Winter can be brutal on natural hair. Natural hair comes with its own set of problems when it comes to dry hair but add winter into the mix and you have a whole other battle going on.
If the forces were ever against you, this would be it.
The key is to have a winter care for natural hair regime going on.
I talk a lot about having a good regime and it’s important to have because without one you can get neglectful of your hair.
Also having a good natural hair routine in place means that you build a routine of care and soon enough you get stuck with that routine and it becomes second nature to you.
Having a routine is all good but sometimes you need to tweak your routine in order to adjust to your circumstances.
Adjusting your natural hair routine for the winter is no exception to that. Let’s take a look at exactly how we can make sure that our hair stays nice and moisturised during those winter months.
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Is Cold Weather Bad For Natural Hair?
I wouldn’t like to say that cold weather is bad for natural hair but you do need to adjust your thinking in the winter months if you want to continue to see growth and healthy hair.
Cold weather can be harsh on natural hair and can cause breakage and further split ends which is what you don’t want.
There is also a lot of friction that goes on during this time so its best to find ways to prevent unnecessary damage to your hair during this time.
10 Winter Care Tips For Natural Hair
1. Cleanse More Shampoo Less
Washing your hair is a really great way to get rid of build-up and keep your hair looking and feeling fresh.
The problem here is that when you use shampoo on your natural hair it can make your hair feel quite dry and this can be a disastrous recipe during those winter months.
The best way to combat this problem is to shampoo your hair less and consider co-washing or gentle cleansing products like this.
These are much much less drying and will help you to retain as much moisture as possible.
2. Make sure you are deep conditioning
Deep conditioning is like a best friend to me. We are always together.
If you haven’t yet made it onto the deep conditioning train yet winter is the perfect time to start.
Deep conditioning your hair is a perfect way to keep your kinks and curls soft and moisturised.
When you deep condition the strands of your hair are penetrated more deeply in ways that a regular conditioner would not be able to do.
If you arent already using a deep conditioner I would strongly suggest that you make a start on it.
I recommend this one as a great starting point.
3. Trim your ends
Keeping your ends trimmed and in check during the winter months is not optional.
Winter is the perfect time for split ends to get worse or to start.
The dryness of the winter air means that more breakage will occur.
Trimming your ends makes it much less likely that split ends will occur and travel further up the hair strand.
Just make sure to use the right type of scissors or you will cause more split ends that you try to trim away.
4. Be gentle
I can’t stress enough how important it is to be gentle when it comes to your hair.
Natural hair may look very tough but the truth is that actually natural hair is very fragile and should, therefore, be treated as such.
You should be taking your time when styling your natural hair already but it should be even more so in winter months.
My theory on it is if I have to rush to style it then it’s probably not a good time to think about styling.
Keep your hairstyles as low maintenance as you can as this is one of the many reasons that people don’t see the hair growth that they want.
5. Take advantage of protective styles
Doing protectives styles is a great way to give both yourself and your hair a rest.
Just make sure to moisturise your hair really well before you start.
Even having your hair in a bun where the ends are tucked away can be a protective style.
The one thing that people neglect to do when protective styling is to continuously keep their hair moisturised.
You can’t just set it and forget it, you have to still care for it.
You can keep it moisturised by adding a little bit of leave-in conditioner to your hair spritz and use that every few days or alternatively you can use a mixture of aloe vera and water to spritz your hair with.
Related post: Why you should use aloe vera in your natural hair
6. Moisturise from the inside out
Moisturing your hair doesn’t just have to come from the outside you can also do it from the inside out.
What I mean is drink lots of water. Think of your hair as a plant that needs to be fed and watered.
Without this, your hair will most definitely suffer.
If you are not already drinking water you should definitely add it to your daily routine.
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7. Incorporate the greenhouse method
The greenhouse method is another great way to get an injection of moisture into your hair quickly.
Its simple to do and won’t take up huge amounts of your time.
This is a great method especially if you don’t have time to sit under a dryer.
If you are not sure what the greenhouse method is or how to do it you can read all about it here.
8. Don’t forget to LOC
LOC, three very important letters.
Liquid
Oil
Cream
The LOC method is great for sealing in moisture into your hair.
As part of your winter care natural hair regime, you should definitely be doing this but using heavier oils and butters to make sure that moisture is well locked in.
Castor oil and shea butter are great examples of this.
9. Silk before a scarf
In winter its tempting to whip out a headscarf to wear, it’s convenient and you don’t need to worry about having to take time out to style your hair which makes it ideal.
I’m all for a headscarf but you have to make sure your hair is protected before using a scarf.
Most headscarves will suck the moisture out of your hair and that’s not what you want.
In order to avoid this wrap your hair with silk first before using a head wrap.
These are my favourite ways to make sure my hair is protected under a head wrap.
10. Keep heat to a minimum
If you are a lover of using heat in your hair you may want to cut back during the colder months as using heat can actually cause moisture loss.
The way to prevent this is to blow dry hair on the coolest setting possible and reduce the number of times that you are blow-drying or straightening your hair.
How often should you wash natural hair in the winter?
Once every 2 weeks is always a good place to start unless there are other factors to consider.
If you suffer for dandruff or any other type of hair or scalp issue then you may need to increase this as you see fit.
Related post: How often should I wash my hair?
Final thoughts on winter care for natural hair
It’s so important to make sure that your hair is protected and well moistured during the winter months.
The last thing you want is to lose all that hair growth that you gained during the spring and summer.
If you don’t already have a natural hair regime in place you can use this as a great starting point and build on it.
Related posts:
21 Protective styles that are just perfect!
4 Tips to help you build a nighttime routine that works
10 Tips to keep your natural hair well moisturised and dryness away
