This is why 3C hair requires a very specific and elaborate hair care routine if you are to maintain your curls to perfection while ensuring excellent health.

Caring for 3C Hair

Caring for and looking after curly hair is quite a journey. You are required to use particular hair products, unlearn many of your routine hair care methods, and even give up some of your favorite hairstyling techniques.

Now that you’ve learned how to identify 3C hair, the next important bit is learning the art of caring for this hair type.

Note that your old, regular washing and conditioning habits or methods aren’t going to cut it if you wish to have thick and healthy 3C curls. You will have to add new haircare practices and techniques to your haircare routine.

Cleansing

The first and most important step in the 3C haircare routine is cleansing. This includes shampooing and conditioning your hair thoroughly and also using the right products to prevent damage and harm to your hair.

When washing 3C hair, a very important thing to remember is to never use a sulfate shampoo. Shampoos with sulfate strip your hair off of its natural oils, leaving it super dry and frizzy. Sulfates are your ultimate enemy, and they are also known to be a very powerful detergent, so you can imagine the kind of damage they can cause to your hair!

Your kinky curls always need natural oils to stay healthy and soft, for which you need to establish a proper cleansing routine.

A lot of commercial shampoos come with lauryl sulfate/sodium laureth, which can result in many side effects such as dryness, redness of the scalp, and brittle hair.

However, this doesn’t mean that sulfate shampoos are absolutely unhealthy or damaging. They are actually great at their job and do really well in terms of removing oil and dirt from the hair. Many straight-haired people do use these shampoos for washing their hair. It’s just that sulfate shampoos aren’t meant for 3C hair.