6 Ways To Retain Length On Fine, Natural Hair

My natural hair is not the same as your natural hair, quite frankly not all naturalistas have thick, voluminous hair! Some of us have fine, less dense hair that causes us to look for helpful information to keep our hair moisturized, supple, and retaining length.

Fine hair is referred to a skinnier (thinner) thickness or width of the individual hair strand. To determine if you have fine hair just take one of your shed hairs and measure it against a regular sewing thread for thickness.

If your hair strand is wider than the piece of thread, your hair strand is thick. If your hair strand is thinner than the piece of thread, your hair strand is fine.

Fine hair is very fragile, has the tendency to break, and can be easily damaged. You may have experienced very oily hair, depending on numerous products used for a certain style.

You may not be able to hold a curl for a day or your hair may lay flat with no hope of volume in the days to come. It’s wintertime now, but heavy products will cause your hair to be weighed down and stringy. So what can you do???

Here are 6 tips that I have learned and applied in my own natural hair regimen to retain length on fine, natural hair:

Detangle on oily or damp hair

If you have had issues with the wide-tooth comb and the Denman brush*, try finger detangling. Using hair tools for detangling can cause more damage to the hair instead of just alleviating your hair from shed hair.

You will be able to feel where the tangles are and be able to detangle with ease. Use a helpful product like coconut oil* or your conditioner to help make detangling a breeze.

Be sure to start at the ends with your thumbs, then work your way upward to feel and remove the shed hair until your hair feels smooth. Once your a section of your hair is detangled, then put the section away – two strand twist, clip, or bantu knot – to keep detangled for washing.

Always detangle before you wash your hair! If you don’t, your hair WILL be tangled and worse of all: still full of shed hair!

Emloy effective washing techniques

Since your hair is fine, your hair may be more prone to tangling no matter how the wind blows. The next time you wash your hair, divide your hair into 4-6 sections.

You can either clip, bun, or two strand twist each section to help you during your washing process. The more stretched your hair is the less tangling you will experience when washing your hair.

Protein

Protein treatments can be an extra step that most do not want to take, but your fine hair will love you for it! Protein treatments are used to strengthen the hair shaft and to reduce the damage to the hair, which are very important for fine hair health.

You should aim to use a protein treatment every week or at the very least every two weeks to build more protein around your fine hair shaft.

Be sure to deep condition after every wash – poo, co wash, no poo. This may be a bit much, but it makes perfect sense. Your fine hair needs all the moisture and strength it can get from the deep conditioning* treatment.

The more you deep condition after every wash, the more your hair will be moisturized and supple. To make your deep conditioner* most effective for your fine hair 1. focus on the ends, 2. cover your hair with a plastic cap and use heat to open your hair cuticles, and 3. rinse with cool water to seal the hair. Doing this will allow you to acheive maximum length retention.

Do not plop

I used to dry my hair with a t-shirt, but I find that my hair coils back up and then I would have to detangle my hair all over again. Instead of doing that, bantu knot each section (4-6 bantu knots) after rinsing the conditioner out. This will allow the hair to air dry while stretched and already detangled.

Smart protective styles

Low manipulation styles may be the best way to retain length for others. For fine-haired ladies, protective styles are definitely the way to go to retain length.

Each protective style should be gently cared for, whether for 1-2 weeks or for 4-6 weeks. Try buns, two strand twists, and flat twist styles for short-term protective styling.

If your are looking for long-term styles, try gentle styles: crochet braids, Senegalese twists (not too skinny), and Marley twists. Remember, there will be lots of shedding during the take down. Make sure to be very gentle when taking down your style.

If you are not into protective styles, be sure to be aware of your hair when in a low manipulation style. Watch out for big earrings and necklaces, which can snag the hair. Wear your hair up while you are driving, working out, or on the move.

Do The LOC Method for secure moisture and sealing

Fine hair has a great tendency to dry very quickly, even after washing the hair. Be sure to never skip the leave in conditioner* after washing your hair and add your oils* and creams to do the LOC method ( L = Liquid, O = Oil, C = Cream). If the LOC method does not completely work for you, try a combination of the LOC method – LCO, LCOC or other layering methods. Be sure to add your water product first.

Do you have fine hair? What are some of your hair care secrets?