What do you put on your hair after you wash it? Are you using any kind of moisturizing product? What conditioner do you use? You may benefit from conditioner washes. That's when you substitue conditioner for your shampoo. This is from
www.motowngirl.com. It gives more info on doing conditioner washes.
How to do a Conditioner Wash:
Thoroughly soak your hair with warm water. Work out the tangles with your fingers.
Take your conditioner (don't use too much), place some in your hands and apply it to your hair and scalp (in sections if you have 'longer' hair). Let it sit for a bit then massage it in as if it were shampoo. Be sure to concentrate on your scalp. Use your fingertips, not your nails. Gently work out any knots in your hair with your fingers.
Rinse very well with cool water.
Some may use more conditioner and rinse that out after doing the "conditioner wash". I find that this is not necessary for my hair, but experiment and see what works for you!
Lastly, style your hair. The book calls for using a clear gel...I don't like gel so I don't use it. I usually apply a leave-in to soaking wet hair, gently towel-scrunch and I'm done!
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Also you may want to not blow dry so much. Try air drying again like you said only this time use a moisturizer after conditioning like shea butter (great for naturals) or elasta qp mango butter. Also I've found that the best way to keep my hair soft is laying off the chemicals so I'm transitioning from a texturizer/relaxer back to my natural hair. Just something to think about, but if you choose to keep the texturizer you can still keep your hair soft and as healthy as possible.
Do you know how to cornrow? Some do their braidouts cornrowing while wet and then undoing when dry and some just do individual plaits on their head. Hope this helps some