Winter Hair: How to Care for Textured Hair During the Colder Months

Four curl experts highlight the nourishing ingredients that will protect your hair during frigid winter temperatures.

This is Texture Talk, our long-running column that deep dives into the dynamic world of curly hair, from crowns of curls that are free flowing to strands that are tucked away in a protective style.

Worried about how your strands will handle the cold season ahead? Set aside your winter woes and invest in a hair-care routine that will not only protect your curls through blizzards and sub-zero temperatures but also ensure healthier, stronger hair once you emerge from your cocoon in the spring.

SheaMoisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Moisturizing Shampoo

Extracted from the nuts harvested from West Africa’s shea trees, shea butter is a widely beloved ingredient that can bring moisture back into thirsty curls. Packed with vitamins A and E plus good-for-you fatty acids, it can remedy dryness fast. That’s because it seals moisture in and keeps dry winter air out. The powerhouse ingredient is at the core of textured-hair brand SheaMoisture, which was founded in 1991 by Richelieu Dennis as a tribute to his grandmother, Sofi Tucker. “Tucker sold shea butter in Sierra Leone in 1912, and we honour her vision by continuing to formulate with shea butter handcrafted by women in West Africa,” says Taydra Mitchell-Jackson, the brand’s CMO. SheaMoisture’s recently reformulated Raw Shea Butter collection features even more of the ingredient than its original formula, boosting its already impressive hydrating properties and making it a top contender for use during the winter months, when hair — especially curly hair — needs a little more love.

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Maui Moisture Curl Quench + Coconut Oil Conditioner

For centuries, the aloe vera plant has been sought out for a multitude of both cosmetic and medicinal purposes. From soothing sunburns to speeding up the healing time of cuts and scrapes, the gel of this powerful plant works like a charm on skin. It also happens to work wonders on curls. Celebrity hairstylist Alexander Armand describes aloe vera as an “untapped superstar ingredient” thanks to its hydrating and anti-frizz benefits for both hair and scalp. “Aloe vera is especially important during the winter months because hair tends to get brittle,” says Armand. While the moisturizing properties of this ingredient help keep brittleness at bay, it’s also lightweight enough to ensure that your curls stay bouncy. “It’s long-lasting, impactful and moisturizing, but it’s not going to weigh the hair down,” he says. “Your curls are still going to move.”

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The Body Shop Jamaican Black Castor Oil Intense Moisture Mask

Jamaican black castor oil is not your average castor oil. It’s an intensely nourishing ingredient that ensures your curls are safe from potential damage caused by the lack of hydration they may experience during winter. Sarah Adjepong-Duodu, co-creator of The Body Shop’s Jamaican Black Castor Oil range, says that while the process of extracting standard castor oil typically involves cold-pressing castor seeds, extracting Jamaican black castor oil involves roasting, muddling and mashing the seeds into a paste and then boiling it down into a thick, luxurious dark oil. This method allows the oil to deeply penetrate the hair and coat each curl from root to tip. “Curly hair doesn’t always get the benefit of excess oil from the scalp making its way down each strand because there are lots of kinks and grooves that it needs to make its way through,” she says. Because of how deeply Jamaican black castor oil is able to penetrate the hair shaft, each curl actually gets the nourishment it needs.

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BCavi Black Caviar Lux Serum

Black caviar can do a lot for an hors d’oeuvre spread, but it can do even more for curls. When celebrity hairstylist Jason Tavares was in the research stage of his first hair-care brand, BCavi, he chose black caviar as the hero ingredient of its first launch, Black Caviar Lux Serum. “Black caviar is the most nutritious of all the caviars,” he says. “It has an extra-potent boost of A, B, C and D vitamins.” When used in hair products, black-caviar extract has the ability to smooth the hair shaft and prevent breakage while locking in curly styles, eliminating the need to constantly wet and restyle hair. “In the summer, it’s easier to wash or wet your hair every single day,” says Tavares. But a wet head of hair isn’t something anybody wants to deal with in sub-zero temperatures. Black caviar eliminates that need entirely.

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This article first appeared in FASHION’s Winter 2024 issue. Find out more here.

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