January 2017 – 1Stop Natural Home Remedies

Natural Hair: Dreadlocks Care Routine

Thick healthy dreadlocks If you have natural hair and/or have dreadlocks, it’s best to put in place a care routine for daily maintenance of your locs. This will keep your hair in tip-top condition. Being consistent with this hair care routine will come easy within a few days.

Natural Locs Wash Routine

Before anything else, when it comes to taking care of your natural hair, washing it is one of the most important steps. Choose your shampoo carefully. Find out which shampoos are best for dreads. Keep it simple. Shampoos with natural ingredients are less harsh on your natural hair.

Use the technique you would use when washing a piece of sponge, by squeezing and releasing your hands, so that the shampoo can work its way into each strand of loc.

Get to the Root of the Dirt

When washing your dreadlocks, although massaging your scalp with your fingertips is effective, using a shampoo scalp massaging brush is even better. It is specifically designed to target build-up on the scalp, while increasing your scalp’s blood flow, which is great if you are looking to grow your hair longer at a faster rate.

Daily Moisturizing Tips for Dreads

Washing your natural hair and keeping it clean is important, but also keeping it moisturized throughout the day is just as important. To prevent dry locs, use natural oils or a deep conditioner with natural organic ingredients. This will help to retain moisture, leaving your dreads feeling soft and shiny.

Protecting Your Locs During Bath Time

Another important dreadlocks hair care routine, is covering your hair with a X-Large shower cap while taking a shower/bath. Although spritzing your locs on a daily basis is healthy, leaving your hair soaked repeatedly can cause mold or mildew to grow inside the strands of your dreads.

Although dreadlocks is still considered to be natural hair, it differs in a few ways. For example, regular natural hair is easier to dry because the strands are not intertwined like locs. Therefore, you have to make sure that while taking a bath, water doesn’t soak your hair and stays there without completely drying.

Night Time Hair Care for Natural Hair and Locs

Whether you have traditional natural hair or dreadlocks, it is recommended that you cover your hair at nights. When we sleep, a lot of us toss and turn during the night. This can cause hair breakage on the already delicate strands of hair.

Natural Hair Protective Styles for Sleep Time

Protective styles for dreadlocks Before you cover your hair, you can do a basic protective style for your natural hair or dreadlocks. This could be as simple as plaiting your hair in two or four big plaits. Don’t do them too tight because you don’t want to put any strain on the roots or the strands of your hair.

Protective Style: Flat Twist on Natural Locs Tutorial

Protective styles on locs or natural hair, is a great way to keep your hair protected from damage, while promoting stronger, longer natural hair. The flat twist is a simple, yet versatile natural hairstyle that can be done in the form of small twists or larger ones, depending your taste.

How I Did Flat Twist on My Locs

The longer my dreads are getting, it becomes much easier to do a variety of protective hairstyles such as the flat twist. This style usually last me for a week. The steps are really simple. Here are the steps I used to achieve my natural flat twist on my locs.

I start off with clean locs. If your hair is not due for a wash just yet, but it’s not feeling clean, you can use a herbal cleanse dry shampoo to refresh your your scalp and hair.

I applied a natural hair moisturizer to my dreads and evenly distributed it throughout my hair, paying special attention to the ends. You don’t want the tips of your locs to be crispy and dry.

Separate each section of your hair that you will be doing the flat twist on. As you can see, I did mine in big sections. There are five rows in my hairstyle.

Separate the section/row of locs that you are working on, into two sections. Grasp both sections and start by overlapping each section of locs over the other, while twisting it close to the scalp.

Continue twisting in this pattern until you reach to the ends. I didn’t twist mine all the way to the ends. I used a black rubber band to secure each twist.

Twist the other rows using the same technique you used in the above illustration, until all your locs are flat twisted.

Use a hair elastic to secure the ends of your locs, pulled back to the nape of your neck.

Daily Maintenance of Your Flat Twist

To keep your natural protective hairstyle in place, simply spritz it with some natural oils mixed with water, daily.

Night Time Prep for Flat Twist

Tie your dreads at night to keep your flat twist looking neat for the next few days. It is recommended that you tie your hair with a silk scarf before going to sleep. Some people say that they achieve the same results when they use a satin scarf.

Home Remedies You Need to Grow Longer Natural Hair

If you have natural hair and wondering what to do to grow your natural hair longer, this is the spot to be. I’ll share some natural home remedies that I use to grow my hair longer, while keeping it healthy and strong.

Coping With Thin Lifeless Hair

Years ago I couldn’t see myself going anywhere with just natural hair. Getting a perm was the best option, in my opinion at the time. I was having fun with my permed hair, doing all these different hairstyles, until my hair started crying out for help.

At this point my hair was damaged, my edges were falling out. I suddenly decided that this wasn’t for me. I needed to embrace my natural hair and just go back to wearing it in its natural form. This has been the best decision I made when it comes to the health of my hair.

The First Time I Made Changes to my Natural Hair

If you think about it, we all were natural at some point, when we were kids, but somewhere down the line we decided that we wanted our hair to be more manageable and stylish. That’s why most of us permed our hair.

I remember the first time I used a pressing comb to straighten my natural hair, (without my mother’s knowledge), and my mom was not happy with what I did, and she always made it her duty to remind me of it 🙂 I then put perm in it, and since then my hair never looked like it used to be back then.

Castor Oil, an Old School Remedy for Natural Hair Growth

Growing up, my hair was thick and healthy because my mom used to use castor oil instead of hair oil. Castor oil has been around for a long time. It has many uses, some of which are remedies for softer skin, for treating acne and acne blemishes, to thicken hair, grow hair longer, regrow edges, and many more not mentioned here.

Anyone who is thinking of going back to their natural hair should consider adding castor oil to their hair care products. This is a natural home remedy that is cost-effective and easily accessible.

If you want your natural hair to grow thicker and longer, use black castor oil mixed with a carrier oil such as olive oil, almond oil, or grapeseed oil. Massage the castor oil onto your scalp every other day or if you can space it out to every two days. Do your own experiment and see what works best for you. Some people think it’s best to do it at night and cover your hair with a bonnet to protect your pillow.

Coconut Oil to Promote Hair-growth for Natural Hair

Another good oil that is great if you want to grow your natural hair faster, is extra virgin coconut oil. Once again, you can mix the coconut oil with other oils of your choice.

The Right Way to Apply Oils

Keep in mind that too much oil can weigh your hair down, especially if you put it directly on your hair. It is recommended that you apply the oil to your scalp, massage it in, then brush your hair so that the oil gets distributed evenly.

Protecting Your Natural Hair

If you want your natural hair to grow longer, you need to take the best care of it. Stay away from certain hairstyles that will put too much strain on your roots, especially your hairline. Hairstyles such as cornrows, flat twists, or braids can be done correctly to benefit the growth of your hair. However, if your hair is styled too tightly, over time you will start to see hair breakage.

Be Mindful of Heat Damage to Hair

Some people dry their natural hair with a hairdryer or let it air dry. If you choose to use the dryer, use medium or low setting to prevent heat damage.

Hydrating Your Hair With Natural Moisturizers

Moisturizing your natural hair is essential for a healthy head of hair. Use natural moisturizers to feed your hair with the nutrients that it needs. Moisturizing your hair will prevent it from becoming dry and brittle, while keeping it soft and beautiful. Moisturizing is also important if you want to grow longer natural hair.