How to Take Care of Black Hair

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Taking care of hair when you are African-American is a little different. Here's how..

Steps

Find a good moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. Use the one particular to your hair type. For instance, if your hair is dry...choose a dry hair brand. If your hair is colored choose a brand for color care. Choose products with alot of natural ingredients. avoid products with mineral oils, they're ok but too much can make your hair brittle. Olive oil, shea butter, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, carrot oil, and other natural oils are much better. Aphogee shampoo and reconstructor is decent at about $9.00 a bottle. Redken butter is a really good deep conditioner. Creme of nature moisturizing shampoo plus conditioner is great if you are in a hurry. If you have more money to spend try mizani protein moiturinzing shamapoo and conditioner, or joico k-pak shampoo and conditioner(you can find the generic version of the joico k-pak at sally). stay away from amonium laurel sulfate if possible, if possible, its a really drying detergent found in most shampoos(including some of the good ones listed)
Black hair can get very dry, so moisture is key when nursing your hair back to health. Try Elsta Mango Butter, Profective line, or Organic Root Stimulator products, Mizani tea rose moisturizer cream, kera care moisturizer,etc all of which can be found at your local Walmart or pharmacy. If you have a little more money to spend you could either try the Ultra Black Hair, Crème of Nature line.You can also use a small amount of grapeseed, olive or jojoba oil straight from the bottle. Aveda makes a really good leave in conditioner which I like to use right after I wash my hair and before I put little oil in it.
Decide how often you are going to shampoo and deep condition your hair. The once a month myth is sure to make your hair break off. You will want to shampoo and condition every 3 to 5 days, your hair will like that. If thats too much try once a week. Deep condition every week if you have time, and no less then twice a month. But you must listen to your hair!
Decide if you want to use "grease" in your hair. Most black hair needs extra moisture but stay away from products with petroleum. Petrolem makes hair stiff dry and greasy. Instead of grease, try natural oils(or quality products like the moisturizers listed above), which are a great for your hair because they don't have all those sulfates, sodium’s, and preservatives in them. They also gives your hair a nice shine. Grape see oil is really light, and it can withstand high tempatures without burning, which will help control damage if you use heat on your locks.
Moisturize your ends and be sure to keep them moisturized so they don’t split.
If you use heat on your hair, try and cut it down to once a week if you can and make sure you use a heat protector or straightening spray [I recommend Fantasia heat protector straightening spray] on your hair before flat ironing or curling. Hold the barrel cover slightly open so the hair simply passes over the barely without being tugged and pulled by the barrel cover when you use the curling iron. If you absoulutely must use oil when you use your curling iron, dab on a very, very, extremely tiny amount of Optimum Oil Therapy 3-in-1 Cremé and it won't leave your hair oily. A picture of this is also attached.
Make sure you tie your hair up before you go to bed with a Satin or Silk scarf. You can get them at Wal-Mart for cheap. You can also get a satin bonnet for when you have curls in your hair. Satin pillowcases are good for those nights when you just don’t feel like putting your hair up in a scarf. This prevents the hair from tearing and snagging and ultimately breaking off while you sleep.

Tips

Oil natural hair (not straightened, permed or relaxed) about once each day. Oil straightened hair no more than twice a week with an extremely tiny dab of the stuff only AFTER putting on a moisturizing leave in. This is called sealing. The oil seals in the moisture of the leave in and ensures that thehair stays healthy.
Stay away from the crap in the regular white hair care treatments that say for women of color, such as Pantene. Most of that stuff is crappy. Go to the ethnic hair in the section of the CVS and you've got it made.
Make sure you don't wear your hair in one style for a long time or everyday your hair will break off.
It is best to get a relaxer every 8 weeks or longer, in order to prevent overprocessing and making sure that only the new hair is relaxed
A good shampoo is John Paul Mitchell Super Skinny shampoo. It is kind of expensive but its worth it get the conditioner to go with it.
To reduce tangles, try trimming your ends.
Wear a satin bonnet or scarf to bed.
Avoid rubber bands.
Instead of using shampoo, try washing your hair as you usually would, but with conditioner only. Use cheap conditioners like Suave, White Rain and VO5. They all work well.

Warnings

If your hair is relaxed, only relax your new growth and NEVER overlap the relaxer onto previously relaxed hair. To prevent overlapping the previously relaxed hair, which causes overprocessing and ultimately breakage, apply an essential oil, castor oil, extra virgin oil, or vaseline to protect the previously relaxed hair.

A key factor in maintaining the length and overall health of your relaxed hair, reapply the relaxer only to the new growth( virgin hair that has never had chemicals applied to it). Most stylist will recommend a touch - up every 4-6 weeks; that is not always necessary some hair textures only need to have a touch -up every 3 months which is 12 weeks, and some can extend longer without any damage to the hair shaft. It is vital to do what is best for your hair texture and alawys make certain to never leave the relaxer on the hair too long; this will cause serious damage and possible hair loss. Follow the instructions on the relaxer hair care system if you are relaxing on your own. If you are going to a professional stylist make sure to vocalize when the relaxer is burning or if their is any discomfort at all to prevent hair loss.
Look at the ingredients: if it has too many long chemical names, try and stay away but that isn't ALWAYS bad. But if you know your hair is way fragile don't do it. Watch for petrolatum, it's bad for your hair, as is Mineral Oil. But if it's Lite Mineral Oil, you can go with it. Just Mineral Oil!

Things You'll Need

Moisturizing shampoo and conditioner [I use Tresemme]
Deep conditioner [Like Mayonnaise for hair]
Protein treatments
Essential oils like jojoba, coconut, castor oil, carrot, and olive oil

Silk or satin sleep scarf

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