How to develop a hair care routine

The demands on the 21st century woman is crazy. Both at work and at home she is stretched to the limits with assignments, deadlines and chores. This makes it sometimes difficult for her find to time to look after herself. One of the first things easy for people to spot when you don’t take care of yourself is your hair.  This is why your hair needs all the help it can get because you need to keep looking great even against all the odds. Having a healthy hair care routine is important for keeping you in shape.

The type of hair care routine you can follow is dependent on the type of hair you carry. Your hair may be curly, straight, wavy and kinky or coily and your scalp oily and dry. Not to worry, there is a routine that you can easily work with right here. Just key into whichever one suits you perfectly.

How to Check Your Hair Type

The effectiveness of a hair care routine is dependent on the hair type. Once you know the texture, density and degree of oiliness of your hair. This simple step should help you know your hair type. To get the best result, it is important that you are not doing any physically exerting activity that can cause sweating on your scalp. Use a conventional shampoo and conditioner to wash your hair. Allow the hair rest for between 8-10 hours after washing so as to allow oil accumulate on your scalp. Afterwards, take a tissue, press it gently on the hair. If you observe that the tissue has a lot of oil, you have oily hair type. If you observe light oil collected on the tissue, you have medium oily hair type, but if there is no oil deposit on the tissue, you have a dry hair type.

Now, it is possible that you pressed the tissue gently on some parts of your hair and noticed different oiliness levels, some dry, some oily and some even medium. Don’t fret, you have a combination hair type. Also, to know your hair density, pat your hair in the middle and observe how much scalp you can see. If you see much scalp, you have thin hair, if you see some scalp you have medium but if the line is thin, you have a thick hair type.

Routine for Straight Hair

It is true that the straight hair type is easy to manage. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve care and attention. In fact something that you need to be wary of is it falling flat and looking greasy. This happens because the hair allows for natural oils from your scalp to travel down the complete length of hair quite uniformly. Use sulphate-free shampoo to wash your hair about 2-3 times weekly.

Condition your hair with a conditioner that is infused with essential oil such as coconut oil, lavender, lemon oil, jojoba oil, among others. You could also use volmizing mousse all over your damp hair before hair drying or blow drying it to add volume into your hair if you find your hair falling flat and looking sheepish. If your straight hair difficult to style and braids loosening up over and again, you should spray some texturizer on your hair to give it more weight.

Routine for Wavy Hair

The wavy hair can be really beautiful but could be tough to take care of if you don’t properly care for it. The wavy hair is neither curly nor straight and continues to demand special care if you want it to be pliable. Wash your hair not more than twice a week to prevent it from falling out or drying out. Before washing massage essential oils into your hair to help nourish your hair and condition it from within.

Condition the hair whenever you wash it to improve how the waves form on your head. After washing, dry your hair with a microfiber towel to limit those annoying frizzes. Care for the tip of your hair specially with jojoba oil and leave overnight. This helps to trap moisture within your hair for a gratifying look. Styling those great looking curls can be an unusually tiring stuff but you need to do it every night the more braids you have, the tighter and more defined your waves will be.

After bathing every day, apply a leave-in conditioner to your hair. Using non-oil based conditioner is better for the overall hair health.

Routine for Curly Hair

Curls are playful and enhance your character – that’s if you have them but they can be tough to manage. Curls easily lose definition, becoming dry and frizzy. So, how can you keep those curls looking great on you? Use sulphate-free shampoo on your hair as curls prevent natural oil from the scalp from circulating well through the hair.

Curls tend to get dry and damaged if washed too regularly. It is therefore necessary to wash your hair just twice weekly and condition it every other day. After conditioning, do not dry it out too much as the curls need some moisture to prevent them from frizzing out. Deep conditioning should also be done biweekly so as to improve curl hydration which helps to nourish your hair from within.

Curly hair is usually fragile which causes it to break easily. Run a wide-toothed comb through your hair when you are conditioning. This helps to remove all knots and detangling wrinkles. Combing or brushing when your hair is not conditioned increases breakage and tendency to have knots and wrinkles. Avoid it as much as possible.

Routine for Kinky or Coily Hair

Kinky or coily hair type is very fragile and tends to dry out frequently. Whatever you do, you need to keep your curls hydrated at all times. To get this done, use a shampoo free of sulphate to wash your hair to keep your hair moist and saturated with natural oils.

Spray water on your hair regularly and wash not more than once a week. Essential oils like lanolin, lavender, jojoba oil and coconut oil should be used to treat your hair as they leave your hair moisturized. Tie a thin satin scarf on your hair before you retire to bed. You should use only non-oil based conditioners on your hair. Detangling should only be carried out only when shampooing with a large-toothed comb.

You could also read our article how to 7 steps to stop hair breakage to give you a better understanding on hair management to improve your hair care routine.