The natural hair has staged a comeback in Nigeria. Men and women are turning away from chemicals and embracing the beautiful kinky natural hair.
The trend returned about three years ago but started to become the rave in 2016, buoyed by social media awareness campaigns, the prominence of natural hair blogs and the flooding of the hair and beauty market with organic beauty and natural hair products.
These products, though, carry high price tags, as most are imported. This has discouraged many more from joining the natural hair trend, as relaxers and texturizers are a lot cheaper.
The high cost of maintenance has even caused some to go back to chemically processing their hair.
But it is possible to maintain your natural hair for as low as just N2,000. Yes, this, without worrying about the texture or stunted growth!
The trick?
There are many Nigerian products that are just as effective in maintaining the natural nappy hair. These products do not cost nearly as much as the imported ones and give you beautiful natural hair.
Also, there are 100 percent natural oils in Nigeria that do a great job in keeping your natural hair healthy and beautiful. These include unrefined Shea butter, Coconut oil, Olive oil, Canola Oil, and Castor oil. And these oils are not expensive.
Shea butter
Unrefined Shea butter is rich in Vitamin A, E, and F. It repairs damaged hair and adds moisture to dry, brittle, dull, lifeless hair. It also hydrates, softens, conditions and beautifies the natural hair.
Shea butter also restores moisture to hair that has been damaged from chemical hair treatments, blow dryers, straighteners and other hair tools that damage natural hair.
Coconut oil
Rich in Vitamin E and Lauric Acid, Coconut oil has the ability to penetrate the hair shaft and to reduce hair breakage when taking out braids or before washing. It is also not as heavy as Shea butter.
Olive oil
Olive oil is a penetrative oil rich with fatty acids that coat the shine hair shaft, making it a great sealant. It is often used to help with dandruff, hair shine and sealing hair.
Castor oil
Castor oil is thick and has a unique composition of a triglyceride of fatty acids and ricinoleic acid.
It is mostly used for the scalp as it is known to improve blood circulation in the scalp and to aid regrowth of healthier hair. It is also a heavy sealant for hair ends to prevent breakage and split ends. Though thick and a little heavy, this oil is very healthy for your natural hair.
Canola oil
Canola oil is an inexpensive oil with monounsaturated fats. It has been praised as a great hot oil treatment to reduce frizz and breakage. This oil is cheap and available at your local grocery store.
How to Use
Because of the thick nature of unrefined Shea butter, it is advised that you rub it in between your palms before applying on the hair. The heat of your palms will melt the butter a little and make it lighter and easier to apply.
Picking and mixing two or three of these oils according to your natural hair needs will effectively maintain your hair.
While using these natural oils, it is important to follow basic natural hair maintenance rules: like combing your hair while wet, not applying heat from straighteners and dryers that damage your hair, using wide-toothed combs for your hair and massaging your scalp from time to time to see positive results.
Starting a natural hair journey can be done either by transitioning, which is a process of letting your natural hair grow out while gradually trimming the chemically processed ends and not applying anymore chemical treatments, or by cutting your hair and starting the growth process from the start.
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