If you are new or even a veteran to the natural hair movement, you are well aware that things are not always as simple as they seem. Being a woman (or man) with natural hair takes a lot of patience and perseverance, along with a fair share of trial and error, just to master the techniques that work well for you and your unique head of hair.
Furthermore, being a fine haired curlies is a struggle within itself. What does it mean to have fine hair? Categorizing ones hair as fine is to be done by measuring the diameter of each individual hair strand. The smaller the diameter, the finer the hair strand. When describing hair, the words “fine” and “thin” often get mixed up.
When measuring how thin your hair is, you are measuring the number of hairs per square inch, which is essentially how dense your hair is. Nonetheless, “fine” and “thin” hair both have similar qualities that us woman or even men, tend to hate. Some clear signs that you have either fine or thin hair are as follows:
• Your hair is extremely susceptible to breakage
• It is very difficult to hold a style
• It is a challenging and tedious task to achieve volume
• Heavy products such as heavy oils or butters tend to weigh your hair down, leaving it completely lifeless
If any of these signs illustrate you and your hair’s life story, then go ahead and keep reading! I personally struggle with a combination of both thin and fine hair. I have been natural all of my life and I have now found the perfect combination of products to help me retain moisture, increase style longevity and most importantly, create much needed volume.
You may be asking yourself, “what products is she talking about?!” Well, don’t worry boo, I’ve got you covered! I have created a list of 5 products that have been very helpful for me throughout my hair journey with fine and thin hair!
Shea Moisture SuperFruit Complex 10-in-1 Renewal Masque
Deep conditioning is by far the best thing that you can do for your hair! For the longest time after I big chopped, following my heat damage epidemic, I was baffled by how many trial and error experiences that I had to endure before I found my Holy Grail deep conditioner.
Now that I have found it, I have not looked back ever since. This SheaMoisture deep conditioner is my favorite for many reasons. The first reason is that it is made with only the purest of ingredients! I also love the fact that it’s very creamy, yet still has a thin consistency (not too thin, but JUST RIGHT) that is able to pack a mean punch of moisture for the days to come.
TRESemme Expert Selection Perfectly (un)Done Weightless Moisturizing Conditioner
I love this conditioner specifically for my daily co washing. This product is silicone free, very cost efficient and you also get a bang for your buck. Typically, conditioner is the most used product in anyone’s natural hair care routine. With this being said, I love the fact that I get so much product without breaking my bank account. Furthermore, this conditioner has a ton of slip with great moisturizing properties. Most importantly, it does not weigh the hair down at all. It’s brilliant!
Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner
Once again, we have a Shea Moisture product on the list! As stated before, I love their products because of how pure the ingredients are, not to mention how diverse each line is. I absolutely love this conditioner as my base, also known as my leave in conditioner. This product has argan oil in it, and my hair personally reacts extremely well to argan oil ever since I added highlights to my hair (if you have color-treated hair, I definitely recommend this product and argan oil in general).
This product is weightless and provides a smooth finish to my hair. I have never come across any occasion where I use way to much of this product. The more product I use, the softer my hair is. I find this quality very important because it is extremely easy to weigh my fine hair down with any given product. For this reason, I am in love with this leave in conditioner and it will forever be in my Holy Grail stash!
Grapeseed Oil
Sealing my hair is a very essential step in my hair regimen. I can see a distinct difference between when I do and when I do not use some sort of sealant for my hair. I have been through my fair share of sealants and let’s just say, for the most part, the struggle was way too real finding a sealant that was not too heavy on my hair! Using heavier oils and butters is a definite no go for fine natural hair. It will leave your hair lifeless and weighed down and if your hair is anything like mine, it will leave it very dry.
I have a few oils that I like to use in my fine natural hair, but for the sake of me only picking five products, I will just stick with grapeseed oil. Grapeseed oil is a very lightweight oil but it gets the job done very well. I do not get a greasy heavy feeling from using this product and I also find it hard to use too much of this product as well. I usually seal in moisture every night with an oil throughout the week and I have never experienced my hair being a big greasy fur ball by the end of the week.
Camille Rose Naturals Curl Maker
Using a gel as your styler will be your best friend as a fine haired natural. As you may know, if you have fine or thin hair, being able to preserve a style for more than 2 days is a task in itself. With that being said, you need to find a product that will improve the longevity of your styles. If you are a wash and go person like myself, try using a gel instead of a cream to get the most out of your hairstyle.
After years of searching for the perfect styler, I have finally found it! Curl Maker always has my curls poppin’ from day one all the way up to day seven. A little goes a LONG way with this product, so be sure to use sparingly. The more product you use, the more gel cast you will get. But once you find the right amount that works for your hair, wash and go styling will be effortless, yet a classic style to do.
BONUS PRODUCT: Afro Pick
Achieving volume with fine or thin natural hair tedious and sometimes seems impossible. However, if you use an afro pick to pick out your ROOTS after your hair has completely dried, you will get the exceptionally big and fluffy hair that you desire. This is not really a “product”, but trust me, it was definitely sent from the Gods!
SHOP THE PRODUCTS
I hope this article was helpful and don’t forget to follow me on my natural hair journey on YouTube (Simply Narshaaa), as I share with you some more very useful tips that I have found helpful during my own hair journey!
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You can even search for a specific brand name. Bottom line is every purchase you make via the site, hair product or otherwise, you’ll get cash back (not just a discount… cash!!) So now you can use the money you earn over time to try new products or splurge on something else you deserve.
Super helpful thank you so much! But what about shampoo??
I like to use Maple Holistics for my hair.