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Every season brings benefits and disadvantages to your curly hair. In the summer, exposing your hair continuously to the sun runs the risk ofsun damage. The sunrays penetrate into your hair scalp and scatter the melanin. Consequently, the color of your hair will change. Lastly, the sun dries your hair; this results in an increasing amount of holes and gaps in the outer cuticle of your hair. Hence, moisture will quickly leave your hair, leading to brittle and frizzy strands. But do not worry, there’s something you can do about that!
As you know, water is the core of curly hair. Keep your hair moisturized and you will have healthy hair. Steaming your hair is an effective way to bring moisture back to parched hair.
Whether they realize it or not, many people are already giving themselves a steam treatment when they cover their hair with a plastic cap during a hair treatment. The cap traps your body heat and the warmth with your wet hair creates steam. When you are steaming your hair you are using the moist heat to open the follicles of your hair to enable better absorption of moisture. You can steam your hair when refreshing your hair or when you are deep-conditioning.
Refreshing Your Curls
Your hair needs moisture in order to remain healthy, but when you are washing your hair too often you are removing natural oils from your scalp. Consequently, your hair will be frizzier and you will experience more breakage. Steam is a solution, because it does not involve the use of shampoos or other types of cleansers. Therefore, the natural oils won’t be removed.
Steaming your hair is not difficult. You can either purchase a steamer or you can replicate a steamer, the choice is yours.
Using a Steamer
A handheld steamer like Q-Redew may require some investment, but the benefits are worth the trade-off. As mentioned earlier, steaming your hair will open the follicles of your hair enabling the deep conditioner to fully penetrate into your hair. The conditioner will moisturize and strengthen your strands. Additionally, it will add a protective layer on your strands, which will prevent your hair from shredding.
After shampooing and conditioning your hair, you can start the steaming process. Make sure that your hair is fully detangled. Divide your hair into sections and apply the deep-conditioner to each section. Make sure that the deep-conditioner reaches all strands by finger detangling while applying the product. Pull each section into a bun and you are ready to start the steaming process.
Please note: Steaming your hair for over 30 minutes damages your hair.
After the steaming process, you need to rinse the deep-conditioner off and style your hair as usual.
Replicate a Steamer
I personally really like this option, because it is a cheap and easy alternative. To replicate a steamer you will need a hairdryer, a plastic cap and a towel.
After washing your hair, apply a deep-conditioner thoroughly by finger detangling your curls. Before purchasing a deep-conditioner you first need to figure out what your curly hair needs are by doing a porosity test. When having a deep-conditioner, which matches your curly hair needs you will notice that the detangling process will be much easier.
Dampen a towel and place the towel for 30 seconds in the microwave. Please be careful, the towel needs to be lukewarm, not hot! When placing the towel when it is too hot, you risk serious burns. Wrap your hair in the towel and place your plastic cap on top of the towel. Afterwards you need to get under the dryer as soon as possible to prevent the steam from escaping. Remain for 25 to 30 minutes under the dryer. When finished, rinse the deep-conditioner off and style your hair as usual.
Have you already tried steaming your hair? Let us know in the comments below!