Curly Chic: 10 Tips For Healthy Natural Hair, Yirssi

These are my healthy hair tips:

1. Moisturize. Yup, I say that a lot. It's THAT important. Once you figure out how thirsty your hair is, make or buy a deep conditioner and apply it weekly or twice a week. Put some moisturizer at night before you go to bed. Put some on after you step out of the shower. Before you style your hair. Before you apply heat. Whenever you feel your hair needs it. But learn your hair and learn how often it needs moisture, and it will thank you for it by not breaking or shedding as much. NOTE: One of the ways I do this when I'm very lazy is by spraying my hair with a pre-made mixture of olive oil and coconut oil. Takes seconds to do, and helps my hair.

2. Put on a satin hair bonnet or hair scarf at night. If one of them feels uncomfortable to sleep in, try the other one. I've learned that some women prefer one to the other one.

3. If you want neither, or want even more protection, buy some satin pillow cases. I bought some almost 3 years ago, and I love them.

4. Handle as little as possible. I know this tip may not be a favorite for a lot of people, but the less you handle it, the less breakage you will incur.

5. If you decide to do a style on your hair like bantu knot-outs, twists, curlformers, (more on styles later) or anything else you do to your hair once it's wet, let it dry. I've had to re-do whole hair styles because I didn't let my hair dry before I finished off the style, and my hair just looked frizzy.

6. Learn your ingredients. This one is a pain for me, but think about it, what you put on hair really matters and affects its health. Just like what you eat will affect your body, or what you put on your skin will affect your skin.

7. Personally, I suggest you detangle when your hair is wet, and you have put plenty of conditioner on. This will help your hair not break as much. A technique I use is separating my hair and detangling it by sections, and in the rough parts, I can put it under the stream of water as I'm detangling it.

8. If you DO decide to transition, be extremely careful with the demarcation line, which is where the relaxed hair meets the newly natural hair. This area is extremely fragile, and will need the most care. Especially when you detangle.

9. I never ever ever towel dry my hair. Towel drying hair makes it frizzy. If you don't want to air dry (which is what I often do) you can dry it with a T-shirt, or with a microfiber towel.

10. Lead an all around healthy lifestyle. If you do something as simple as drink enough water daily then this will make every part of your body feel and look better, from your skin to your hair.

So what are YOUR healthy hair tips?