Black Hair Growth Tips - How To Get Healthy Black Hair

Washing
Wash weekly with a gentle shampoo. Only wash and rinse once. Over washing can cause a dry condition, which will ultimately lead to breakage. While washing, massage your scalp. This will reawaken sleeping follicles and promote thicker healthier hair.

Conditioning
You need two types of conditioners: one for protein, and the other for moisture and sealing. Or, alternatively you can have only one conditioner, and add an egg when you want to do a protein treatment. You must do deep conditioning with both separately. First, apply the protein treatment. After allowing the recommended elapsed time and following the manufacturer's instructions, rinse your hair. Second, apply the moisture treatment following the instructions and rinse. If you have done a pre-shampoo treatment, you may not need to deep condition with the moisture. Instead, you can leave in for about 5-10 minutes to seal the cuticle.

Relaxing
Now this is where all of your washing and conditioning treatments can either pay off or be sabotaged by damage. First of all, do not relax your hair more than once a month. Be careful not to relax hair "bone straight." This robs the hair of its natural elasticity and causes it to break easily. Assess your hair before attempting to relax it. It may only need to be washed, moisturized, and straightened with a heat tool. If you must relax it, choose a mild relaxer.

Applying the Relaxer:
It is best to have someone else apply the relaxer because they have a full view of your head. Before you begin, rub a generous amount of scalp protectant in your hands and apply to the entire hair shaft. Petroleum jelly can be used. Pay close attention to the ends of your hair when applying the protectant. This is to protect hair that has already been processed. Next, apply the relaxer using the manufacturer's directions. Follow the timing chart so you do not over process your hair. Be sure to wash out all of the relaxer with warm water. Apply a neutralizing shampoo and wash and rinse at least three times. If there are still traces of relaxer in your hair, continue to ash until all traces have been removed. Once all traces of relaxer have been removed, apply the neutralizing shampoo to the hair again. Leave the neutralizer in for 10 minutes. It is very important that you leave the neutralizer in for 10 minutes. Do not skip this step. Next, the neutralizer can be rinsed. Now you can apply the protein treatment, and then follow with the moisture treatment as previously discussed.

Daily Maintenance
Your hair needs to be moisturized daily. You will need two different types of moisturizers: water based and oil based.

Water based moisturizers penetrate the hair shaft, oil based moisturizer coats the hair shaft (and seals moisture in or out). To use the two effectively, you will need to apply your water based moisturizer first, then the oil based. The reason for this is that oils and other moisturizing products that contain petrolatum, lanolin, and mineral oil do not moisturize your hair effectively. Instead they seal moisture in or out of your hair. They should only be used to seal the hair and add shine. Try applying your oil moisturizer after rinsing the moisture treatment to combat dryness.

Also, to help with dryness, you need a penetrating moisturizer. The only oil that penetrates the hair shaft is coconut oil. Other oils only coat it. You can use virgin coconut oil as a daily moisturizer or a water based moisturizer.

Some examples of water based moisturizers are:

Organic Root Stimulator Carrot Oil
Triple Moisture Silk Touch Leave-in
Profectiv Mega Growth Break Free Daily Leave in Strengthener
Elasta QP Mango Butter Moisturizer
Motions Hair and Scalp Daily Moisturizing Hair Dressing

Use a light oil moisturizer following the application of these water based moisturizers to seal moisture in the shaft.

How to Grow Black Hair Its Longest

First of all, your hair care regimen should be as "hair friendly" as possible. That means you should be following the steps outlined above to minimize breakage. Second, you should increase your anagen (growth phase) which will allow you hair to grow much longer before it enters the resting and shedding phases. One way to do this is to incorporate vitamins for hair growth in your diet. (Another way to do this is to become pregnant. While a woman is pregnant, all of her hair is locked in the growth phase. That is why a woman's hair will grow thicker and longer while she is pregnant.) Third, you need to address any hair problems that could be limiting your hair growth. A Microscopic Hair Analysis can address problems that would otherwise be overlooked.