thelazynatural:

Beach/Pool Maintenance for Natural Hair.

All the beach-lovin’, earth-walkin’, sun-grabbin’ naturals like me know this season is heavenly! I love being outside during the Summer. However, the elements can wreck havoc on your kinks and curls; especially if you have color-treated hair. I know I’ve covered this before, but here’s a quick re-visit. These are the steps I take to keep my hair healthy :

1. Hot Oil Treatment. Do a hot oil treatment a day or two before you know you’ll be at the beach or poolside. The warm oil is very penetrative and will prep your scalp and hair for prolonged exposure to the drying elements. Try this concoction or come up with your own mix of oils. Here is a helpful guide on how to apply a hot oil treatment for maximum benefits.   
2. Two Strand Twists. I lock in the moisture from my hot oil treatment by wearing two strand twists or braids 1-2 days before I know I will be traveling somewhere or hanging out outside all day. Having my hair in a protective style alleviates the unnecessary stress on my curls due to usual hair maintenance.
3. Coconut oil If you skip step #2, coat your hair in coconut oil before you enter a pool or body of water. It will keep a barrier between the salt (ocean) and chlorine (pool). Wear a wide-brimmed hat if you’re just chilling. 
4. Color-treated? I don’t condone anything unnatural, BUT if you are worried about your hair color fading, use a leave-in containing zinc oxide to decrease the risk of discoloration. Zinc oxide is insoluble in water, so it’s used in many ointments, lubricants and adhesives, 
   
5. Rinse Right After Your Dip Rinseyour hair t h o r o u g h l y before you shampoo or co-wash.
   
6. Shampoo…or Not I shampoo afterwards just to make sure everything is stripped out of my hair. However, your hair is very fragile and probably dry at this point so either use a very creamy shampoo with good slip or skip this step altogether and co-wash.
7. Condition. Finish up with your regular hair routine and products.