Necessary yet unnecessarily frustrating at times, a good hair regimen can be both the boon and the bane of a natural lady’s (hair) existence. Because personal preferences vary as much as the infinite coils scattered among our kinky tresses, the elusive “perfect hair regimen” takes many different forms depending on who you ask. Busy naturals with a penchant for the inexpensive might find it successful to subsist on Suave and unfussy hairstyles. Naturals with more time and a knack for kitchen chemistry might revolve their entire routine around hair products they make from scratch. In short, finding a great hair regimen can be complicated, but it definitely doesn’t have to be. The key to finding your perfect hair regimen lies as much with your actual hair as it does with you.To get started with your hair regimen, it’s critical that one understands the basic components of caring for natural hair. I write that last comment with a very broad stroke as the true components of any regimen (hair or otherwise) are dependent on what it is you are trying to do. Based on the general desires of most natural women that I speak to, I find it safe to say that most of us want longer or simply more manageable, healthier hair. The following breakdown will reflect those general goals.

The Needs

The first step in developing an appropriate regimen for your hair is understanding what it is that your hair needs. This will ultimately go back to you hair goal as discussed before, but the basic needs for hair that is healthy and retains length are:

1. Cleanliness
2. Moisture
3. Protection

That’s right. I repeat: if you want hair that is long and/or healthy, then you need to keep it clean, keep it moisturized, and keep it protected. Period. Usually, I find that natural women who aren’t meeting their hair goals are having setbacks because they’ve blundered somewhere in the above three areas. Needless to say, this trio should be the cornerstone of your hair regimen.

The Situation

Like the lens of a high powered camera in the process of taking a beautiful photograph, understanding the situations behind your hair regimen provides focus and clarity when addressing your hair needs. In other words, your hair needs mean nothing if you don’t understand the various “scenes” in which you deal with your hair. In the spirit of keeping things basic, in general, Naturals typically encounter the following scenarios on a regular basis:

1. Daily life
2. Going to bed
3. Wash day

The particulars of your hair needs (cleanliness, moisture, protection) will probably vary depending on which situation you are dealing with. For example, your hair needs to stay moisturized during wash day just as much as it needs to be during your daily life. How this is done will be completely different between wash day and everyday, which brings me to...

The Means

In short, the means is how you give your hair what it needs for any given situation. In general, there are three basic ways to provide your hair with what it needs:

1. With a hair product
2. With a hair technique
3. With both

Staying with the example of keeping hair moisturized, you can accomplish this goal by any of the three means above. If a hair product is your means, maybe you use coconut oil on your hair everyday to keep it from drying out. If products aren’t really your thing, then perhaps you choose to just wear you hair in braids to keep it from drying out. If you’re like most people, however, then you probably choose a combination of both product and technique—keep your hair braided and use coconut oil, for instance—as a means to give your hair what it needs.

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To make this really come to life, I’ve compiled the general hair needs, situations, and means in a chart to better illustrate how a hair regimen really comes together. Below is my current hair regimen:

Sometimes we do so much to our hair that it can be difficult to categorize it all in our heads. This chart is really handy when I want to modify my regimen or take the time to see if something I'm doing actually works. For example, you can see from the chart that the techniques (means) I use to protect my hair (need) during wash day (situation) are pre-pooing, washing my hair in braids, and using a wide tooth comb. If suddenly something were happening and my hair was facing a lot of breakage during wash day, I could just go to the "Wash Day" category of my chart and change any of my products or techniques.

It may seem a tad geeky, but I'm a visual person and I like to "see" the development of my hair regimen as I go. If you're at all like me, you can click below to download a blank chart and get working on your perfect hair regimen today.

Download here

How's you quest for the perfect hair regimen coming along? Have you found it? Share your comments below.