Harmattan can be stressful on our skin as well as our natural hair. Here’s how you can protect your hair and prevent breakage during this period.

Dryness is definitely a big issue because of
the nature of our hair especially when it come to the harmattan months
when the weather certainly does not help matters. The natural oils that
our scalps produce don’t slide down our hair shaft as easily as they do
for people who have straight hair so we need some extra methods to keep
hair properly moisturised and prevent breakage.

Breakage. Dryness. Slow growth. Unmanageable
hair. These are all issues that can be remedied by properly and
consistently moisturising your hair.

Take a look at 5 ways to keep your natural hair moisturised during the Harmattan months and all year round.

1. Pre-poo

This a method where you add oil, conditioner,
honey or eggs to your hair before the shampoo process. You can use oils
such as coconut oil, olive oil or castor oil.

Then, distribute it evenly all over your hair
strands from the ends to your scalp and cover with a plastic bag or
conditioning cap, and sit under a hooded dryer or steamer.

Prepooing adds moisture to your hair
follicles. Yes, the shampoo will strip the hair of product build-up,
dirt and oils, but prepooing preps the hair for the harsh ingredients
that strip it if you are using a sulfate shampoo by keeping the natural
oils from our scalp to keep our hair moisturised.

2. Condition your hair

The purpose of conditioning your hair is to
add moisture to the hair shaft after the shampoo has stripped the hair
and raised the cuticles. You want to get a moisturizing conditioner with
natural ingredients that will properly moisturize the hair.

3 Deep condition your hair regularly

Deep conditioning will make or break
your moisturising routine for your hair. This is when you add a
moisturising hair mask which can be DIY deep conditioner with
honey, coconut oil, avocado oil, etc. all over your hair shaft for extra
moisture.

How to protect your natural hair agaiinst the elements during harmattan

4. The steam method

This is adding moisture into your hair using
steam. The hot steam raises the cuticle so that the products applied are
easily absorbed into our hair shaft.

Especially for low porosity girls, this is a
staple to ensure that the products are fully absorbed into the hair
shaft since the cuticles are always closed and can only be lifted with
heat. It’s an easy way to add moisture to our hair without having to
drench it in water.

5. Remember the LOC method

The LOC method stands for Liquid, Oil, and
Cream is a way of sealing in moisture for your natural hair using the
following ingredients.

For the liquid you can use water or leave in, oils such as jojoba, almond, castor or coconut oil. The cream can be shea butter.

After applying the moisture with the
water/leave in, the oil will hold onto the water molecules than the
cream seals in everything to the hair shaft.