Creating A Short Hair Routine
Creating A Short Hair Routine
WHAT IS A HAIR ROUTINE & WHY YOU NEED ONE?Do you know how you feel about your one on one, personal relationship with whatever God you worship? Well, your short hair routine is something like your relationship with your Lord & Savior. How? How? How? Well, your relationship with the Lawd is private, it’s made up of whatever works for you and it’s between just the two of you, right? Your short hair routine is private, it’s made up of whatever works for you and it’s between you and your hair.
A good tip to remember is: when it comes to hair, things are cumulative. One day of flat ironing at 500 degrees will not cause you to go bald, but if you do that to your hair consistently, you will definitely end up with no hair on your head. The same theory holds true for positive hair practices. One day of moisturizing will not result in beautiful, shiny hair. However, a regular and consistent application of moisturizer will give you a head full of shiny and healthy hair.
Developing a hair routine is an essential part of doing your own hair at home. Your hair will respond to consistency and caring for your hair will become easier for your once you have a set of practices that you know and that you repeat.
One of the most universal factors of mastering your own hair at home, is learning your hair. The benefits of knowing the attributes and characteristics of your hair are immeasurable. You have to take the time to really learn all the different aspects of your hair. Once you know how your hair will respond to different techniques and products, you will be better able to choose new products, tools and even new styles that work well for you and your crown and glory.
I’ll start the list by saying that the condition of your hair when you begin developing your routine, will definitely play a part in what your routine includes. If you are looking to grow your hair to a particular length in order to cut 3 inches of damaged hair off, then your routine may be more tailored toward growth than say, someone who is focused on maintaining the moisture and protein balance in their hair.
With those things in mind, let’s get into some suggestions that are universally applicable. That way, everyone can take something from this post and then build upon it and create a short hair routine you are comfortable with.
THE STEPS TO DEVELOPING AN AMAZING SHORT HAIR ROUTINE
FIRST: Cleaning and Conditioning
Washing your hair goes without saying. And each time you wash your hair, you should condition it. How many times per week or month you choose to wash and condition your hair will depend on how quickly your hair or scalp gets dirty. We each produce sebum at differing rates, so this is a very personalized thing. I wash my hair twice a week because my scalp flares up in response to an allergy I have. Many ladies go up to 2 weeks in between washes. To see my wash day routine, watch my WASH DAY ROUTINE video.
Conditioning, like I mentioned above, goes hand in hand with washing.
Deep Conditioning is so so major for relaxed hair. I talked about why it’s so important in my post 3 Mistakes To Avoid When Doing Hair At Home. Deep conditioning helps to mend some of the bonds that are broken during the chemical process of relaxing the hair. It also helps to expose the cortex of the hair strand to the beneficial properties provided by deep conditioners. Those properties are commonly moisture and/or protein. You want the moisture and protein to get to the inner parts of your hair strand where they are most effective.
SECOND: Preventing Breakage
Breakage can occur as a result of many things we do to our hair. Some things we do with a full expectation that breakage will occur. If you dye your hair blonde, there will be some breakage to the strands of your hair. However, aside from the things we do expecting breakage, we can also do or NOT do things that cause breakage that we are not aware of.
One main reason for breakage is lack of moisture. The dryer the stand of hair, the more susceptible it is to breakage. Properly moisturizing your hair and taking measures to ensure that the moisture you apply to your hair is retained, is essential to preventing and minimizing breakage.
Trimming is an often overlooked step for women with short cuts. Lots of times, you assume that because your hair is short, you only need to get your hair cut when your style grows out. This isn’t the case. Trimming your hair in between cuts, even though your hair is short, will cut down on the amount of split ends that develop from the hair being exposed daily. So trim your hair.
Properly wrapping your hair at night will also protect your ends and help prevent breakage. If you are struggling with wrapping your hair, or if you just aren’t sure about how to do it, watch HOW TO WRAP SHORT HAIR AT NIGHT. When you smooth the ends of your hair down and add a snag free wrap to your hair, you are protecting it from rubbing against itself, your bedding and your face and arms, as you sleep. Less friction = less breakage.
THIRD: Styling Frequency
How frequently you style your hair will be determined by you hair’s ability to tolerate the types of styles you create. On my YouTube Channel, I create many, many different hairstyles. However, I KNOW my hair. I have low porosity, dense strands and very resilient hair. So my hair can take what I do to it. There was a time when I flat ironed my hair EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. My hair was in a pixie cut, like it is now, and it was fairly healthy. It wasn’t great, but a lot of women would have been bald had they taken their hair through what I put mine through. I learned how often I could style my hair and keep it as healthy as it can be.
Learn your hair! Learn how much heat your hair can stand and how often. Learn how much manipulation your hair can take and still remain full and flowy. Learn styles that work for your lifestyle. Be realistic. If you need to wear a flat wrap style 4 days out of the week and only rock a ‘styled’ or ‘curled’ look on weekends, then do that. Wouldn’t you rather have healthy hair that you can slay when you WANT as opposed to a head that looks like a mango seed that you can’t make look good … EVER? There are lots of very pretty styles that you can learn to create and maintain over several days. Those types of styles will help you preserve the health of your hair.
FOURTH: Caring for Your Scalp
The scalp is super important and your short hair routine should include some attention to your scalp. After all, hair grows out of your scalp, so if your scalp is jacked up, your hair won’t grow as well as it will if you take time to care for your scalp. Massage your scalp regularly, oil your scalp, and keep it cleansed. Those 3 things combined, promote maximum blood circulation to your follicles, and that aids in your hair’s overall health. Healthy follicles with a solid blood supply is the ideal environment for your hair to grow as full and strong as possible.
Also, pay attention to your scalp and any changes you notice. Your scalp can often be the first place where a sign of something gone wrong will appear. Rashes, dry scalp or other changes in your scalp can indicate that you need to adjust another area of your routine. You may need to wash your hair more frequently to remove the buildup of sebum. A dry scalp can be a clue that you may need to wash your hair less frequently. Washing your hair too much can cause excessive dryness.
GO FORTH AND CREATE YOUR OWN
This all leads back to the theory that you will have to learn your own hair and adjust your short hair routine accordingly. This post is a broad starting point to be used as a base model. From here add as many bells and whistles as suit your fancy until you come up with the perfect, customized short hair routine for YOUR hair.
What are some of the things you do regularly that contribute to the health of your hair?
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