How to retain the length that you have now and will have.
Natural hair can be fragile and requires care and protection. A lot of us want to have long or big hair but are not putting in the work that is required to maintain it.
Your ends are an important factor for retaining length. They are the oldest part of your hair. Neglecting them and allowing them to become brittle will cause split ends that can run up through the strands of your hair. If you have damaged ends go ahead and get rid of them. Hanging on to them prolongs the process of obtaining healthy hair.
When you are detangling your hair it is vital that you are careful to not rip you hair out of your head. It can be frustrating when detangling is taking longer than 20 minutes but it is worth doing properly. Finger detangling is said to be best, as you can manually undo knots and feel when you are pulling on something. However, everyone doesn't have time for that. If you are going to use a comb make sure that its is a wide tooth comb. A fine tooth comb will snag your coils. Denman Brushes are also wonderful for detangling and spreading product across your strands. I personally love my denman brush because it defines as it detangles my hair, whereas the comb detangles it but makes it puffy. If you are really tender headed the Crave Naturals Detangling Brush is a lifesaver, especially if you are dealing with a child's hair. The reviews speak for themself.
If it is possible, avoid heat. If you cannot avoid heat, space out applying heat to no less than every two weeks. I went two and a half years without heat and my hair growth was phenomenal. Although it would have been much better had I worked at length retention and if I wasn't scissor happy.
Keeping your hair properly moisturized is probably the most important part of retaining length. The LOC method is often recommended as an easy way to moisturize hair. Liquid, oil and cream or leave in, oil and cream is what LOC is. The liquid is of course the water that you have used to wash your hair, you pick an oil of your choice and a cream. The second definiton is also easy to follow. Pick your favorite leave in, apply an oil and a cream on top. I personally like to apply my oil last.
Here are my go to products for the LOC method:
Oil: Olive oil from the kitchen or Argan Oil
Cream: Cantu Coconut Curling Cream
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