Real African 4C Hair Diary

Feb 20, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Mar 1, 2021

The plan is to now grow my hair from where it is to shoulder length.

I have never grown my hair to this length before.

Here are some pictures showing my hair journey so far.

I transitioned fully from relaxed to natural hair in 2018 though the full on Afro didn’t come through fully until mid 2019.

By then I didn't have the knowledge on how to look after my 4c hair and I thought what works for any other afro hair texture would work for me too.

This all happened when my hair was at its healthiest, surprisingly after it got to a certain length it seemed to stop growing.

I also tried using clay, apple cider vinegar to cleanse my hair, this initally was a dream because it gave me a type of loose curl pattern that I have never had before.

At the same time I was also very aware that it was unsustainable I just don’t have the patience it takes to do this kind of routine weekly or even bi weekly.

Another significant step I quickly realised didn’t work for my hair was air drying.

For whatever reason my hair becomes brittle and unmanageable when I leave it to airdry.

Even when using no heat stretching methods, like braiding twists etc, I quickly decided to use the blow dryer.

That couldn’t have helped my efforts of trying to retain length so I assume the lack of length in my hair that I experience could be partly because of constant heat from blow drying. I have to say the blow drying makes my hair manageable throughout the week and it looks and feels better.

I did notice a lot of flyaway hairs that broke off everytime and it wasn't the normal breakage that is expected in hair cycle.

Cleanse / Shampoo

The shampoos I use consistently are

Jim and Henry Nine which is a gentle cleanse for the hair, it won' stripe the hair of its natural oils, but you will need to detoxify the hair at least once every two months.

Other shampoos I love and use

regularly are the living proof perfect hair day triple detox shampoo.

Yes, I use slightly more expensive shampoo only because I prefer natural products and they tend to be slightly more expensive, if you don't make them yourself.

I do use other shampoos too but I don't think they are significant enough for me to mention.

Now, let me be honest the thing that really bugs me about looking after natural 4C hair is the fact that I work so hard to maintain it yet I can not enjoy it naturally, the advice has been to keep it in protective styles and use low manipulation methods most of the time.

This must be why I was struggling to retain length because I love to show off my hair in all it's glory.

So for the next leg of the journey, I am going to play along and see if this will help at all.

I am sharing the routine I have used so far because to be honest it worked, I believe I did miss a few important steps through out this first step towards growing my natural hair!

Steps of which I am going to incorporate going forward.

1st I am going to protein treat my hair maybe every 3 months we'll see.

Followed by a lot more use of low manipulation styles and protective styles, my hairdresser is really good at protecting my edges and her braiding technique doesn't pull or hurt at all.

I intend on adding moisture a lot more to my styling daily using hair mists, the particular ones I am going to try are Flora & Curl Jasmine Oasis Hydrating Hair Mist

I am also going to try this DIY hair mist I got from NaturallyCurly.com

1 cup distilled water

½ teaspoon of avocado oil

1 teaspoon of sea salt

½ teaspoon of vegetable glycerin

5 drops of lavender essential oil

Anything else I use will be reviewed on instagram be sure to follow me there.

Conditioner / Hair Mask

I have been using are Cantu deep treatment masque and the living proof conditioners. I have used almost the whole range of the living proof mask and conditioners and the ones I enjoyed and my hair loved are the stop frizz, restore and colour conditioner.

I also used supermarket conditioners like tresemme and the Ten from Jimmy and Henry.

I intend to introduce Mielle Babassu oil and deep conditioner and there Rosemary Mint Scalp & Hair Strengthening Oil For Healthy Hair Growth, actually not to make this post too long I will write or video the products I am going to introduce into my new routine.

Moisturising Protein & leave in treatment

To moisturise I use a leave in hair mist, hair cream and what we call grease instead of oil but I guess this is one and the same thing be it slightly different.

This method really works for my hair and keeps it well moisturised and feeling and looking good.

The most common method of growing natural 4c hair is the LCO method.

LCO means LIQUID CREAM OIL.

I haven't really found a holy grail products for this part of my routine.

So I won't bother you much with it, Instead I will share the products I will be trying and reviewing in my up and coming routine.

Baobab & Tea Tree Oils Low Porosity Protein-Free Leave-In Detangler by Shea Moisture

Crème Of Nature Argan Oil From Morocco Strength and Shine Leave-In Conditioner (actually I have used this leave in conditioner ages ago and my hair seemed to love it.)
A protein treatment yet to be researched.
Oil of choice is going to be this

Mielle Rosemary Mint Scalp & Hair Strengthening Oil