The Secret Behind Natural Haircare

It’s 2020 and natural haircare has evolved in leaps and bounds over the years. From the early days of raiding the home fridge for DIY ingredients, the natural haircare industry has come a long way, with a plethora of brands now available in the market. What remains interesting however, is the sentiment that natural haircare remains “complicated” or “time-consuming”.

For years, brands have been developing haircare products that make natural haircare somewhat “easier” – from detangling conditioners to hair butters that soften and curl hair. We continue to see the evolution of locally manufactured products that are now rivalling popular international haircare brands. But it seems something is missing? Women and men share their stories of “giving up” on their hair all the time-   either going for the big chop or relaxing their hair.

We don’t believe the missing part is in the product – we think the industry has this sorted.  We have every possible product at our disposal that makes natural haircare much easier than it was a few years ago. The missing puzzle piece, we believe, is around product affordability, education, hair product knowledge and teaching people that a simple and consistent routine is the answer to making natural haircare super easy.

So we’ve come up with five easy steps to make natural hair care fun and easy.

1. Shop smart

The debate on the price of natural haircare products remains topical. Most natural hair product ingredients have to be naturally sourced – making product manufacturing quite pricy. This has seen products priced from about R150 to R300, which is a hefty price for the South African market.

Our team has worked hard over the years to ensure we have a balanced range of options on our website. We’ve introduced affordable and accessible haircare products on our website. Brands like Purpul Hair, Afro Sense and Native Child have affordable haircare products in their respective ranges.

So what’s our recommendation? Mix it up. We rarely see customers buying products from one brand. Some buy a shampoo from one brand and a shea butter from another. This gets you the best from multiple brands while keeping your cart affordable but full.

2. Get the right accessories

Yes- fingers and hands are powerful weapons when it comes to detangling and managing your hair, but a detangling brush can make the biggest difference. Purpul Hair recently launched their detangling brushes. The brush which can be extended to be “wide-toothed”, are perfect for easy and pain-free detangling. Couple this with a detangling spray or conditioner, and you’ve got a good detangling arsenal.

It’s also essential to protect your hair while you sleep. Our satin bonnets (available for R105) protect your hair while sleeping by 1. keeping your hair in-tact and keeping it from detangling  2. providing slippage for movement resulting in less hair breakage and 3. retains your hair’s moisture while you sleep.

Having the right accessories can make your natural hair experience pain free and simple.

3. L-O-C and Go

The Liquid-Oil-Cream (“L-O-C”) or alternative Liquid-Cream-Oil (“LCO”) daily routine is a haircare game changer. This simple routine gives your hair the essential ingredients and hydration it needs to stay healthy and soft. Depending on your hair porosity, a little spray, application of oil and sealing it all in with a cream/shea butter is all your hair needs to get through the day. To avoid extreme product build up- and essentially your hair’s inability to absorb moisture, LOC/LCO on some days then only spritz your hair on other days. This three-step routine is easy and can make the world of difference to your hair.

4. Make Wash Day simple

“Sorry I can’t make lunch – I’ll be washing my hair”. Sound familiar?

So many naturalistas dread wash day. From raiding the kitchen for ACV or eggs to deep conditioning for hours, wash day has almost become a science. We’ve always urged our community to make wash day as simple as possible. Try keep it to one to two hours at most.

Most shampoos and conditioners in the market have all the essential ingredients your hair needs. Brands have carefully formulated washday products to ensure groceries stay in the kitchen. Take Vana’s range for example.

Vana’s wash day products have been infused with ingredients such as hibiscus and avocado oil to give your hair the added nutrients boost it needs. We also advise that people pre-poo the night before to take the pressure off on the day of wash day. Our only tip is to try avoid products with the wrong sulfates and parabens and mineral oil. Our website does not stock any harmful wash day products – so you’re safe with us.

So, we’re challenging you to leave the eggs in the kitchen and keep wash day to maximum two hours.

5. Protective styling

We all love holidays and protective styles are deemed a holiday in this house!

Protective styles give your hair a much-needed break from daily handling. It is important however, to keep your hair hydrated and moisturized while in protective styles and to also wash your hair as you would, had it not been in protective styles. Apply hair oils to your scalp and hairline to ensure your hair and hairline remain healthy while protected:These easy to apply nozzle hair oils making oil application seamless.

Essential to protective styling is choosing hairstyles that minimise hairline damage or hair breakage e.g avoid heavy braids, tight plaiting etc. Please also note that you should only be keeping hairstyles for four to six weeks.

We hope these easy tips make your haircare a little easier!

[All products featured in this blog are available to shop on our website]