Black women have a variety of hair textures. From curly to kinky hairstyles. Overall black women have such versatile hair. This section will look at the different textures and give you some great ideas for styling your hair and ways to look after your hair. Most black women’s hair ranges from about 3b (but like I said there are a variety of hair textures). 3b would be loose curl texture (Melton, 2013)

3c would be corkscrew textured curls (Melton, 2013)

4a would be soft kinky hair (Melton, 2013)

4b and 4c are similar kinky hair textures but are less defined than 4a. (Melton, 2013) Natural afro textured hair can be linked with black movements that occurred in America in the 1960s that saw political groups like Black Panthers use them as a symbol of black pride. Similarly, the Marvel movie Black Panther. The first black solo superhero which highlighted a lot of natural hair. With black queens such as Lupita Ny’ong as well as British actress Letitia Wright. Find out more about the celebration of black hair https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/a16670565/how-the-movie-black-panther-is-celebrating-natural-hair/

Here are my top tips for looking after natural kinky hair
1) Wear a silk scarf to bed – one thing our hair needs is oil and often when we sleep the moisture from our her is absorbed by our pillows and we end up waking up with dry hair. This can prevent growth and cause breakage. To keep the moisture in our hair, invest in a silk scarf.
2) Do not wash your hair with hot water – like the first pint. The hot water strips away the moisture from black hair. The heat as well can cause damage to the roots of our hair. Using warm or lukewarm water to keep your hair happy
3) Do not use too much treatment in your hair – those strengthen protect etc home kits can damage your hair IF used to much. If you want to do regular treatments leave a minimum of two weeks between or longer if you have damaged hair
4) Blow-drying and straightening hair – this can cause a lot of damage, not only will it dry out your hair but it can damage roots and cause your hair strands to split which causes breakage also
5) Regular trims – you should have regular trims to get rid of dead hair and promote hair growth
6) Moisture – you guys knew this one was coming. Dry hair is a no no! Afro and mixed-race hair need to be regularly oiled. I highly recommend coconut oil and almond oil for thick hair growth.

If you’re looking for more expert opinion look no further than Errol Douglas, a UK stylist who has been working with afro hair for over 30 years. His top tips are; “avoid home remedies especially lemon and egg.” (InStyle, 2016) He suggests not using anything that can “clog your hair growth such as coconut oil and when washing afro hair it is best to start with shampoo.” (InStyle, 2016) If you are looking for any more tips you can contact Douglas through his website team http://erroldouglas.com/contact-us.aspx 

Sources

InStyle. (2016). Errol Douglas Afro Hair Tips. [online] Available at: http://www.instyle.com/ [Accessed 15 May 2018].

Melton, N. (2013). Decode Your Coils: A Simple Guide to Curly Hair Types. [online] Essence. Available at: https://www.essence.com/galleries/decode-your-coils-simple-guide-curly-hair-types [Accessed 18 May 2018].