My natural hair is not the same as your natural hair, quite frankly not all naturalistas have thick, voluminous hair! Some of us have fine, less dense hair that causes us to look for helpful information to keep our hair moisturized, supple, and retaining length.
Fine hair is referred to a skinnier (thinner) thickness or width of the individual hair strand. To determine if you have fine hair just take one of your shed hairs and measure it against a regular sewing thread for thickness.
If your hair strand is wider than the piece of thread, your hair strand is thick. If your hair strand is thinner than the piece of thread, your hair strand is fine.
Fine hair is very fragile, has the tendency to break, and can be easily damaged. You may have experienced very oily hair, depending on numerous products used for a certain style.
You may not be able to hold a curl for a day or your hair may lay flat with no hope of volume in the days to come. It’s wintertime now, but heavy products will cause your hair to be weighed down and stringy. So what can you do???
Here are 6 tips that I have learned and applied in my own natural hair regimen to retain length on fine, natural hair:
Detangle on oily or damp hair
If you have had issues with the wide-tooth comb and the Denman brush*, try finger detangling. Using hair tools for detangling can cause more damage to the hair instead of just alleviating your hair from shed hair.
You will be able to feel where the tangles are and be able to detangle with ease. Use a helpful product like coconut oil* or your conditioner to help make detangling a breeze.
Be sure to start at the ends with your thumbs, then work your way upward to feel and remove the shed hair until your hair feels smooth. Once your a section of your hair is detangled, then put the section away – two strand twist, clip, or bantu knot – to keep detangled for washing.
Always detangle before you wash your hair! If you don’t, your hair WILL be tangled and worse of all: still full of shed hair!
Emloy effective washing techniques
Since your hair is fine, your hair may be more prone to tangling no matter how the wind blows. The next time you wash your hair, divide your hair into 4-6 sections.
You can either clip, bun, or two strand twist each section to help you during your washing process. The more stretched your hair is the less tangling you will experience when washing your hair.
Good tips!
It’s so many naturals out there with all of this thick big natural hair, but there aren’t any natural with fine hair out there to look to for tips and support. This was a great read and is truly appreciated
Most of these I’ve heard over the years but I have found that using old school products like StaSof Fro & S Curl moisturizer for pre wash detangling , Pink Oil lotion ( light version ) & Blue Magic ( bergamot & super sure gro ) for sealing in winter are a great help in addition to protein treatments. There’s a reason they’ve been around since my 70’s afro days. The new deep conditioners like Carol’s Daughter Monoi, Shea Moisture Manuka, Baobab Yucca & JBCO along with MegaTek ( use a mositurizing condish afterwards) are wonderful but old school grease is the best sealant. I also wear wigs A LOT in winter & keep my hair moisturized under them because dry winter air is a KILLER.
I’ve been thinking about wigs, but not sure what brand would be the best. What do you use?
I pre-poo my hair with conditioner and finger detangle. I allow it to sit overnight and wash my hair in two-strand twists. Deep condition overnight and low manipulation style from there. I process the pre-poo and deep conditioner with my hooded dryer for at least an hour. I am slowly beginning to understand that every product that is out there is not for my hair and I just need to keep it simple. Watching hair tutorials on YT have me wanting to try those styles but for the sake of my fine hair, I just won’t risk it. I know my hair can grow; I just need to leave it alone to let it grow. In 2016, I am going to challenge myself to try more protective styling methods. Thanks for the great advice!