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In my 5 Black Hair Myths blog post I spoke about the misunderstanding when it comes to moisturising black hair.

Hair Grease

Hair greases such as Blue Magic, Ultra Sheen, Palmers Coconut Oil, Dax, Softee etc are often applied to our dry hair and massaged into our scalps to ‘moisturise’ preventing breakage. They contain cheap, synthetic ingredients such as petroleum/petrolatum, mineral oil and paraffin wax / liquid paraffin that leave a shiny/greasy film on the hair and clog our hair follicles as our hair and scalp can’t absorb them. (Look out for these ingredients in your other products, not just greases). As our scalp also naturally creates its own oils (sebum), this extra grease can cause buildup.  Contrary to popular belief greases and oils don’t moisturise, water does. When our hair is dry we need to replace the lost moisture to prevent breakage by spritzing our hair with water in a spray bottle, applying leave in conditioners and moisturisers (where water is the first and so main ingredient) and using moisturising deep conditioners weekly/bi weekly. You’ll find out more about a product by reading the ingredients on the label than by looking at the front packaging which has been designed to attract you to buy it.

P.S- Ingredients are listed in order of how much is in the product. The first ingredient = lots of that, the last ingredient = not a lot of that. The more ingredients you don’t recognise and can’t pronounce, the further away from healthy and natural the product is despite what the label may say.

Natural Oil

Natural oils are ideal to use in replace of grease as being natural, our skin and scalps can absorb them, allowing them to work from the inside out. Common natural oils are Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic Virgin Coconut Oil (cold pressed and unrefined), Castor Oil, Grapeseed Oil, and Argan Oil. You want to make sure that these oils are as pure as they can be and aren’t mixed up with other ingredients for example Mineral Oil  (read the ingredients on the label). Natural Oils should be applied after you moisturise your hair with your water based leave in conditioner (remember the L.O.C Method I’ve spoken about), as oil and water don’t mix and so they will prevent the moisture from your leave in conditioner from quickly evaporating, leaving your hair moisturised for longer. Natural oils are also ideal for hot oil treatments, adding to deep conditioners and to use on the body (I love to use my virgin coconut oil in replace of body lotion/cream which like a lot of hair products, can contain cheap, synthetic ingredients).

Leave In Conditioner

Leave in conditioners are conditioners that are designed to be left in and NOT washed out. Most work to moisturise hair with their high water content (check that water/aqua is the first ingredient) and are lightweight creams, lotions or sprays that are applied evenly throughout the hair. The thicker your hair, the thicker your choice of leave in should be. For example, if you have thick or coarse type 4 hair, a leave in spray won’t be moisturising enough, you’ll need a lotion/cream consistency. As regular conditioners have heavy oils and waxes in them, leave in conditioners use less of these to prevent build-up and weighing your hair down.

Water (in a spray bottle) and a leave in conditioner should be applied throughout your hair before you brush/comb/style to help loosen tangles and moisturise, preventing breakage.

L.O.C Method:

1- Apply water/ liquid / leave in conditioner to moisturise hair.

2- Apply a natural oil such as Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic Virgin Coconut Oil (cold pressed and unrefined) etc to seal in the moisture from your liquid.

3- Apply a thick butter or cream such as whipped shea butter to double seal in the moisture from your liquid to keep your hair moisturised for longer.