5 Common Natural Hair Care Myths Debunked

Truth be told, there’s many misconceptions on Beyonce’s internet when it comes to natural hair care. As licensed tight curl educators and stylists, we can’t even begin to count the number of clients we’ve had come into the salon who would sit down and begin complaining about their hair and end with “I’m doing everything right but my hair is still dry/ tangled/breaking/struggling.”

And trust us, we don’t want to see you all struggling with your hair or having to dive into misinformation from the interwebs (no shade). We want you all to save your time and hard earned dollars! This blog post will explore 5 common natural hair care myths.

Myth #1: You Must Seal in Moisture with Oil

Moisturizing is not a thing. Let us repeat that, MOISTURIZING. IS. NOT. A. THING! We’re two girls from Chicago, specifically real close to 79th and Ashland, so please imagine the hand claps and head swivels that accompany this statement.

If any one product or method actually moisturized hair, there would be billionaire product company owners that have shut the market down and put everyone else out of business. Applying oils to dry hair just means you’re lubricating dry hair.

The root word of hydration, hydra, is the Greek word for water. Moisture also means water or other liquid diffused in a small quantity as vapor, within a solid, or condensed on a surface. Water, water, water, and nothing else.

If you’re struggling with dry hair, we first recommend that you check out the #30DayHairDetox, originally started by us as a challenge for naturalistas back in 2015.

Second, we recommend that you develop a solid and consistent cleansing and conditioning routine using high quality products. We typically suggest going through your full cleansing and conditioning routine at least every 7 to 10 days.

Myth #2: You Must Deep Condition Weekly

Many naturals don’t know that deep conditioners are actually a treatment, specifically used to address an issue. If you aren’t practicing good hair care habits such as cleansing, conditioning and styling every 7 to 10 days, not using raw oils & butters, not using Youtube as your primary source for hair care advice, etc, deep conditioning will not fix your issue.

Also, extreme deep conditioning (leaving your deep conditioner in for hours or even overnight), is not necessary or beneficial for your hair. Product companies do research and development to understand effective timing for the usage of their products. 

Adding an additional 15-20 minutes to conditioning time is harmless, but leaving the hair wet with conditioner on it for hours can encourage the growth of bacteria, fungi, mold, and mildew and weaken the strength structure of the hair. Just say no.

Myth #3: You Must Protect Your Ends by Wearing Protective Styles

Whether it’s for vacation, preference, boredom, creative expression, or a break from our maintenance routines, “protective” hair styling allows us avoid the work of caring for our hair. These are supposedly low maintenance styles that can keep us looking polished when all else fails.

However, “protective styles” are not really protective. For real? That’s right! We have coined these options “Alternative” styles. They are an alternate option to wearing your real hair. They are luxury style options as they take even more maintenance than a regular style. You have to have a hair budget, time budget, and dollar budget to wear these styles successfully.

It is important to note that alternative style applications are best suited for hair that is already in a healthy hydrated state with an intact cuticle. Those with weak, thirsty, brittle, or damaged hair should avoid these styling options at all costs because friction and chronic dehydration are the enemies of compromised hair. 

When going into any braids, weaves, twist, wigs etc. for an extended amount of time with dry, damaged hair, you will come out of those styles with even drier, more damaged hair. This is due to the friction applied by hair add on's and dehydration from infrequent wash hour processes.

Additionally, the ends are the oldest part of the hair, so it is imperative that we are doing maintenance cuts to thwart any frayed ends from spreading up the hair strand that leads to breakage.

Myth #4: You Must Stretch Your Hair Weekly to Avoid Shrinkage

Elasticity is defined as the hair’s ability to stretch and return to its original length without breaking. When hair is healthy and hydrated it will stretch up to 40% beyond its normal length while wet, then return to its natural position.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending how you feel about shrinkage, the elasticity of healthy, hydrated hair can cause it to draw up more than we are comfortable with. Contrary to popular belief, shrinkage is a sign of healthy hair.

Remember landline telephones? Rotary or dial, chances are you or your mama had an Illinois Bell (or whatever state you lived in Bell) phone mounted on the kitchen wall and/or sitting in the living room. It had a perfectly coily curly cord that could stretch the entire room and then some while you were talking on the phone. As soon as you hung up that cord snapped right back in to its tightly compacted coil.

Over time and with a lot of manipulation (including frequent stretching) that coil would start to turn and twist on itself, getting distorted and stretched out. Our curls act just like that telephone cord. The more we stretch them out, manipulate, pull, and tug on them, the more we are setting up our curls for mechanical damage.

We hear the word elongation so often from our salon clients and our digital curl friends, it feels like there is a consistent quest to pull our curls from where they live to show off length, loosen a tighter curl pattern, or to add volume to a hairstyle. There are even products marketed directly to us tight curl folks that promise to elongate the hair that we buy en masse.

Myth #5: You Must Use Heavy Oils & Butters During Colder Months

It’s a widely held belief that heavy oils and butters help seal water into the hair strands better during colder months.

Unfortunately this isn’t true. Water has the ability to held in our hair strands between 4 to 7 days. At the point (no matter the temperature outside) when water is no longer present, the hair becomes dehydrated. The process of rehydrating the hair only requires us to cleanse, condition and style our hair all over ago.

As for dealing moisture in the hair, that’s done during the conditioning of our hair. Conditioner leaves behind humectants, emollients and lipids all of which are responsible for sealing moisture into our hair strands.

So what should you do during the colder months??? Cleanse, condition and style…that’s it.

If any of the myths listed above are leaving you feeling stumped, hoodwinked or confused, Black Girl Curls would love to provide you with more guidance! We invite you to subscribe to our digital consumer platform, The SeeSomeCurs Visual Library. Learn how we’ve helped thousands of naturals like you simplify their hair care routines.