Curly Girls aren’t the only ones who want to know how to have beautiful, naturally loved hair! I’ve had the “rare” privilege of dabbling in both curly care and straight care as my hair has tried out both sides of the hair fence. (Yes, it’s a long story for another day!) Curly hair may need a little more time intensive TLC to show it’s true beauty, but caring for those beautiful, sleek straight tresses naturally is just as important.
Tips for Healthy Hair
There are tons of great hair care tips for growing and maintaining healthy, strong hair. Here’s some of our favorite basics for keeping hair of any kind–but particularly straight hair–healthy and strong.
Pick Your Product Wisely
The first step to healthy hair is using healthy products on your hair. If you have straight hair, choose your cleansers wisely to avoid stripping too much of the moisture out and creating brittle, lifeless hair that doesn’t grow well. Throw out the harsh chemicals and switch to a good, natural shampoo. Make sure it is sulfate free! You could try a Shampoo bar or experiment with a baking soda & apple cider vinegar rinse for straight hair.
Less Suds is Enough
Even though it might feel like you need lots of suds in order to have clean hair, you don’t need to use lots of shampoo on your hair. Use only a small amount of shampoo and dilute it with water to help it spread over your scalp.
Condition it
Don’t forget that straight hair needs conditioner too! After shampooing, apply a good quality conditioner to all the hair below your ears. Most girls with straight hair find that using conditioner on the scalp creates excess oiliness. Leave the conditioner on your hair for several minutes and then rinse with cool or cold water for optimal shine.
Skip the Hot Water
When washing your hair, you don’t want to use hot water. You can use warm water while you are washing it, but make sure that the the last rinse is done with water as cool as you can stand it. Sound fun? While cold water might not sound like a relaxing shower tradition, it does make happy hair.
Hot water softens hair, and can strip it of its natural protection much more easily than cold water does. This leaves it more vulnerable to breakage and can really increase your chances at having a lot of snarly split ends to deal with! Cold water will sort of “seals” the hair. You may notice that your hair will get softer and shiner in time if you start using cooler water when you wash your hair!
Do not Scrub
Don’t pile all your hair on top of your head and scrub it when you wash. Instead, gently massage your scalp only, letting the soapy water run down the ends of your hair. Run your fingers gently through your hair while you are rinsing it, but be careful not to yank and pull at your tangles or you may cause needless breakage to your hair.
Do not Rub
When drying your hair, don’t rub it with a towel! This causes needless frizz and is pretty rough on the hair. Instead, use the towel to gently squeeze the excess water out of your hair. Put your hair up in a towel “turban style,” if you want but make sure you don’t twist it up too tightly because this can cause hair breakage. Better yet, use a soft “curl cloth” (Straight hair loves it too!) or an old T-Shirt to get the extra moisture out of your hair.
Hold the Brush
It’s best to never brush hair when it is wet. Detangle it with a wide-toothed comb if .you need to, but hold off on brushing it until it’s dry. Hair is at its most fragile point while wet, so handle with care!
Air Dry
Whenever possible, let your hair air dry. If you must hurry the processes up a bit, use a blow dryer that you can adjust the heat levels on and keep it on a low, cool setting. Use a blow dryer with a good diffuser for wavy hair that just must be dried more quickly. Avoid using curling irons every single day if you can and only use them on a low heat setting.
Brushes and Combs
Use a wide-toothed comb to detangle your hair. If you use a brush, try to find a good boar bristle brush to use. Always start brushing or combing at the ends of your hair, and slowly working upwards towards your scalp. Always be gentle! Some of the worst damage to hair is caused by harsh brushing!
Battle of Split Ends
Split ends are one of the worst enemies to growing out hair. If you treat your hair with care, and trim it regularly you’ll minimize the damage. Here’s a page with more information on battling split ends.
Have some more straight hair care tips or recipes?
We’d love to hear your tips for healthy hair, or natural hair care for the straight haired girls! Please share them using the comment form below!
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About Chantel
Lover of sunshine, chacos, fireflies, pretty nail polish and cute summer skirts. Wife to Scott. Mama to Charlotte. Virtual Assistant.
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You’ve given us some great advice in this post, Chantel! We do seem to treat all hair the same, and with 2 curly-haired daughters and 2 straight-haired daughters I know that not all hair is to be treated the same. Thank you for spelling it all out for us!
Hi!
I got my hair smoothed recently.
Could you please let me know some after care tips ?
Hey! My mom came across your site and said I should check it out! It looks like a great site, and I’ll be adding it to my blog roll!
The cold water was interesting, I’m not sure I heard that you shouldn’t rinse with hot water! I knew that if you rinse with cold after that it makes it shiny, but not completely rinsing it with cold! I’ll have to try that!
Natasha
Hello,
I have a hair question for you. My hair is slightly wavy when I have layers in it and scrunch it after a shower, but I use shampoo, so I wonder, do you think it is possible that I might have some curl hiding underneath if cared for properly? I considered trying the no shampoo method but my hair can tend to become oily. I noticed some of the girls in the pictures had almost straight hair before trying the no shampoo method. Right now I am trying to grow my hair longer, so I have very few layers, and it is more straight than wavy. Thanks so much!
Jesyca
It’s very possible that you have some wavy curls hiding somewhere on your head! I think wavy hair is the hardest, because it requires such careful care to bring out the curl. It isn’t so much about giving us shampoo as using a sulfate-free, natural cleanser and cleansing your scalp without drying out the rest of your hair. I’d definitely suggest trying to get ahold of the Curly Girl book and learning more about the routine for wavy curls.
Thank you very much for the advice! I will definitely check into the Curly Girl book. Not only would I very much like to unleash my possible inner curl, but it is certainly very important to use natural products that do not include harsh detergents that strip hair of its natural state.
God bless and thank you again!