How To create Your Natural Hair Care Routine 4C

If you have natural hair, you know how difficult it can be to maintain…

No wonder! This type of hair is by far the most fragile and the most complicated to care for on a daily basis.

A 100% natural hair routine will help you avoid breakage and improve the growth of your afro hair.

Ready to go? Let’s get started!

1. The prepoo for natural hair

This is the essential step to start your routine!

It consists most often of an oil bath, but can also take advantage of the shea butter that natural hair loves.

The usefulness of prepoo in a few words

Here are the main benefits of prepoo:

• Protects the hair against the drying of the shampoo
• Nourishes the hair in depth and makes it supple
• Repairs the hair fiber

What products should you use for your prepoo?

To offer a moisturizing and repairing prepoo to your afro hair, you can use mustard oil, jojoba oil or even coconut oil.

👉🏾 See the best oils for natural brittle hair.

These oils can be used alone but also mixed to enjoy their respective benefits at the same time.

You can also include a dab of shea butter or cocoa butter.

How to proceed?

Follow these few steps to make your prepoo:

• Heat the oils in a double boiler
• Divide your hair into sections
• Apply the mixture to the lengths and ends of your strands
• Cover your hair with a charlotte or plastic film to improve the penetration of the oils
• Leave on for 30 to 45 minutes

Is your prepoo done? It’s time to shampoo!

2. Shampooing your nappy hair

Shampoo is essential to rinse the oil bath.

It is also essential to rid the hair and scalp of impurities and product residues accumulated since your last shampoo.

The usefulness of a good shampoo

For your natural hair, its action comes to eliminate the impurities, the possible dandruff as well as the excess of sebum of the roots.

A good shampoo gives your natural hair back all its shine and allows it to breathe better.

Which shampoos should I use?

Choose a natural shampoo without silicone or sulfates. These products tend to dry out the hair and clog the cuticles.

It is best to choose a gentle shampoo that is moisturizing and enriched with keratin. It is even more important to choose a moisturizing shampoo for type 4 hair that is naturally dry.

Are you a fan of low poo and 100% natural products? You can turn to washing plant powders: shikakai, rhassoul or sidr are excellent alternatives to classic shampoos.

How to proceed?

Wet your hair and gently separate it into 2 to 4 sections. This will make it easier to apply shampoo. You’ll be sure to clean your entire head of hair.

If you use a regular shampoo, focus on your scalp.

There is no need to insist on the ends. Rinse thoroughly. If you’ve done a pre-poo before, you may need to apply a little more pressure to remove the oils.

Tip: Apply conditioner to your lengths before rinsing. This will soften the hair and limit its drying out. It also saves you time on your routine!

Here’s how to do it if you’re using a plant powder:

• Mix your powder with warm water until you get a homogeneous paste
• Add a few drops of rosemary or peppermint essential oil
• Apply to your scalp
• Massage gently and rinse thoroughly

Once your hair is washed, you can move on to deep conditioning!

3. The deep mask for type 4 hair

After shampooing, it’s the perfect time to deeply nourish your hair. That’s what deep conditioning is all about!

The purpose of the nourishing mask

Nourishing care allows you to deeply moisturize and nourish your hair and make it more supple.

A regular deep treatment repairs and heals damaged hair fibers in the long term. natural hair benefits particularly from this intense care.

Which hair mask to use for natural hair?

There is a huge amount of deep conditioning products on the market.

Some commercial products are excellent, especially if they use natural products.

However, it may be worth making your own hair mask to be sure of what you’re giving your natural hair.

The internet is full of recipes for homemade hair masks for afro hair.

To make sure a mask is right for your kinky hair, check for one of these ingredients:

• Coconut, Roman, macadamia, jojoba, argan or castor oil
• Shea butter
• Yoghurt
• Banana
• Avocado
• Egg

These ingredients are naturally good for Afro hair and work well in a hair mask. Note that natural hair especially benefits from protein masks.

👉🏾 Check out the best homemade protein treatments for curly hair.

How to do it

As with the shampoo, divide your hair into sections.

Then apply the mask, focusing on the ends.

This is an opportunity to detangle each section with your fingers (or with a wide-tooth comb). Your hair, softened by the mask, is more malleable. Knots literally melt away under your fingertips.

Here’s a recipe for a homemade deep mask for your kinky hair routine:

Ingredients

• One avocado
• Half a banana
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon of aloe vera
• 2 drops of rosemary essential oil

Preparation

• In a container, mash the avocado and half a banana and mix until you get a uniform paste.
• Add the oils and aloe vera and mix again
• Apply to damp hair in sections from roots to ends
• Cover your hair with plastic wrap or charlotte and leave on for 20-30 minutes

To enjoy the effects of the nourishing mask for a long time, apply it after each shampoo.

4. The leave-in

The leave-in is a treatment that nourishes and moisturizes your hair while softening it.

What is a leave-in for?

Also known as leave-in care, leave-in is perhaps the most important step in your curly hair routine.

Its action prevents water from evaporating quickly and leaving you with dry, brittle hair.

👉🏾 See the best moisturizers for homemade afro hair.

In addition to deeply moisturizing the hair fibers, the leave-in treatment makes detangling easier and leaves the hair soft and supple.

Which leave-in to use?

The ideal is to turn to a 100% natural leave-in without chemicals.

There are some very good natural leave-ins on the market. Here is the one I recommend:

You can also make your own. A good leave-in contains at least one vegetable oil and/or butter.

How do you do it?

Here is a recipe for a natural homemade leave-in adapted to Afro 4c hair:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of aloe vera gel
• 1 tablespoon of coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon of shea butter
• 1 teaspoon of coconut oil

Preparation:

• Mix the shea butter and coconut oil together so that you have an even mixture
• Mix the coconut milk and aloe vera gel
• Mix the two mixtures together

Application:

• Cover the treatment all over your hair while still wet
• Gently massage with your fingers to make the product penetrate
• No need to rinse

Make this leave-in part of your hair routine for well-defined curls and more manageable hair.

5. A final oil to seal in moisture

The purpose of vegetable oil in a nutshell

The application of a final oil or vegetable butter seals in the moisture in the cuticles.

This step improves the penetration of the leave-in and thus reinforces your care.

Which oil to use?

Note that the choice of oil depends on the porosity of your hair:

For very porous natural hair, prefer a rich vegetable oil like coconut or avocado oil. They will better preserve your hair fibers from evaporation.
For hair that is not very porous, turn to a light oil like jojoba or argan oil. These oils provide many benefits without weighing down your hair.

👉🏾 Find out how to care for natural hair with low porosity.

If you have dry and/or split ends, you can also use a vegetable butter like shea or cocoa.

How to proceed?

Choose a vegetable oil of your choice according to your porosity. If possible, always choose an organic oil.

Cover your entire hair with the oil, focusing on your ends. Massage gently with your fingertips.

This last step is especially recommended in winter, when hair tends to dry out more.

Now you’re ready to give your nappy hair a quality hair routine!

Why a hair routine?

Everyday life is full of opportunities to damage your hair…

A trip to the pool, pollution or even a simple change of season can disrupt your much-loved african-american hair.

By providing hair with regular and appropriate care, the hair routine is essential to keep hair fibers strong and healthy.

But beyond a care routine, it is also a special moment between you and yourself!

Self-care is essential for healthy hair. An adapted hair routine is a big dose of love for your body, which will thank you to the power of a thousand!

Knowing the Afro hair

Afro hair is type 4, which means that its curls are extremely tight.

Here are the main characteristics of natural hair:

• Its length is reduced by 75% compared to straight hair, this is the famous shrinkage
• It is the hair that requires the most hydration and care in general
• It is particularly prone to breakage
• 4c hair is generally very fine, which makes it all the more fragile

As you can see, Afro hair needs more care than other hair types.

This helps to fight against hair loss because the follicles are less well anchored to the scalp.

Save time

A regular hair routine means healthy hair.

And healthy hair means a shorter hair routine!

In other words, you don’t have to wait until your hair shows signs of fatigue to do a full treatment.

This way, you’ll shorten the length of your routine considerably!

Encourage growth

As you probably know, natural hair grows the slowest.

The main reason is the lack of moisture. Its tight curls make it hard for the natural oils of the scalp to reach the lengths and moisturize them properly.

A good hair routine for 4c hair does not replace sebum but complements it to boost the nutrition of hair fibers.

Give your hair regular nutritional supplements and it will grow faster, it’s that simple!

👉🏾 See the best natural hair care products.

Frequency of the routine

Unlike other hair natures, natural hair doesn’t get greasy. Therefore, shampooing it too regularly may dry it out more than anything else.

As a result, shampooing is the least frequent step in the hair routine for type 4 hair. One shampoo a month is plenty.

On the other hand, you can apply a bath and deep conditioning leave-in once a week without any problem! They soften the hair and make it shiny.

Ingredients to avoid

To give your natural hair the best, you need to pay special attention to the composition of the products you use in your routine.

Your shampoo is the most important thing to watch out for, as it comes in direct contact with your scalp.

Here are the elements you should avoid in your shampoo:

• Sulfates
• Silicones
• Parabens

You should also choose shampoos with a neutral pH and enriched with keratin or essential oils, as they are gentler on the hair and facilitate its hydration.