How to Keep Natural Biracial or African American hair moisturized

Moisturized hair :)

If you have natural dry thirsty biracial or African American hair, then you know all the hassle and annoyance you can go through trying to care for your hair. Use these tips to keep your hair moisturized and happy.

Things You'll Need

• A moisturizing shampoo
• A moisturizing conditioner
• A leave in conditioner
• Elastic pony tail holders

Instructions

1. Make sure that your hair is fresh and clean by washing with a moisturizing shampoo like Pantene Pro V relaxed and natural or Sunsilk Hydra TLC. Avoid lathering the shampoo too much. Although the later feels good and it seems like it is helping to cleanse the hair, the lather actually strips the hair of it's natural oils leaving it dry and brittle. A trick I use is to put the shampoo in my hand and rub it down the length of my hair. I gently massage my scalp with the balls of my fingers and slowly rub the rest of my hair in downwards strokes. The shampoo doesn't lather and my hair still gets clean without being stripped of moisture.

2. After shampooing, use your conditioner generously. In my experience, the ends of the hair are the most dry which makes sense because they are also the oldest. Be sure to saturate the ends of your hair to make up for their dryness. Also massage an ample amount of conditioner in the rest of your hair and allow the conditioner to sit in your hair as you finish taking your shower. Let the conditioner sit in your hair for a minimum of 10 minutes so that it has time to penetrate the hair shaft and work it's magic.

3. When it comes time to rinse out the conditioner, leave some of it in your hair. How much to leave in? I usually rinse my hair until you can't see any conditioner but it still feels a bit slippery. This helps the hair to retain the moisture of the conditioner and the water. It also helps boost the strength of your leave in.

4. After rinsing, place an average amount of leave in and hair detangler in the hair. Good brands to use are infusium 23 and just for me detangler spritz. This helps to strengthen the hair and lock in the moisture.

5. After ensuring that all of your hair is saturated with leave in, enough so that the hair is soft, part your hair with your fingers into two or three sections. Braid each section and secure with an elastic pony tail holder, preferably one with fabric on the outside to avoid snagging the hair. This helps especially if you are about to sleep. It stops the hair from tangling and helps it to sock up all the loving moisture that you gave it.

6. Allow your hair to air dry. Avoid heat drying and heat styling your hair as it sucks out the moisture. If you must heat dry, use a hair protecting shampoo and conditioner like Thermasilk and always use a heat protecting serum. After your hair dries, undo your braids. Your hair will retain it's moisture and look great.