I’ve been natural for 5 years now and just now getting a consistent regimen for my natural 4c hair. You might know every natural hair keyword and be a total expert on all things hair. Sadly, it won’t matter if you don’t know how to implement it. Once you’ve figured out your hair type and hair needs, it’s time to put together a regimen. For me, it took me years of trial, error, and imitation to figure it out what works for me. Today, I finally get to share with you my regimen to try to see if it would work for you. There are things that I do daily, weekly, and monthly to keep my hair in good condition.
Daily Regimen for my 4c hair
First, before you even touch your hair you have to create a good environment for your hair. You must invest in bonnets, headwraps, and silk pillowcases if you can. Natural hair, despite all of it’s beauty is very delicate. In fact, your hair’s natural defense is coiling up. Silk materials keep friction from damaging your hair. Regardless, every natural uses some sort of daily hair protection. You could be the best at washing, detangling, and braiding but it won’t matter if you sleeping on a pillow that will damage your hair. So, when you’re at home keep your head wrapped if you can. Even with hats, I recommend that you wear hats with silk lining or a bonnet under your hat. Keep in mind that headwraps are in right now, so you can look stylish without trying. This is where I started so don’t worry. We all start somewhere.
Secondly, I make sure to assess my hair’s moisture daily. Some days are dryer than others, and when those days hit you need to make sure your hair is moisturized. I usually assess my hair in the morning after taking off my bonnet, I spritz it with a water bottle that has coconut and olive oil in it. If it’s really bad, I put a quarter size of hair lotion in my hair and moisturize my scalp and ends.
Finally, I style as needed. If I decide that I want a twist out for church on Sunday, then I do my twists sometime between Wednesday and Saturday night and keep them in. I keep the manipulation on my hair low and try not to touch it often. However, if it’s a normal day and my twists aren’t looking very fresh, put my hair into a protective style. Once my hair is cute, I either put it in a headwrap or walk on out with the style as is.
My Weekly Natural Hair Regimen
Wednesday is washday – I love wash day because I make washday my beauty care day. I spend half of my time in the bathroom and half of my time in the living room. As your hair gets longer, you’ll have to make your routine more fun.
First, I pre-poo my hair. I have a mixture of coconut oil and olive oil that I use to saturate my hair for thirty minutes. As it’s getting saturated, I prepare for the shower portion by putting all my products in the shower with me. Once I’m done, I turn on my music and jump in the shower! I shampoo my hair twice to make sure that my scalp is cleansed. Next, I condition my hair and give my ends some extra love. But before rinse out my conditioner, I wash my body and shave. If you read the back of certain conditioner bottles, they ask that you let the conditioner sit for a while before rinsing it out completely. It helps the nutrients penetrate the hair shaft. Finally, I finish up the whole shower by using my scrub and rinsing off. After my shower, dry my hair with a microfiber towel and head into the next phase.
The second phase is detangling and styling. One thing that I learned to help me speed up my beauty routine is putting all my hair products in one bag. Over the years, I’ve minimized my routine to use fewer products so here’s what in my bag:
- Detangling comb
- Normal comb
- Hair clips
- Hair ties – Regular
- Hair Scrunchie – Silk
- Bobby pins
- Leave in conditioner
- Scalp oil treatment
- Curling smoothie
I grab my bag, turn on a movie, and start sectioning my hair into buns. For each bun, I moisturize my hair ( LCO- Leave-in , cream and Oil), detangle it, add oil to the scalp, and then I twist. Once my hair is sufficiently detangled and moisturized, I’m all done!
My Monthly 4c hair Regimen
Finally, I do two things each month: I trim my hair and deep condition my hair. These are the two habits that cause my hair to grow the most so don’t neglect these habits in your own routine.
I schedule my trim for the 30th of each month. Depending on your growth, you only need to trim your hair once a month. I check for breakage, dead ends, and any other issue with my hair. If it’s all good, I skip it until next month. I want to emphasize that I do not use kitchen scissors to trim my hair, it’s very bad for your hair to use those and you can buy a professional pair for five dollars at the hair store. Please do invest in a good pair.
Secondly, I deep condition my hair on the first Wednesday of the month. I choose a deep conditioner based on my hair needs. For example, if I’m struggling with dry hair I choose a conditioner that benefits my scalp. If my hair is brittle, I choose a conditioner that has some extra protein. The conditioning step doesn’t change my Wednesday routine too much other than skipping normal conditioner.
The Results
In October 2020, I did my second big chop to see how quickly my hair would grow after it became damage from split ends. Just from following this routine, I was able to have longer hair than what I started with in December 2019. I took care of my body during this time, by exercising and eating healthy as well. So I encourage you to incorporate health practices to help your hair. So, keep experimenting, keep trying, and keep striving toward a better you.
Any other questions I can answer please leave them in the comments section.
