Deep Conditioning Your Afrokid's Natural Hair

Deep Conditioning your child's hair is a very important step in the wash process. This process can be done every wash day or at least once a month. Not only does this process leave the hair feeling soft, it also provides an intense moisturizing process to hair that has been washed with shampoo. As you know, shampooing hair with sulfate shampoo can leave hair feeling dry and stripped.

When to Deep Condition?
This is a question I get asked all the time. Do I deep condition before or after I wash my child's hair?

From DiscoveringNatural Blog post:

 Why some people deep condition BEFORE: Deep conditioning (DC) before you shampoo your hair is similar to doing a pre-poo. When you do a DC before your hair, it helps with the detangling process. If you use a harsh shampoo that contains ingredients such as sulfates, doing a DC prior will protect your hair against the oil stripping effect of the shampoo.

Why some people deep condition AFTER:
Doing a DC after you wash your hair allows the conditioner to penetrate into clean naked hair that is free of other products such as gels, thick creams, and oils. Since conditioners work on the outside layer of your hair to smoothen, soften and repair the hair cuticles, getting the surface of the hair as clean as possible, helps the effectiveness of this process. Another reason for doing a DC after shampoo is that the conditioning ingredients from your treatment has more lasting effect if not washed away by the shampoo. 

Sidenote:
Either way you decide to deep condition, remember that you need adequate time for the product to penetrate into your hair strands. At least 20 mins if doing a DC with heat, and 1 hour if doing it without heat.

No matter when you decide to deep condition, it is quite a simple and easy process.