Moisture is good for your natural hair, but that doesn’t mean getting it wet in the rain, especially with all the pollution that could find its way into rain water and damage your hair. You also don’t want to get your hair unnecessarily wet and then spend time detangling it. The rainy season also comes with the cold, which affects natural hair. Here are a few things to do to make sure your hair stays healthy during the rainy season.
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Pre-poo
Pre-poo is a treatment you apply to your hair before you shampoo it and can sit on your hair for 20 mins or overnight depending on your hair. Pre-pooing is great because it provides protection against the harsh stripping of the hair in the shampoo phase. We love olive oil or coconut oil for a simple pre-poo, but you can experiment and add ingredients like avocado, an egg, yoghurt and see what works for your tresses.
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Deep condition
Cold rainy weather is the perfect time to double down on your deep conditioning. Deep condition after every wash and also use a leave-in conditioner for extra protection. If you feel the deep conditioner leaves your hair feeling like it’s full of product, deep condition then shampoo then use the leave-in on clean hair.
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Limit heat
Put away your flatiron and blow dryer and dry your hair using a t-shirt. Generally, you should limit heat on your hair but if you must, you can sit under a dryer to dry your hair as this is a little gentler on your hair than blow drying.
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Limit manipulation
Put away the combs and detangle your hair using your fingers. Also, seal your hair especially your ends using coconut oil or shea butter. Cold weather can solidify coconut oil and shea butter in cold temps so try an oil that is liquid at room temp like olive oil, almond oil, or jojoba oil.
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Protective styling
To be on the safe side, protective styling is the way to go. Go for braids, twists, wigs, weaves and bantu knots. Make sure you don’t punish your edges and maintain care of your braids and don’t keep them in for too long.
