Natural Haircare and Styling Without Direct Heat
Most parts of the haircare and styling process are harmful to both our bodies and our hair. It’s no wonder that today many people struggle with breakage, hair loss, loss of luster, and allergies from toxic products. Just as with my skincare advice, my haircare advice is, don’t use products that are irritating, and don’t use products that strip your hair’s moisture barrier. The other element of haircare that I recommend is not using direct heat on the hair. The classic example of this is getting a blow-out and a flatiron. It looks nice immediately afterwards but over time it creates breakage but also hair loss from all the pulling of the styling methods.
We can simply swap out harmful products and styling methods with ones that don’t strip the moisture barrier of the hair, don’t pull on the hair strands, and don’t apply direct heat. Many people would be shocked to find out that after a few weeks of conditioner washing instead of conventional foaming shampoo washing, they would have no need of a blow-out and could air dry their hair. Here is my practical advice for how to restore your hair’s glossy luster, and harness its natural texture so that you don’t require daily heat styling.
Conditioner Washing:
There is a practical way to avoid having to style your hair but still having it look done every day. I recommend conditioner washing for daily hair cleansing, it has long been a staple of natural textured hair care and it’s another case of when you stop stripping your body’s moisture barrier you will see a dramatic increase in appearance. Once your hair is no longer stripped with an SLS (Sodium Laureth Sulfate) shampoo, it will become smoother, glossier, and most importantly more manageable. Many people will be surprised to find that once they get into a conditioner washing routine, they can air-dry their hair and the end result is exactly what it used to look like when they had blown out and heat-styled their hair. If you have a textured, and/or coarse hair texture and you feel you have to heat style or use a large amount of styling product just to look presentable enough to leave the house, conditioner washing will upend all of your notions about your hair.
SD Alcohol:
Don’t use any styling product with denatured alcohol, most hairsprays and gels, and even leave-in conditioners contain this, and it is usually listed in the ingredients as SD alcohol. SD alcohol wrecks the hair, dries it out, and can cause irritation of your scalp.
Heat Styling Damage:
Besides stripping the hair with sulfate-based shampoos; heat styling also wrecks your hair, it’s the reason that performers rely so heavily on wigs and extensions. The fashion today for having a blowout followed by flat ironing and often curling wands or tongs is ruining people’s hair. It looks nice immediately after it’s been done because all of the individual hair strands have been smoothed to be going in the same directions allowing the hair to catch the light in a pleasing way. Over time though, this is just destroying the hair both through breakage of the hair itself, but also through hair loss stemming from the pulling of the hair that is involved in a traditional blowout.
Air Drying:
I recommend air-drying your hair either in a wet-set or just natural after finger or comb styling if the temperature, humidity, and time permits. It’s very important not to leave your hair wet for long periods of time as this allows fungus to grow on your scalp and can cause many scalp ailments and exacerbate existing ones. If you are in a cold or damp climate investing in a hood-dryer or at least a diffuser for your hand-held dryer is an effective way to dry your hair without applying direct heat.
Styling Suggestions:
If you have textured hair, I suggest doing a wet-set to both smooth the texture and impart a bouncy shape. Use smooth magnetic rollers for the most effective result and for most people not in a warm and dry climate, drying under a hood dryer is most practical. For someone with an already smooth hair texture a wet-set is the way to get the most durable curl into the hair and also dry it, but if your hair is already dry, you can simply use heat or steam rollers to achieve the same look. The rollers are far less hot than a metal curling tong or wand.
Roller Setting:
For someone seeking a glamorous look, a roller-set is the most effective way to smooth the hair, put some shape into it, and also can be a conditioning technique. My philosophy of hair care is strongly influenced by Dominican hair styling; the originators of the famous Dominican roller-set. Many Dominicans have African ancestry, and by not exposing their textured hair to direct heat they are able to grow long, thick tresses. Textured hair, especially textures with a, “kink” to them are very susceptible to breakage because of both the fragile hair strands and their shape which leads to breakage points, which is why many people with textured hair struggle to grow long hair.
Once set, finger comb out the curls for a defined, bouncy and full look. For a glamorous 1940s look, brush out all the curls, comb in a side-part, make pin up bangs, and brush the length of your hair into luxurious waves. Many people are not aware that roller sets can also be used to achieve straight hair, simply use the largest roller size that your hair will wrap around twice. It’s important when you set your hair to never use too much tension adhering the clips to your hair, and avoid completely clipping the hair around your hairline, it is the most delicate hair on your head and most susceptible to hair loss through too much pulling. To avoid this, secure the clips into your hair about ½ inch back from your hairline, you will be able to get enough tension to roll your hair without pulling the delicate baby hairs at the root.
Fingerwaves:
Short styles can be wet-set in fingerwaves, ringlets, and even straight combed against the scalp. Simply comb your hair while towel-dried into your desired style, apply a wave-cap or thick-gauge hair-net to your head (not the wispy kind used to secure a bun or updo), use wave-clips and pins to keep your waves in place and then dry. It may seem counterintuitive but applying the clips after the hair-net ensures the correct tension over the hair in order to keep the wave shapes intact during the drying process. Fingerwaves can be worn tight to the head, defined and framing the face 1920s style, pull out a few strands to make pin curls on the face for extra flourish. Using the same wave-setting technique they can be worn brushed out, with more movement in a glamorous 1930s look. Setting lotion or a thin styling gel can be used, but it is the water that changes the hair structure. I use only a few drops of pure un-refined Argan oil for added shine and manageability.
Preserving Styles Overnight:
With a very small time investment, hairstyles can be preserved during sleep for the next day, saving time and styling damage to the hair. Just in general for preserving styles while sleeping, use a silk satin pillowcase to reduce abrasion.
For Long Hair:
If you have roller-set your hair in the evening and want to maintain tight curls the next day, you can re-set your hair in pillow-soft tying rather than clipping rollers that you can comfortably sleep on. For someone seeking a looser beach waves look, a few braids tied strategically to be comfortable to sleep on, will effectively protect your style for the next day. Alternatively you can pile and tie up your hair on the top of your head, resembling the shape of a pineapple, so that the back of your head is comfortable to sleep on.
For Short Hair:
For short styles wear a hairnet or a wave cap to bed. Some people with more textured hair will benefit from wrapping a silk scarf around their head in order to preserve smoothness. Even if a fingerwave set gets messed up a little during sleep, it can almost always combed right back into place and resurrected for another day. The hair has that wave pattern set into it until it gets wet again, so unless you have sweated out your waves, or are caught in a rainstorm you can just keep re-combing your hair right back into place and enjoy the slight variation in styles from day to day as the waves and ringlets loosen slightly.
How often should you wash your hair?
Depending on various factors such as the heat and humidity, and your exercise regimen, a roller or wave-set will last 4-5 days, but I do not recommend going that long without washing your hair. It’s popular now to only have your hair washed and blown out once in a while and rely on dry shampoo indefinitely. This causes many problems with the scalp and product build-up. I prefer to wash my hair for the health of my scalp at least every day or every other day, but I admit sometimes I do a wave-set that looks so good I want to maintain it for another day or two.
Haircare and Active Lifestyles:
The biggest thing I remember from the days long ago when I straightened my hair every day was the fear of getting it wet, whether through sweating or the humid and damp climate of the coastal Northeast. By and large, most physical activity will make a person sweat, particularly in a warm and humid climate. For someone with a labored over and often expensively achieved hair texture they might not want to do a heavy workout, or strenuous hike, or for that matter enjoy the water at the beach or in the pool for fear of their hair reverting back to its natural texture. This is so unfortunate because in my opinion we all need lots of strenuous exercise, and as much time outdoors moving our bodies around as we can get. If you learn to work with your texture and allow it’s intrinsic beauty to be cultivated rather than ironed out, a sweaty workout could be followed by a quick shower and then air-drying combined with a little styling for a polished look.
There are so many good reasons to make the switch to natural haircare and styling techniques and the benefits go so much farther than the actual hair itself. For people who have struggled since their youth to turn their natural hair texture into a different hair texture, there is a profound delight in having natural hair that looks beautiful and defined without being styled. Then, when you factor in the huge health benefit of not breathing in toxic fumes, applying irritating and harmful chemicals, preservatives, fragrances and dyes you can see why it’s so worthwhile switching over to natural haircare and styling. There are methods of cultivating a beautiful, polished look that don’t take a toll on your health, far from it, using natural cosmetics, and natural haircare and styling will reveal the most beautiful skin and hair you have seen since childhood.