Waves, curls, and coils can look absolutely striking, but unlike straight hair these textured hair types take work. Learn how to look after your textured tresses and your future will be filled with happy hair days.
Read on to discover Ricardo Vila Nova’s top hair hacks for improving the health of your hair, defining your waves, curls and coils, and taming frizz…
Oil your strands
“Typically, dry and fragile, weekly hair oiling can help defrizz, nourish, and revitalise textured hair. Castor oil and grapeseed oil are fantastic for dry thick, curly and coily tresses, while macadamia and almond oil are lighter and are good options for fine and wavy hair types. Bathing the hair in oil helps seal in moisture – especially when your own natural oils have been stripped post cleansing – as well as tame frizz and add shine. The protection that these ‘sealing oils’ provide also keeps out nasties like pollutants, and drying haircare ingredients. Many people like to use oil overnight pre-washing which can also be beneficial. However, the oils used to do this should be penetrating oils like coconut oil and camelia oil and it’s important to cleanse the hair on waking. But when it comes to the best way to use a sealing hair oil for textured hair – clean, damp hair is best. Wash, condition, apply a hydrating curl defining product and then when the hair is damp apply your oil.”
Deep condition weekly
“Hydration is key when it comes to avoiding breakage, and splitting of textured hair, it also gives your hair megawatt shine and keeps it smooth to the touch. This makes deep conditioning the hair each week by way of a hair mask an absolute must. You’ll find that that most masks offer intense moisture, and help repair and strengthen your hair. Look for ones with lactic acid as this active helps slough away dead skin cells and product build-up that can block follicles, hindering hair growth and blocking sebum from making its way to your strands.”
Avoid dry brushing
“You may have heard that hair should not be brushed when wet. This is because when wet the hydrogen bonds in our hair break, making strands more elastic and weaker in nature. However, if you’re in the textured hair camp then you know all too well that brushing your hair when dry ruins your curl pattern, and leads to breakage. Cue, wet brushes. These are cleverly designed brushes with flexible bristles that can be used on all hair types when wet. They detangle with ease, reduce frizz, and ensure less damage is done to your tresses.”
Invest in a silk pillowcase
“No matter the thread count, cotton is not the ideal material when it comes to what to lay your head on at night. Not only is it an absorbent fibre that sucks up the moisture from your hair leaving it dry and suspectable to breakage. It’s also rougher than the likes of silk, and the friction it causes while you toss and turn at night can lead to tangles, frizz and breakage too. On the other hand, silk is nice and smooth so your hair glides over it as you sleep which is ideal for delicate textured hair. And not only that, silk is a lot less porous than cotton so it won’t sap your hair of moisture.”
Add heat protection
“If you’re a big fan of blow-drying your textured hair straight then don’t skip heat protectors, especially as it takes a lot longer and much higher temperatures to smooth out waves, curls and coils. If you don’t, you’ll likely notice breakage, and a lack of shine fast, since the twists and turns of your hair type make it hard for your protective sebum to travel down the hair shaft, leaving your hair prone to dryness and brittleness already – and the damaging heat compounds this issue.”
To revitalise your waves, curls or coils, contact us to book a personalised consultation and treatment plan using the link below.
