Should Naturals Wash Their Hair More Often?

Naptural85

 I was recently watching one of my favorite bloggers, Naptural85, discuss how much she misses her long tresses. She started to theorize about how, perhaps, washing or wetting her hair more often could encourage faster hair growth.

If you are familiar with Naptural85, also known as Whitney, she has been making YouTube videos about growing her 4B hair naturally for the past 5 years. And let me tell you, whatever she has been doing works and works well! Whitney has beautiful curly hair that was, at one point, to her waist line! Watch her video below.

In the spirit of healthy hair, she trimmed her ends and now has much shorter, but still lengthy, beautiful hair. But now she is missing her long locks…who wouldn’t?!

Below is her latest video theorizing about how washing her hair (or at least wetting it thoroughly more often) could encourage faster growth because:

• Women with straight hair wash their hair a lot more often because their scalp gets build up easily
• Naturals tend to hold off on washing their hair for months, thus not allowing fresh nutrients to penetrated the scalp
• A quick wash could encourage cleaner hair; therefore, less breakage may occur

So, here are the steps Whitney will take to get her hair long again with a simple wash, and so can you!

• Wash your hair with only water more often; at least 2-3 times a week
• These washes do not necessarily involve using shampoo
• Maintain simple, protective styles like two strand twists. Whitney has worn two strand twists a lot in her natural hair journey and now her hair is long and luscious!
• Be sure to replenish your hair and scalp oils with an good penetrating oil. Perhaps this would be a good time to attempt a Castor Oil challenge on your hair immediately after your wash. You can watch Afro Khadisiac’s video on her castor oil challenge below.

However, there are things to be cautious of if you are going to take this route to keep your hair cleaner and attempt to grow it longer.

• I know we all love hot showers but do not run your hair under hot water for a long time. It could dry it out faster than your want. A quick rinse with lukewarm water could suffice.
• Please, please, please replenish your hair and scalp with oils! Yes, wetting your hair opens up your scalp pores more often by wiping away the gunk and dead skin cells, but not putting oils back in your hair is counterproductive.
• Continue with your normal routine of co-washing, protective styling and deep conditioning.

Whitney may be on to something. With a little perseverance, discipline and A LOT of patience, you could obtain longer, healthier hair too!