Having coarse hair is hectic and challenging to cope with, especially when you don’t know what to do. As a black man, you have probably woken up dreading to comb your hair because of how dry, flaky, and unhealthy it is. Are you one of those people wondering how to soften black male hair?
Whilst putting on a hat and going to the closest barbershop to get your hair fixed is the first thing someone with coarse and dry hair would naturally want to do, this cannot be your daily solution as it is time-consuming.
Well, most of us have had similar issues, but the good news is that these kinds of challenges can easily be dealt with.
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Pointers on how to soften black male hair
Finding a long-lasting and healthy solution is necessary.
The most important thing is to keep your hair healthy. What hair care routine do you follow? How often do you take your time to soften your hair?
It is not rare for black men to suffer from dry, brittle, and tangled hair. Maintaining soft and healthy hair is not difficult; it is a relatively affordable and manageable process.
However, you have to understand that keeping healthy and soft hair is a process, and consistency is vital.
Otherwise, you will always fall back to where you started, and you don’t want that, do you?
Please consider following these four practical and straightforward steps to soften your coarse mane:
Look into your cleansing frequency
Cleansing your hair is always essential to remove dirt, minerals and product build-up.
But how often do you wash your hair? What products do you use to thoroughly clean your mane?
First, you need to understand the type of hair you have to know what kinds of products it needs.
Most black men have curly or coily hair. This type of takes on a curly corkscrew definition and is often susceptible to frizz. Many people also have kinky hair which forms very tight curls that begin from the scalp.
Once you understand the nature of your hair, selecting the right shampoo will be a relatively easy task.
Most shampoos contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), which helps in thoroughly cleaning your hair but also removes the naturally existing oils in the hair.
This stripping of natural oils and moisture leaves your hair completely dry and prone to breakage.
Choose a shampoo that is less of sulfates, isopropyl alcohol, formaldehyde, or propyl glycol to retain your hair’s natural oils.
These products also dry out your scalp and make it itchy.
If you are one of the people who suffer from an excessively dry scalp that gets flaky and you’re always scratching, you might want to get a special shampoo to deal with that situation.
A dry, flaky scalp can be caused many things such as using harmful products, a poor diet or you might be having dandruff.
Skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema can also make your scalp to be excessively dry.
It’s advisable to cleanse your hair twice a week because cleaning it every day can really dry out hair.
Try and get more natural shampoos, most probably an oil-based product with hydrolyzed proteins that help make the hair strands stronger and healthy over time.
Always condition your hair
Conditioners help to infuse moisture into the hair strands after they’ve been stripped of natural oils during the cleansing process.
It’s always good to follow-up the shampooing process with a rinse-out conditioner that will help to add moisture back to the hair.
Apart from adding the much-needed moisture to your hair, there are many other benefits of conditioners such as adding shine to the hair, detangling, softening the hair and helping to repair hair damage.
Conditioners also help to prevent towel damage.
This is because they help to strengthen the hair and can stand the stress of running a towel through the hair.
You can also opt to dry your hair using T-shirts to avoid to help you retain more moisture in your hair.
As you select a conditioner, look out for one that contains natural oils like Shea butter, argan oil or coconut oil.
When you are washing your hair, avoid using hot water because it can strip the hair of its protective oils, which work as a natural conditioner.
Wash your hair with lukewarm water, and also rinse it with lukewarm water.
When you are rinsing out the conditioner, use cold water.
This is because the cold water helps to close the pores on your scalp, as well as close your hair’s cuticles.
This helps to tame frizz.
Another great way on how to soften black male hair is to incorporate the use of daily leave-in conditioners which aren’t rinsed out (well, until your next wash day).
These leave-in conditioners help to moisturize and soften your hair daily.
Moisturize your hair regularly
Using leave-in conditioners is already one way of moisturizing your hair.
In fact, it’s one of the components of the LOC method of moisturizing natural hair.
If you are dude wondering “What the hell is that?!”… well, it’s a method of layering products to ensure maximum hydration for your mane.
The “L” can be a liquid such as a leave-in conditioner or plain water.
The “O” here represents oil while the “C” can be a cream or butter.
The oil, cream or hair butter act as sealants that help to lock in the moisture from the leave-in conditioner or water.
Just like your skin, your hair also needs moisturizing to keep it healthy and soft.
Usually, as you go about your daily activities, your hair loses its natural moisture, especially when exposed to dry weather conditions and indoor heating.
It is useful to moisturize even when you did not shampoo.
Applying or spraying your hair with water could moisturize it, but water evaporates quickly, and you would have to do it consistently during the day.
Who wants to go around spraying water on the hair after every couple of hours? It is hectic and tiresome.
Ideally, using oils, creams or butters to lock-in moisture is a better solution.
You can try oils such as avocado oil, coconut oil, or sweet almond oil, or you can also go for moisturizers available at your local store.
When choosing moisturizers, choose one with water as the first ingredient.
In the event where your hair still remains dry, then it is probably time to deconstruct your current hair routine and try introducing other hair products one at a time to know which products work best for your hair.
The proper way to apply your moisturizing product(s) of choice is to first pour a small amount of the product on your hand.
The next step is to rub the product over your fingertips, evenly distributing it before massaging it into your scalp.
It is not advisable to apply the product directly on the hair because this will only make it greasy.
Moisturizing from the scalp keeps the hair growing and keeps it soft and easy to style.
Use the right styling products
If you are like me and don’t want to become a slave to your hair, you’ll want to go for a hairstyle that is easy to maintain.
You can have great hairstyles and keep your hair soft at the same time by using the right styling products.
It’s advisable to steer clear from products that contain ingredients such as mineral oils and alcohol. These are notorious for drying out hair.
Healthy hair will, in most cases, boost your confidence. Therefore, you should always aim to use products that keep your hair soft and healthy.
Conclusion
These tips on how to soften black male hair will help you achieve healthy-looking hair. You just need to follow a manageable day-to-day routine.
You only have to focus on treating your hair better.
Wash it a few times a week and use conditioner regularly (both rinse-out conditioners and leave-in conditioners).
You also need to pay attention to the products you use. Some of them are harsh to your scalp and can dry out your hair.
You should also aim to moisturize your hair daily for it to stay soft, smooth and easy to manage.
Your hair will be healthy by just getting started on a simple regimen.