The colder months can be highly damaging for the ends of your afro hair as the level of dryness increases during this time. The reduced moisture in the air then makes your natural hair more fragile, meaning more frizz, split ends, and breakage. Next, as most of us spend time indoors during the winter months, our ends can also fall victim to more damage due to central heating. While you cannot control these winter-based effects on your ends, there are ways that you can care for and protect them during winter.
Treat Your Ends To A Hydrating Wash Day Routine
As a result of dry air, your ends require a hydrating wash-and-go routine that can replace the moisture lost. Start with our Hydration Shampoo With Manuka Honey which can gently cleanse the ends of your natural hair, meaning that your afro hair gets to keep its natural oils.
Next, our Moisture-Rich Conditioner With Manuka Honey And Avocado moisturises ends that become more brittle and dry. Moreover, its manuka honey and avocado ingredients can penetrate and seal hydration in your hair shaft, meaning that the ends of your curly hair can remain shiny and frizz-free. It can also allow you to detangle your afro hair in the shower.
Then, seal in this wash day moisture with a water-based leave-in conditioner like ours with manuka honey and avocado oil. This conditioning mixture can maximise the hydration for your ends for longer. Then, a small amount of this mixture can also be used to top up your moisture levels daily. You can also apply more of our leave-in onto your ends to avoid more breakage when you go out in the colder weather. Finally, depending on how dry your afro hair and ends get during the winter months, you could opt for a co-wash routine using our hydrating conditioner and leave-in.
Maximise The Benefits Of Your Conditioning Routine Through Steaming
Even if you do not have access to a hooded dryer or an electric hair steamer, you can still mimic the effects of a deep conditioning routine using a shower cap. After applying our conditioner to your natural hair and its ends, you can put a shower cap on the top of your curls. Then, put a heated microfibre cloth on the top of this shower cap. Lastly, use another shower cap on top of these two items to allow the heat to open your hair cuticles so that it can benefit from the deep conditioning routine.
Dedicate 10 to 20 minutes to this routine before rinsing out the conditioning mixture. To get the maximum benefit of this routine, you can use this steaming process at least twice a month during the colder months.
Reduce The Amount Of Heat On Your Ends
Any more heat you apply to the ends of your afro hair during winter will result in more breakage and split ends. So, if you still need to use a heat styling method on your ends during winter, ensure you use a method of heat protection like our leave-in conditioner to minimise damage. If you need to blow dry your natural hair, ensure the blow dryer is in a cooler setting.
Alternatively, our Curl Elongating Gel With Flaxseed Oil & Rosewater is a heat-free way to stretch your afro curls naturally and prevent shrinkage. You can also avoid heat use by opting for protective styles like braids and twist outs during winter. Before putting your natural hair into the desired style, apply a large amount of our Curling Mousse With Flaxseed Oil & Rosewater to hold your style and keep your ends conditioned and tucked away from environmental damage.
Remember to trim your ends frequently during winter. Ask your stylist to cut off half an inch or an inch at most of your ends. You can do this every three months to prevent and eliminate any split ends so that your curls can remain healthy during these harsher months.
Stick To A Routine For Your Ends At Night
Ensure your afro hair remains hydrated during the night with our Curling Creme With Coconut & Jamaican Black Castor Oils, which can improve definition, body, and moisture while you sleep as it is high in omega fatty acids. Then wrap your hydrated hair in a silk or satin scarf to seal the moisture and avoid friction.
Breakage can worsen in the winter, especially if you fail to take care of your ends during winter. So, protect your ends in these harsher months so you will be left with healthier afro hair in spring.