10 Habits That Are Damaging Your Natural Hair

If you're new to natural and you feel like your hair is just not as healthy as it should be, or even as long as it should be, it may be things that you're doing incorrectly that are causing your natural hair to be damaged.

So I'm going to give you 10 things that you may be doing that are ruining your natural hair.

NO.1:  Are you using elastic bands for your afro puffs or for your ponytails, are you using something like this?

• I used to always use elastic bandsfor my afro puffs. When I took it out, I noticed that there was so much hair caught up in this elastic band. And that is, in part, we look closely at the band. There is a place in the band where the elastic meets, and it's a separation. And that separation causes your hair to snag. So when you are wearing elastic bands like this and you're taking it out, you're seeing more hair in the band than you should. It's because of that snack.

• So get rid of these and replace them with a satin scrunchy. This is a much better replacement than the elastic band.

• And if you want to wear something like an afro puff and you don't want to use that other band, you can get something calleda loc sock. It’s great for the puff. It is in terms of how it looks against slip to the hair. Your hair does not snag. You can sleep in a loc sock as well. This is a much better replacement than an elastic band for your afro puffs and for your ponytails.

NO.2: You're not washing your hair enough.

• So do you know that wash day is the day where you get maximum moisture? So water is the universal moisturizer. And on wash day, that's when your hair gets the most amount of moisturizer or water. So you have to get in the habit of washing your hair regularly. I recommend once a week, every 10 days, or even up to two weeks if that's your wash schedule. But get in the habit of washing your hair more. When you're not washing your hair on a regular basis, your hair will start to get dry and brittle and break off. And washing your hair on the scalp is what causes your hair to grow properly. Proper scalp care is key. So if you get in the habit of washing your hair more frequently, again, once a week or every two weeks, then your hair is going to thrive because it is receiving maximum moisture more frequently.

NO. 3: What could be ruining your natural hair is your protective style.

• The protective style is supposed to help your hair grow but what could be run in your natural hair is you're staying in your protected style either too long or you're wearing them too frequently. If you're doing back-to-back protected side styles when I say protective styles of those who you who do not know, some examples of protective styles are braids, wigs, two-strand twists that stay in buns that stay in styles that protect your ends from breaking off thereby you're you can retain more length.  
• If you're in these protective styles for too long, for example, if you're wearing braids for two months, you take him out on Monday, put him right back in on Tuesday where it again for another two months. Take it out on Tuesday, and put it in on Wednesday. When are you actually cleansing your hair, washing your hair, and making sure your hair is moisturized properly? Because I just said, and tip No. 2, that you need to wash your hair more.
• So if you are living in protected styles, you end up neglecting your hair, not protecting it. I encourage you, if you're doing protective styles, I encourage you to do what I call a protective style holiday. So go on holiday. So if you're in a protective style for two months, then give your hair a break for two months. Wear your natural hair out for two months. Better give you the opportunity to properly moisturize and rehydrate your hair from being tucked away for a few months. That's No. 3 you all don't live in your protected style.

NO.4: Not using a shower filter when you are washing your hair.

• So if you're washing your hair in the shower. Hard water can damage your hair. Depending on where you live and depending on your water. You may need a shower filter to filter out some of the metals that are in your water that are damaging your hair. So I encourage you to get a shower filter.

NO.5: Rinsing out your conditioner with warm or hot water.

• We love our warm and hot water. Warm water causes the hair to expand in terms of the cuticle layer, which is the outer layer of hair. Warm water causes the outer layer of hair to be raised, which is fine for the shampoo. But for the conditioner, you want that outer layer of hair to lie flat. That's what keeps the hair from getting tangling. That's what traps that moisture after you apply your conditioner. So do not rinse out your conditioner with warm water. Rinse it out using cool water and makes a difference in the moisturization of your hair.

NO.6: So after you've rinsed out your conditioner, the next thing that could be ruining your hair is what you use to dry your hair.

• Most of us use a cotton towel. Now, sometimes, it's not always the towel in and of itself. Cotton does absorb moisture, but in a towel, it has, the fabric kind of sits up and your hair can kind of snag on it. If you're doing this with a cotton towel after you wash your hair, that is ruining your hair. Don't do that with a towel. A better option than a cotton towel is either a T-shirt or a microfiber towel. And when you use a microphone fiber towel or when you use a towel in general pat, it just like the, doesn't take much pet makes a big difference in your hair. It's not going to disrupt that cuticle layer and it's going to still absorb the water very gently. Remember, when your hair is wet, it is most fragile. So whatever you're doing to your hair, make sure you are giving it some TLC so that you do not cause your hair to break off.

NO.7: You may have conditioner overload because you are sleeping in your conditioner.

• Don't do that. So I'm not saying to sleep in it from time to time, but you think that by sleeping in it. Your hair is going to be super moisturized because you're keeping it in conditioner for 8 to 10,12 hours. No, you can experience moisture overload. And when your hair is moisturized too much, then it's going to fill up and it's gonna break off. You don't want your hair to stay saturated, and wet all the time. It is better if you put that conditioner in, let it set, stay in for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on what type of conditioner it is, and write it out. And quite frankly, conditioners are designed to work for an allocated amount of time. So you're really not doing anything else when you keep it in overnight. But the damage in your hair, it's, you're not getting more moisture. Conditioners weren't designed to work like that. So do not keep that conditioner in overnight consistently.

NO.8：Don't comb, brush or detangle dry hair.

• Before we wash our hair, we'll go in and finger through the hair or comb through the hair like to do a pre-detangle. That's good. But don't do it dry. Take your water bottle and mist the hair. Or use a lightweight leaving conditioner, which is still water-based. Spray it throughout your entire hair shaft and then go in and pre-destangle it with your fingers or use a detangling brush or comb or whatever you use to detangle your hair. The bottom line is don't do it dry. When you're doing it dry, you are just breaking your hair off. It's just gradually snapping off. So always if you are combing or brushing your hair, do it.

NO.9: You may don’t like cleaning your hair tubes, cleaning your combs, and cleaning your brushes.

• We had to keep our tools clean. When you're using your detangling comb or detangling brush, if you're using it, for example, to do your washing go or if you're using it to do a pre-detangle, normally there's a product in your hair when you're using it. Or if you're even using it with conditioner in your hair, you are putting conditioner or product onto your comb or onto your brush. And after you use it, you may rinse it out, you may not, but it builds up. So what you're doing, you're just transferring dirty to move on to clean hair. That causes build-up, particularly on the scalp. Build up on the scalp and build up on the hair and that could be ruining your hair there. Getting a habit of sanitizing and doing a deep cleanse on your tubes, I recommend about once a month, take your style and tools, put them in a bowl, put a little bit of shampoo in it, or you can put some dish detergent in it, put it in hot water, let it soak for about 20 minutes, take it out, rinse it off with hot water.

NO.10: You're not using any type of thermal protector on your hair when you put heat on it.

• When you're putting heat to your hair, heat, too much heat can damage your hair. But if you are using a thermal protector, it is going to minimize the onslaught of all of that heat. So if you are getting your hair flat ironed or even if you're not flat ironing your hair, if you're someone who blows dries your hair pretty frequently, make sure you get in a habit of using a thermal protector for your blowout.

I hope that you all enjoyed this sharing topic and found it helpful, and I'll share a new topic in my next one. Bye.