Starting Your Hair Journey (Regimen building)

source: pinterest

Healthy, long hair will not come to you over night. It takes commitment and a little extra effort to get it where you want it. One thing that has kept me focused on my Healthy Hair Journey has been a regimen.

What is a regimen? A regimen is the set of guidelines and routines you create for yourself that you follow using your own personalized systems and techniques to help grow and retain healthy hair. See post on length retention here

A regimen doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, but, in the past year I have identified some things that are worth making an investment on if you want to get beautiful hair. These are:

• Shampoo- Shampoos are cleaning agents for your scalp. This is necessary to get rid of product build-up. It’s also worth noting that a clean scalp absorbs products better
• Conditioner- A hair care treatment used to improve the health and status of hair. Conditioners work on the hair strands. There are different types, and the all have different uses.

1. Moisturizing Conditioner- Adds moisture. eg. Suave Almond Oil and Shea Butter Conditioner
2. Protein Based – Mainly for the strengthening of a hair strands.
3. Balanced- Moisturizes and Strengthens a strands. eg. ORS Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner
4. Deep Conditioners- These are conditioners with smaller molecular sizes and can penetrate the hair shaft.
5. Leave In Conditioner – They are mostly moisturizing conditioners that do not have to be rinsed out.eg. CON Argan Oil Leave In Conditioner.

• Protein Treatments – A hair treatment designed to ad strength and elasticity to the hair by adding protein to the cortex [source: lamasbeauty.com] Protein treatments should be done at least every 6 weeks, before a relaxer update, and after the take down of a protective style that is older than 4 weeks.

A DIY treatment with eggs, mayonnaise, honey and olive oil is a cheap way to do a protein treatment. If you are not into DIY you can get a tub of hair mayonnaise.

• Daily Moisturizer: To provide the hair with moisture and improve hair elasticity.

• Oils – Oils can be used for pre-poo (pre shampoo treatment), hot oil treatments and/or sealing of moisture. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, and Castor Oil are oils that are easily accessible here in Ghana.

• Satin Bonnet/ Scarf/ Pillowcase - To protect your strands at night.
• Wide tooth comb- For styling, combing and/or wrapping hair.

So now what? Now that you have the products, it’s now time to create a schedule of the hair tasks. You can create a weekly regimen which can look like this:

Or, a general regimen which can look like this:

Remember, it’s not only about creating a regimen but sticking to it too. It’s also worth noting that regimens are subject to change. Not everyone’s regimen is the same. Be consistent and the progress will follow. See my regimen here

Also, it is important to drink loads of water, eat healthy and stay healthy. 

Stay Awesome!!!!!!!