14 Expert Tips For Men's Afro Hair Care – Afrocenchix (2023)

This post was originally published on 29th March 2020. Due to its popularity, it was updated with the new tips on 19thOct 2022.

One of the major misconceptions when it comes to afro hair is that it’s incredibly hard to look after.

Black men are the first to go straight to the barbershop as soon as an inch of growth appears, but in truth, managing Afro hair is pretty simple as long as you have a routine.

It’s not just about finding the right product. Maintaining strong and healthy hair - that actually looks good - has more to do with proper technique and eliminating extra product that’s actually holding you back.

In this blog, we’re not just going to cover routine, we'll be giving you our top14 Afro hair care tips for men.

1. Don’t Wash Your Hair Every Day

Cut down the number of times you shampoo your afro hair to once a week, especially if you use sulphate-based shampoos. Sulphate-based shampoos are powerful cleaners but use harsh compounds that strip your hair of its natural oils (sebum), causing dryness and irritation.

If you wash your hair three, four or five times a week using these shampoos, you’ll damage and dry out your scalp, as well as reduce the overall strength of your hair.

2. Go Sulphate-free

Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS)can cause skin irritation especially for eczema sufferers. It is extremely drying on afro hair as it strips the hair of its natural oils.

We would recommend using sulphate-free shampoos. These shampoos use natural ingredients that clean your hair without stripping it of its oils. They strengthen your hair and support its growth, but more on that later!

(If you’re worried about the ingredients in your shampoo and need help understanding them when choosing products, check out this blog.)

3. Condition Your Hair

Keep your hair soft and ready for moisture by conditioning it with a silicone-free conditioner. Conditioners help you to detangle your hair so you can get it ready for the next step.

Our Swirl conditioner is free of silicones but high in slip. With coconut extract, aloe vera extract and avocado oil, it will help to keep your hair looking and feeling healthier. Smooth Swirl through your hair strands, leave on for a few minutes, then rinse thoroughly.

4. Moisturise Your Hair Properly

Please, please, please moisture your hair!Moisturising your hair isessential for keeping it healthy, strong and (of course) hydrated. Moisturised hair will look shinier, feel better and grow stronger.

Afro hair is prone to breakage, so moisturising your hair after washing will help to lock in moisture and combat breakages. You can lock in moisture by layering products using the LOC method.

First, apply a water-based moisturising product. Second, seal in the moisture with an oil (water evaporates easily from the hair, so you need a thick oil to seal it in — think coconut or jojoba-based hair oils). Finally, layer on cream; moisturising cream or leave-in conditioner will work wonders for your hair.

You can develop an easy routine by checking our ultimate guide to afro hair care.

P.S. A really good way to lock in moisture after washing is to braid or twist your hair, especially before going to bed if you rock an afro. By doing so, hair strands will be bound closer together and moisture will be able to flow freely down the hair shaft. Even better, put on a silk durag, headscarf or bandana for maximum protection.

5. Protect Your Hair From Harsh Conditions

Just as your skin dislikes harsh conditions, so do your hair and scalp. Harsh environmental conditions can slowly (but consistently) damage your hair. Rain? Displaces moisture and makes your hair frizzy. Heat? Dries out your scalp and increases the chance of breakages.

If you know it’s going to be ridiculously hot, rainy or snowy, and you want to keep your hair looking and feeling fresh, protect it with a durag, hat or bandana.

6. Consider Using Protective Styles

Just like you, your hair needs a break. If you’ve beensporting a cool style for a few months and not given your hair a rest — and by rest we mean using a protective style.

Protective styles (and low manipulation looks) are ideal for afro hair care; they don’t take too long, look great and help keep hair clean and moisturised for up to 6-8 weeks.

Cornrows, plaits & twists— these all keep knots, hands and tangles at bay as you don’t have to handle your hair much.

If you want to learn more about protective styling, you can check out our blog here.

7. Use Natural Products

Of all the things you can do to look after your hair, switching to natural products (particularly a sulphate-free shampoo) is one of the best.

Natural shampoos contain ingredients like jojoba oil, coconut oil, aloe vera and other ingredients that are gentle on the scalp, known to improve hair health and growth and remove build-up without stripping your hair of moisture.

Our Swish sulphate-free shampoo, for example, contains 97% natural ingredients, is gentle enough to use once a week and combines aloe vera with fruity essential oils to cleanse and soften dry, curly afro hair.

You can then use our silicone-free conditioner to ensure that your hair is prepared for hydration without the buildup heavy silicones. The silicones that give you slip in the short-term but weigh down your hair strands over time, leading to dull, hard-to-manage hair. Using natural oils which, again, use super ingredients like coconut and jojoba oil to lock in moisture, combat breakage and aid growth.

8. Have A Balanced, Nutritious Diet

What you eat can influence the health of your hair. Unprocessed foods full of healthy oils and fats, such as salmon, nuts, olives, vegetables, whole grains, avocados, provide the vitamins and nutrients your hair needs to stay healthy and strong.

Remember, you are what you eat!

Check out these super tasty treats that can support the growth of your afro hair.

9.Don't Forget Your Supplements

As well as eating a balanced diet, we also recommend making sure that you are getting enough vitamins and minerals. Having a vitamin deficiency makes people more likely to experience hair loss and many other problems. VitaminC ensures hair growth, renews tissues and helps your body to absorb iron (which transports oxygen to your hair follicles), Vitamin B is responsible for the overall health of your hair and it gives you energy too. Vitamin E stimulates circulation on the scalp.

10. Get Regular Trims

OK, we want to be clear that trimming or dusting your hairwon't "make your hair grow"but it will make your hair instantly look and feel healthier, and keep your looking shaped and neat.

11. Cover Your Hair At Night

How do you go to bed? If you want to make sure your curly or afro hair isits best, you need to switch up your nighttime routine.Cotton is super absorbent and basically robs you of all the moisture that you’ve been working on locking into your hair. Protect your hair with a simple night routine and trade your cotton pillowcase for a satin or silk one or get yourself a silky durag.

12. Don't Neglect Your Scalp

We always stress the importance of a balanced hair care routine because it's crucial for a healthyscalpand in turn healthyhair growth. We like to think of our scalp as an extension of our face, which is why we recommend regularly and properly cleansing and moisturising your scalp.

To further protect your scalp you can rub it with oily products to compensate for the sebum lost while shampooing.

Soothewas designed to help ease the itchiness that may have been caused due by scalp build up. Its anti-inflammatory properties also work to combat dryness and promote healthy hair growth. Applying such an oil to your scalp immediately after washing and a couple of times throughout the week should do the trick.

13. Avoid Heat

Drying your hair should be done without blowdrying it to reduce heat damage and prevent breakage. Did you know you can still getheat damagefrom blow dryers?Instead use amicrofibre towel turbanto dry your hair or T-shirt, it'llabsorb the excess water quickly.

14. Remember Your Facial Hair!

We know thatbeards still need some TLC andSoothecan be a quick and easy way to add shine,help soften and lock moisture into abeard, especially after a shower. So after using Sootheexpect combs to just glide through beards!

Watch this space and join our newsletterto be first to know when we dropour beard balm and comb... launching soon👀

And that’s it, those are our14 afro hair care tips for men. More than anything, it’s all about developing a routine that’s simple and easily repeated. These tips should give you a good foundation — and an idea of what products you should be looking for. The rest is up to you!

If you're not quite sure which products to start withand want personalised recommendations based on your hair and your lifestyle, thentake our free hair quiz.

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