Taking care of one’s self is as important as anything you could think of. As important as food, as important as clothing, and maybe even as important as shelter. The kind of work and the hustle-themed environment we live in, does not give a lot of people the sense of needing self-care, let alone providing the time for said care.
What is self-care?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines self-care as “the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent diseases, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health care provider.” Well this, you might say sounds a little bit too medical and health-related.
A more generalised definition of self-care according to an article on everydayhealth.com talks about how self-care is engaging in any activity that promotes one’s health and well-being, physical, emotional psychological, etc. Proper self-care routines also lead to positive health outcomes such as longer lives, healthier organs, and body systems.
Types of self-care
As mentioned earlier, self-care care consists wholly of a number of things that all work in tandem with each other.
These self-care practices seek to cater to all aspects of health but we also want to promote an essential part of our health that also needs care, which is our hair. All these self-care measures, properly followed improves the health of our hair.
Physical self-Care
Physical self-care involves physical activities that help one achieve and maintain good health. Some of these practices include:
- Eating healthy
- Regular exercising
- Making sleep a priority
Emotional self-care
They say, “What is inside, determines what is outside,” which speaks to the equal importance of our psychological health and emotional stability.
Some emotional self-care practices include:
- Saying ‘NO’ to stress factors.
- Weekly bubble baths
- Self-talk (focus on rather positive matters)
- Learn to take breaks. The importance of taking breaks and resting cannot be overstated.
Spiritual self-care
For some people, good health goes beyond physical and emotional wellness, these set of people tend to their spiritual needs by:
- Meditating
- Attending religious gatherings and programs
- Keeping a gratitude journal.
Importance of self-care
Caring for one’s self is caring for one’s whole body, and as much as we love to see that, we especially want to see you care for your locs. However, because of the somewhat rugged nature of our hair, many people do not know how essential it is to take good care of their hair.
Here are some of the major importance of taking care of one’s self:
- Improved immunity from diseases
- Better productivity
- Improved physical health
- Improved mental health
- Better life expectancy
How often should you take care of yourself?
There is never too much care, you can engage in different self-care activities and plan them around your schedule. It could be weekly, could be twice a week, twice a month, weekends, quarterly. Ultimately, this depends on your availability and the activities you want to embark upon.
While all of these other areas of self-care are important and need to be given proper attention, your hair also deserves the utmost care. This brings us to how you can take care of your locs.
Here are some recommendations that we think would be great for your locs, because we strongly believe your locs are an identity and a part of who you are essentially.
- Washing your locs
It is always important that you wash your locs, depending on lifestyle and choices. You can wash twice a month, weekly, or maybe monthly. The aim of washing your locs is to ensure that foreign materials dirt, oil residue lint etc. do not build up in them. Avoid using shampoo or conditioners that leave residue, it is advisable to use sulphate-free shampoo.
- Drying your locs
After washing your locs, you would need to get your hair dried. You need to gently squeeze out as much water as you can, starting near the roots and working your way down. We advise you to make use of a microfibre towel either to wrap your hair in or to give it a gentle squeeze at the end. The gentleness of these activities is important to maintain your locs, I mean what would locs be if they’re not locked?
- Moisturising your locs
Keeping your locs moisturised is like eating good food to look healthy and to be healthy. As much as washing and drying your locs are all good, locs still need to be very well moisturised. This can be done by treating your locs to pure base oils such as jojoba oil, hemp seed oil, grape seed oil, etc. These oils are easily absorbed because of their lightweight and they are less likely to cause build-up, which was what we tried to address by washing the hair in the first place.
- Protecting your locs at night
After all of the effort you have put towards healthy locs, you would not want to see it all go to waste because you did not sleep with the right hair covering. Which is why we advise you to stay away from cotton hair covers and invest in more satin and silk bonnets and hair coverings, which are big enough to cover all parts of your locs.
Sources: Everydayhealth, Essence, Allthingshair.