New Kids on The Block. For Newbies!

Starting a healthy hair journey is wonderful, it's one of the best things you'll ever do for you hair and make it grow, strong, healthy, and lush.

Products

You will need:

1 sulfate free shampoo (e.g ors invigorating shampoo, dr miracle's curl care creme of nature detangling shampoo, you can even use black african soap). Tendayi at African Hair Blog created an extensive list do check it out.

1 sulfate shampoo (shampoo which contains either sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate or ammonium laureth sulfate in the ingredients list)

1 moisturising deep conditioner

1 protein deep conditioner

• To know  how to select a deep conditioner and know which is which, see this post on deep conditioning

1 leave in conditioner or moisturiser ( ors moisturising lotion, dr miracle's curl care leave in conditioner, cantu shea butter leave in conditioner, s curl no drip, olive miracle moisturising lotion are some examples)

A bottle of oil, like olive oil, castor oil, coconut oil or avocado oil. Please get a pure oil.

Tools

1 wide tooth comb

1 conditioner cap

1 spray bottle for spraying water, moisturiser, hair concoctions etc. It really makes life easier.

Butterfly clips

A container to mix your products in

A satin bonnet or scarf to cover your hair with at night

Bobby pins for styling

The basics

• Learn how to moisturise your hair the right way in this post on moisturising hair
• There are some things you need to beware of doing in order to retain all that beautiful length you are going to grow and treat your hair well. See  this post on bad practices you need to stop and beware of.
• If you feel your growth is stagnant, check this post on factors that may be contributing to that and how to solve them.
• Read my post on deep conditioning to know what it is, why it is important, how to do it, and how often. 

A good regimen is essential for maintaining healthy hair. A regimen is like your guide and master plan on how to you are going to take care of your hair. It reminds you of what to do, when, and with what products.

This is an example of a basic regimen for demonstrative purposes, you can try it if you want.

-Wash and deep condition once a week

-Moisturise hair everyday, or every two days, or when it feels dry 

-Oil scalp every two days or when it is dry

-Long term protective style (e.g braids, weave, cornrow, twists) 4 weeks at a time, break for 2-3 weeks and put another style in

-Trim when there are a lot of split ends on the hair

You can check my regimen here.

Remember that your regimen cannot be solid and rigid, as in it will never change. You may need to adjust it to suit your hair's needs when the time comes and as it grows. You will add or remove things to your routine, be open to that. The same goes for hair tools, and products. As your hair grows and changes you may need to change them. Especially when you find that a product is not working for you anymore.

Read around and research on healthy hair care and practices. The more you read, the more you will know how to take care of your hair.

Lastly, be patient. Hair will not grow overnight, but as you put these healthy hair practices to work you will see improvement in health, then in thickness and finally in length. Rome was not built in a day. Enjoy the experience.

Happy growing...