Tips to healthy beautiful locks

I was reading Parents Magazine recently and found this article, I pimped it a bit to focus on locks though it was orginally written for "combable" hair. So here it goes

1. Massage your scalp often. You can do this everyday before styling your locks; everytime you oil your locks and when you wash your locks. The massage helps increase blood supply to the scalp ensuring more nutrients needed for hair growth, also massage works as a stress reliever and remember no stress increases hair growth.

2. Avoid products with harmful chemicals that destroy your scalp and/or hair. Rule of thumb, if it's not safe for kids or your skin, then it ain't good enough for your hair.

3. Don't hold your hair too tight, it causes the hair to break. Many website encourage people to use hairclips when they retwist their locks, take it from me, this IS NOT a good idea. I know you want your locks to look like they were done by a professional loctician with all the tiny hairs held in the lock, but those hair clips usually break more hair than they hold. I have lost a couple of locks from this tip on websites, please don't do it.

4. Don't use too many products on your hair simultaneously. Some products are basic others are acidic while others are neutral, if you mix all of them on your hair, they'll be reactions taking place and something will end up burning, stinking and having build up.

5. Rinse out your locks until the water is clear regardless of what you put into your locks. Unlike straight hair, locks are like sponges that suck up everything into them, so squeeze out any residue that maybe left in the lock. And I think I should add wash your locks regularly to avoid stinking locks. They stink coz of sweat from the scalp.

6. Reduce the use of too much heat on your hair, I know most of us think that this rule only applys to straight hair but it doesn't. Always going into the drier to dry your locks ain't such a great idea after all, take a walk under the sun. If you're in Scandinavia where you only see the sun like twice a year, then try and retwist your hair early mornings so that you have the whole day for it to dry. The funniest thing is, most people I know guilty of this are Nairobians who are at the equator and have the sun all year round.

6. Exercise for great blood circulation throughout your body. Good blood circulation ensures that all cells have the required nutrients to function as required, it also helps to transport the waste from your cells for excretion by other organs.

7. Sometimes, as much as you try to avoid build up, it still does occur, so try once in a while not too often to soak you hair in Apple Cider Vinegar for about 15mins in between rinses to take out the build up. Don't do it too often because vinegar is acidic and when you use it too often on your hair it will destroy the hair follicles.

8. Balanced diet, you are what you eat. Nutrients will only be transported by your blood when they are supplied to the body in the first place.

9. My last and "favouritest" tip is don't care too much it's just hair. You changed from relaxed hair to locks to be free from all the rules on relaxers, don't walk in the rain, don't wet your hair, treat it every 2weeks, etc now you're locked and you got even more rules that's not how freedom works. I think the only reason free form locks, grow longer and waaayy healthier than most "modern" locks is cause the free forms only have the basic care, they are clean and oiled the rest is left to the hair.

Hope your locks are now looking lovely and fresh....