your styling process. Contrary to popular belief there is a such thing as over conditioning. Certain natural products can be used overnight such as coconut oil, or olive oil. Protein treatments, wash out conditioners and anything that specifically says should be washed out of your hair within 20-30 minutes or so, should definitely be rinsed out. Over conditioning hair can cause it to become limp and weighed down. Be sure you aren’t using a rinse out conditioner in your hair overnight. Heat damaged hair can also cause a limp appearance. Try to avoid heat styling as much as possible. When you are heat styling try to have your heat tool on a lower setting, or use alternative methods like the silk wrap for a sleek, low heat straightening method.

4. Growth Seems to be at a Standstill 

If you aren’t noticing hair growth it could be due to several reasons, clogged pores in scalp due to excessive product, breakage and  tangled hair are all culprits. If you are piling product on your scalp it could be blocking your scalp from getting the oxygen it needs to properly grow your hair as quickly as possible. Only apply product to your actual hair and allow your scalp to breath. Your scalp produces natural oils so there is no need to coat it with any product, especially anything containing petroleum, which could be suffocating it! If your hair is not properly detangled it will also appear as if it isn’t growing. Be sure to properly detangle your hair in the shower so you aren’t having to deal with painful, matted and tangled hair. If your hair is breaking at the same or similar rate it is growing you won’t notice any substantial hair growth. Be sure to keep the hair well moisturized and detangle properly, as well as avoid doing too many high maintenance styles to avoid excessive breakage.

5. Hair is Breaking

Excessive breakage could be due to high maintenance hair styles or frequent styling, improper detangling, lack of moisture, using cotton towels to dry hair and not sleeping on a satin pillowcase or not using a satin scarf. If you are constantly switching up your hair style, combing it frequently or braiding and re-braiding it often, you could be causing your hair to break! Ease up on the styling. Choose low maintenance hair styles like up-do’s, braid or twist outs, wash n’ go’s and similar styles to keep your hair from breaking.

Ashley Renee is a licensed esthetician,makeup artist, natural hair enthusiast, writer and poet from Chicago,residing in Los Angeles! Follow her on instagram @ashleyreneepoet ,twitter and personal blog why I Waited