Nowadays, everywhere you turn you seem to see a new product geared towards natural hair. These products tend to have improved ingredients eliminating mineral oil, petrolatum and sulfates, which have been known to cause dryness in relaxed hair. Companies that are shying away from these ingredients tend to be companies geared towards natural hair and many are flocking to them.
It can be wise to use natural hair care products on relaxed hair, however, relaxed hair does require certain ingredients that are not typically offered in natural hair care products. Natural hair care products are typically comprised of moisture-rich ingredients targeting dry hair. This is a pro, as relaxed hair requires a certain level of moisture in the hair to increase elasticity and retain length. However, many of these ingredients include heavy oils and butters, with frequent use, can cause relaxed hair to become weighed down and stiff – not favorable for us relaxed ladies. Many shampoos geared toward natural hair care support moisturizing and detangling without the use of sulfates. This is a major plus for us relaxed haired ladies. Detangling is essential for any hair type. In fact, many of the shampoo’s geared toward natural hair contain a variety of ingredients to help nourish relaxed hair as well i.e. Aloe Vera juice, Apple cider vinegar etc.
On my observation, natural hair care products tend to lack “protein specific” treatments, as there’s little requirement for it. On the other hand, relaxed hair craves an adequate amount of protein to fortify and strengthen the strands to prevent breakage, this could be a problem! Natural hair care moisturizers, deep conditioners and leave-in products can all be used on relaxed hair, it’s just a matter of choosing the right products for your hair type and porosity level. Natural hair care products tend to focus more on moisture, which is great for relaxed hair; however, we also have to factor in the predominate use of heavy oils and butters potentially causing stiff weighed down relaxed hair.
All of our hair is unique and diverse; explore what works best for you and your hair!
