6 Things a Woman with Fine Hair Should Never Do

I grew up on the left side of an Island, as one of the worlds most famous singer’s once said, so the challenges of hair care while living there was much different from it is now.

I would say they were not necessarily harder but alot less involved. I got my hair done every Saturday morning with out failure and I had a relaxer every 8 weeks like clock work by someone who my mother considered a great friend.

Now I take care of my hair myself, I eliminated the relaxer process and I have learned alot about my hair, which I never knew before.

As I discovered how my strands worked, I would always remember the one thing my hair dresser on the island would say every time she relaxed my hair or she wanted to give me a hair cut in the name of “damaged ends”. She would say to my mom, her hair is ‘so fine’.

To be honest, I had no idea what in the world she meant by that until now, over 10 years later. My hair is fine, it is the finest hair on the planet. What this means is that the width of each strand is smaller, weaker, thinner than another person who has medium to coarse hair.

When I was 13 I would kill for a relaxer, I wanted it so bad it was all I could think about, now that I am in my thirties, I wish I knew then what I know now. A relaxer is the number one thing on my list that a person with fine hair like myself should do without.

If you have fine hair like me, here are 6 things you should definitely avoid:

1. Do not get a relaxer

Sorry, but your hair will be much healthier without it. My relaxed hair was gorgeous, but over the years I watched the bulk of it disappear and no matter what I did or any professional did to care for it as soon as I got my relaxer, it would break and shed.

Relaxers are designed to remove the kink from the strand by breaking bonds that cause them to curl. If you already have fine hair the last thing you need is something else to take out even more surface area from it. It just makes sense that a relaxer was not for me.

2. Never use a ton of heavy product

Weight is a big deal for fine hair; when it is weighed down not only does it look really limp, but you can break the hair with your heavy product. Focus on products that do the most amount of work for your hair without the fuss. You need a great conditioner that can double as a leave in, a light oil and a protein treatment.

Fine hair can be porous so to keep moisture in, you have to use protein to strengthen the strand allowing it to hold moisture better. Yes girl, your protein moisture balance game has to be nothing less than perfect!

3. Don’t over stretch your hair

Stretching is necessary because as you all know shrinkage can cause some serious tangles which is next on my list. Fine hair stretches easily so you do not have to do a bunch of heat stretching or excessive banding or manipulation to get your hair to stretch out.

Leaving a little bit of elasticity in your hair which allows it to keep a little bit of its physical strength as you go about your day.

4. Avoid tangles

This might seem a bit contradictory, since I just said do not over stretch your hair, but you can still successfully stretch your hair with a braid or twist, without putting too much pressure on it. Fine hair tangles are beyond disrespectful, you will be forced to use scissors because there is no ‘working it out’.

If you are a fine haired sistah, your job is to avoid tangles, styling your hair in a manner that doesn’t encourage love triangles all over your scalp.

Caring for your hair in sections, finger detangling and keeping your hands out of your hair are all great ways to avoid tangles.

5. Do not separate clumps

Fine hair tends to clump a lot, and that’s great because there is strength in numbers. I have sick habit of separating clumps when I am bored, but you really shouldn’t do that.

Clumps might appear to make your hair look stringy but honestly you learn to style and work with your hair, therefore avoiding the appearance of “gappiness”. I know that’s not a word, but you know what I mean.

6. Never avoid trims

Listen, trims are a life saver for fine hair, because the ends of your fine hair tend to be even thinner than the upper regions of the strand. This means they tangle even more and by the time you get rid of the tangles, you would have probably snapped your hair in half, ruining a perfectly great hair strand.

Trimming your hair often allows your ends to stay sharp and tangle free so that your hair can thrive as it grows. Do you have fine hair like me? How are you coping? Comment below!