Natural Afro Haircare 101
Last Edited: 3/22/2025
Disclaimer: I am not a licensed cosmetologist, dermatologist, or trichologist.
Table of Contents
Guiding Principles
01: Minimize Breakage
Minimize mechanical damage to your hair (breakage) by treating your hair like silk—gently. Take your time. Don’t comb or brush your hair roughly or quickly.
Remain relaxed and patient. Don’t handle your hair when rushing, irritated, or angry.
02: Minimize Tangles
Your goal at every step is to minimize tangles. Keep your hair as elongated as possible and organized, using twists or bantu knots when necessary.
03: Regularly Cleanse Your Scalp and Hair
Cleanse your scalp and hair every 7 to 14 days, depending on your scalp health, product use, and lifestyle.
A clean scalp mitigates many issues and is essential for healthy hair growth. Excess sebum buildup can cause scalp issues, and product buildup will reduce the effectiveness of anything you apply to your hair.
Your hair is exposed to dirt and pollutants in the environment daily. A clean scalp and clean hair are essential to good hygiene.
Removing product buildup, dirt, and pollutants allows moisturizing products (conditioners and creams) to coat the hair effectively.
Also, as part of our hair’s regular growth cycle, we typically shed between 50 and 100 strands daily.
If you’re not wearing your hair straight, these hairs are not released daily. The longer you go between shampooing, the more shed hairs you need to release before shampooing, and the longer this process will take.
04: Only Handle Your Hair When It’s Lubricated
Products that lubricate and condition the hair ensure that it’s pliable, retains its elasticity, and won’t break when handled.
Steps
01: Prepare to Shampoo
Remove Your Style
If applicable, remove your style.
Remove Shed Hair
If your hair was in a style for more than 3 days, gently remove some of the accumulated shed hair. Keep your hair elongated, soften it with a moisturizer if necessary, and gently separate your strands, gliding your hands down the hair to remove shed hair.
If your hair was in a style for 2 weeks or more, follow the steps above. Follow finger detangling with a wide-tooth comb. Remove as much shed hair as possible, remembering to be gentle. Finally, use a detangling brush from root to tip to remove any remaining shed hair.
Shampooing your hair without removing shed hair from long-term styles is a recipe for more tangles and possible matting.
02: Shampoo
Selecting Shampoos
Some shampoos cleanse more effectively than others. Strong cleansing shampoos are often called clarifying shampoos. However, a shampoo can be strong without this term on the label.
Clarifying shampoos are not recommended for weekly shampooing and can result in dry, brittle hair over time if used too frequently. If you use products that aren’t water-soluble, you should consider using clarifying shampoos once every 4-6 weeks.
If you use products that are water-soluble and quickly rinse from your hair (see Start with a 3 to 5-minute Rinse), you wash your hair every 7 to 14 days, and your scalp doesn’t produce excess sebum, you might not need to use clarifying shampoos often or at all.
Examples of clarifying shampoos that stylists have recommended are
Design Essentials - Oat Protein & Henna Deep Cleansing Shampoo
Paul Mitchell - Shampoo Two
Conversely, some shampoos cleanse the hair and include more emollients. These are sometimes called moisturizing shampoos. However, remember that just because a shampoo has moisturizing on the label doesn’t mean it has less cleansing power. The only way to determine this is to use it.
Examples of moisturizing shampoos that stylists have recommended are
Design Essentials - Honey Creme Moisture Retention Super Detangling Conditioning Shampoo
Design Essentials - Almond & Avocado Moisturizing & Detangling Sulfate-Free Shampoo
Redkin - All Soft Shampoo
Mizani - Moisture Fusion Shampoo
Start with a 3 to 5-minute Rinse
Rinse your hair for 3 to 5 minutes under warm water. Gently run your fingers down your strands. Continue to remove any shed hair you may have left behind.
This step removes water-soluble stylers and dirt from your hair, enabling your shampoo to work more effectively.
Spread the Shampoo in Your Hands
Pour the shampoo into your hands and rub them together to spread it. Don’t pour shampoo directly on your hair from the bottle.
Focus on Your Scalp
Separate your hair and focus on applying the shampoo to your scalp. Scrub every part of your scalp with the pads of your fingers (not your nails). Don’t forget your hairline (front, sides, and back).
Smooth the shampoo down the lengths of your hair. Keep it elongated and don’t bunch it up or tangle it.
If your hair is long or dense, you should shampoo it in sections to keep it organized and cleanse your scalp and hair thoroughly.
Rinse Well
Thoroughly rinse the shampoo from your hair and scalp. Use a smoothing motion down the strands of your hair to keep it elongated. Open it up to ensure all of the shampoo is removed. If you organize your hair with twists after shampooing each section, release each twist (one at a time if necessary) and remove the shampoo thoroughly.
Shampoo Twice
If you’re using a clarifying shampoo, shampoo once with it, then once with a moisturizing shampoo.
If you’re only using a moisturizing shampoo, shampoo twice with it.
Photo by Camille Brodard on Unsplash
03: Condition
Always use conditioner after shampooing. Conditioners contain ingredients that replenish the hair’s moisture and improve its elasticity. These ingredients also lubricate the hair, reduce friction between strands, and protect it from damage.
Do not apply conditioner to your scalp. Focus on the length of your hair strands.
There are several types of conditioners. During this step, select either a rinse-out or deep conditioner (also called a moisturizing hair mask). You don’t need to use both.
Deep conditioners or conditioning masks contain similar ingredients as regular rinse-out conditioners. However, they are formulated to deliver a higher level of conditioning and typically include instructions to leave them on longer, possibly with heat. Natural afro hair can benefit from using a deep conditioner weekly.
Detangle
More hairs already ready to shed naturally are released during the shampoo process. Water and conditioner's qualities make them optimal for gently removing the shed hair during this step.
Work in Sections
Separate your hair into 7 or more manageable sections and organize it using clips, twists, or Bantu knots. Alternatively, you can work on each section and clip it away as you detangle. Remember that you want to work in manageable, small sections.
Don’t start with a tool. Always begin by separating your strands and dragging your fingers down the length to remove any shed hair.
When you’re ready to use a tool, start at the ends of your hair and work your way up. Be gentle and don’t use force.
If you encounter any resistance, use your hands to separate the tangle or knot gently. Knots will typically be released once you’ve removed all the strands from them individually. Use a detangling brush as your last step (if desired) to remove any remaining shed hair. Go from root to tip to release them.
Rinse
Thoroughly rinse the conditioner from your hair. Unravel any twists you use to organize your hair to ensure you’ve thoroughly rinsed the product.
Always follow the instructions on the bottle or jar. It will always tell you how long to leave the conditioner on your hair and whether or not you should use heat.
Before moving to the next step, squeeze the excess water from your hair. You don’t need to use a towel.
04: Moisturize
There’s a lot of confusion and conflicting information about what moisturizing hair means in our context. I’m not a professional cosmetologist or trichologist, but here’s my opinion.
Because maintaining elasticity in our hair is key to minimizing breakage, we must use another product after rinsing the conditioner. And because my focus is on caring for hair worn in its natural state, not flat ironed, I'm going to offer suggestions that consider that our hair worn in its natural state cannot benefit from our scalp’s natural sebum production. (Learn More)
Apply a Leave-In Conditioner
Apply a leave-in conditioner on damp (not towel-dried) hair. Depending on your hair, you might select a leave-in with a creamy, lotion-like consistency or a water-based spray with emollients.
Apply an Additional Styler (Optional)
You have multiple options depending on how you will style your hair. Select the product based on your hair and how you plan to style it.
Here are some suggestions:
| Styles | Product Type |
|---|---|
| Bantu Knots, Fro, Single Braids, Cornrows, Flat Twists, Two Strand Twists, Roll, Tuck & Pin Styles | Thick Styling Cream |
| Bantu Knot Out, Braid Out, Twist Out | Styling Foam or a Styling Cream |
| Finger Coils | Gel |
05: Stretch (optional)
3 Reasons why you might want to stretch your hair before styling it
You plan to style your hair in cornrows, flat twists, or a roll, tuck & pin style.
Shrinkage = tangles.
You prefer the way your style looks on stretched hair.
5 Ways to stretch your hair without heat
Twist your hair in medium to large sections and pin them around your head
Twist your hair in medium sections and set them on large rollers
Use the banding method
Braid your hair in medium to large plaits
Set your hair on large rollers
06: Style
Style your hair after stretching it or immediately after applying a moisturizing product. Unless your hair is three inches or shorter, you always want to style your hair immediately afterward. You never want to let your hair shrink in an unorganized manner. Remember, guiding principle 2–Reduce tangles.
07: Hydrate as Needed
If you aren’t washing your hair weekly, lightly mist your hair with water every 7 days. You don’t need to add more moisturizing products to your hair, since creams don’t evaporate.
08: Trim
This is oddly controversial. Trimming your hair, even if your goal is to grow it long, is essential to maintain it.
The ends of the hair are the oldest. No matter how gentle you are, they will become weathered from the years of general wear and tear, styling, and environmental exposure (wind, sun, cold air) over time. The older the hair is, the more susceptible it is to damage. Trimming removes any damage that may not be visible to your eye. You can see split ends if you look closely at individual hair strands. The naked eye cannot see strands with chipped cuticles.
As preventive maintenance, trim ⅛ to ¼ inch from your hair every 4 to 6 months.