I have finally reached my one year mark of being natural after cutting off my chemically relaxed hair end of February 2015.  I cut my hair after a 5 month post relaxer, which means I had last relaxed my hair September 2014.  My desire was not to transition for a long time hence chopping off the relaxed hair as soon as l could.  Although my husband totally dreaded me having short hair, it was a big relief for me.  Transitioning and dealing with two textures is annoying and I wasn’t about that life now.  Plus I really felt a strong urge to experience short hair at an age I would recall what it's like.


Truth be told, African natural hair is not that easy to take care of.  It also depends on the texture you have.  I would like to believe naturally looser & softer type of curls are slightly easier to deal with than the tighter, kinky type.  It takes patience & time.

So of course as any of you who are thinking of going natural or still in the beginning stage should do, I did my research.  YouTube was and still is really helpful with information about how different African women out there take care of their natural curls and what kind of products are better for our hair type.  Just a few examples of hair 'YouTubers' I love to watch are, MoKnowsHair, MahoganyCurls, JourneyToWaistLength and Naptural85.  After watching such videos, I admit I was drawn into the illusion that I needed all these products to ensure my hair stays on point.  Not that it would hurt to have a huge hair products stash, but you got to comply with the budget. :)  And you have to be wise about the difference between buying what you really need and just being an impulsive buyer.

Anyway, all these hair products are scarce where I currently live, so I eagerly got some from Amazon.  I tried out Cantu Leave in Conditioner for moisturizing my hair, which I loved but that was the first and last time I ordered that from Amazon, simply because it was too pricey for me.   I did more research and came across LAZADA!  Lazada is an online shopping site for most parts in Southeast Asia.  What a big relief it was that I could get products like Carol’s Daughter without much hustle and shipping costs.

I have used the Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk Cleansing Conditioner for cleansing my hair, the Hair Milk Styling butter and the Black Vanilla Moisture & Shine Leave in Conditioner for moisturizing and the Black Vanilla Hair Smoothie for deep conditioning.  I love love love these products.  I would continue using these but considering my budget I still felt I could spend less and still achieve what I want with my hair.  That is using products with no sulfates and parabens, and keeping my hair soft and moisturized.  Although I will definitely get these Carols Daughter products from time to time.

I came across Paul Mitchell Leave In Conditioner and I could also find it on Lazada so I switched to using that.  And even better I came across Sasa a beauty shop you find in most malls here in Malaysia, and they stock the Giovanni Leave in Conditioner at a cheaper price than Lazada.  So I switch between those two moisturizers.  My point in all this is that you do not have to have plenty of hair products or spend lots.  There are many choices that work just as well.

Giovanni Shampoo I started using recently. Oh and I forgot to mention I am also trying this Organix (OGx) conditioner. I bought this one on Lazada. I think I've also seen OGX products at Ben's Independent Grocer (if I am not mistaken) in Publika Mont Kiara. Happy to see there is one opening soon next to my church at the Glomac Damansara, because they have more variety.

This is what I use for moisturizing my hair. This stuff leaves my hair so soft and manageable.

With that here are a few simple tips to help your hair stay healthy and retain length.  Some of these things should also be done even if you have relaxed hair.

If you do not do this already, wash your hair at least once every week.  If not once a week at least once in 2 weeks.  Where I come from, growing up I remember there were hilarious misconceptions (thinking about it now) about not regularly washing your hair.  Some being dandruff helps your hair grow, NOOO that is dirt clogging your scalp and roots.  Washing your hair regularly cleans your scalp and strands so it breaths and water itself is a moisturizer.  Just like your body needs water so does your hair.  I started stretching my wash to once every 2 weeks because ain't nobody got time for the long process that comes with washing and properly moisturizing this kinky hair.

TIP 2: Sulfate Free Products Are The Best
Try use products that are sulfate, parabens and silicone free.  That means start paying attention to the ingredients in your products.  This is because these ingredients tend to block your hair strands, then moisture cannot properly penetrate your hair and it becomes dry.  However, silicones for relaxed hair are not so bad.  You can do more research on this if you are interested.

TIP 3: Conditioning Hair Is Essential
With every wash always follow up with a conditioner.  And depending on the routine you want, also deep condition either every time you wash your hair or at least once every two weeks or once a month, whatever works for you.

TIP 4: Damp Hair Takes In Moisture Better
Make sure to moisturize your hair while still damp and comb while still damp with a wide tooth comb that does not tug and pull your hair too much.  This is specifically important for curly or curly kinky hair.

TIP 5: Seal Hair With Oils
After moisturizing with whatever leave in conditioner (cream that you do not wash out)  you can follow up with a natural oil like coconut oil, Shea butter, extra virgin oil etc.  This helps to keep the moisture locked in your hair strands.  And note, using oils only on your hair does not completely work.  You need a cream moisturizer.

TIP 6: Strengthen Hair With Protein Treatments
Bi-weekly or once a month do a protein treatment so your hair stays strong.  You can either use a store bought protein treatment or a D.I.Y one.  If you Google or YouTube you’ll find a D.I.Y protein treatment.

TIP 7: Stick To No Heat
Try your best not to use heat on your hair, like constantly blow drying, flat ironing.  Since I big chopped I only attempted to blow dry and flat iron once.  I say attempted because I flat ironed my hair a few weeks back just to see what it looks like straight, but it did not quite come out how I expected.  At least my hair was not damaged.  That leads me to the next point.

TIP 8: Prep & Protect Hair From Direct Heat
If you are going to use heat, make sure to use a heat protectant serum.

TIP 9: Be Gentle
Be gentle with your hair.  When combing, detangling or styling don’t just yank at it.  Work in sections if you have to.

These are pretty much the basics I know for keeping your hair healthy.  There is a reason for all of this but I did not get too much  into it otherwise it will be too lengthy.

Hope this was helpful for someone!

Ciao!