Water Temperature Matters

When we wash and condition our hair the tempeature of the water makes a difference in our end result. Without doing research most of us will wash with warm water because its more soothing and doesn’t come with a shock factor like washing with cold water. Research may reveal that cold water is best for you. It is for me because of my hairs porosity level. But before we get into that lets talk about the differences between the two temperatures. Our soothing and relaxing friend warm water swells the hair causing it to open thus allowing moisture in as well as causing frizz. Our chill friend, cold water, makes the hair shaft lay flat closing the cuticle which causes a smoother turnout…no frizz. Of course none of us want frizz, it just doesn’t look appealing.

This is where porosity comes into play. Low porosity hair can make good use of warm water to aid in opening the cuticle to allow the moisture in. High porosity hair will benefit best from cold water to help lay there cuticles down after moisturizing to seal it in. Early on in my natural journey and after I found out about porosity, as part of my regimen I would first wash with warm water to open my cuticles then I would DC and wash that out with Cold water. And I would do my daily co-washes with warm water also. Now I do everything in warm water because after I DC I moisturize my hair, so I want that to get in also. So I have decided to work around the frizz that my warm water regimen produces…Its honestly not that bad once I style it.

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Carrier Oils

A Carrier Oil, just as its name suggest carries other ingredients into the skin thus allowing it to go to and thru the hair strand.  Most carrier oils also have their own benefits in addition to carrying such as moisturizing.  Below are those that I have had personal experiences with.

EVOO

Emu Oil *

Coconut Oil

Jojoba Oil

Vitamin E Oil

Castor Oil **

Notice anything here…these are pretty much the same ones that I seal with 🙂

* I do not seal with Emu Oil, it’s too expensive to use in that manner 🙂

**I’ve never sealed with Castor Oil, it is very thick and tacky so I don’t want to fool with it like that.  I get a good amount of it in my deep conditioner though.   🙂

Keeping Moisturized Hair

Without moisturizing our hair it will be damaged beyond recognition!  This is the key to healthy hair whether you are natural or relaxed.  Unmoisturized hair not only looks dry but it actually is and as a result split ends will development.  Unmoisturized hair will be weak, brittle, and eventually break…all… off.  People who wonder why their hair stagnates may be suffering from an unmoisturized mane.  When you moisturize and how you moisturize will depend on your specific hair needs…no two people are the same.  This is one of the those things you will certainly have to experiment with early on in your journey, to find out your hair’s moisture requirements.

There are many ways that our hair gets moisturized: butters, creams, oils,  conditioners, deep conditioning, baggy method, and primarily WATER.  Most of us have been training to look for the ingredients in our hair products and water should be a key ingredient.    This water supply should be gained applying topically to the hair and consumption.  What we put in our bodies is shown in our hair and skin.  Your skin and hair will be hydrated and will be visible and provide for an overall healthier you.

A great way to moisture is to make sure your product contains a humectant.  Humectants pull moisture from the air into the hair which in turn help keep hair moisturized (it has an opposite reaction in dry climates…there it will pull moisture from the hair). Here are a few natural humectants that are pretty easy to get your hands on: honey, glycerin, glycol, and aloe vera.  As part of my regimen you will notice that all of these items are included either as a daily moisturizer or as a DC.

Now once we get the needed moisture to our hair we have to keep it sealed.  Sealants are discussed at Moisture Sealants.

A well sealed moisturized mane has to be kept so and this is achieved by wearing a satin/silk cap to sleep.  Sleeping in the satin cap will not cause friction like cotton or other fabrics.  This friction causes the hair to break.  In addition to breaking hair the moisture we attempt to seal will be stolen by cotton whereas silk or satin will not rob us our moisture.

Moisture Sealants

One of the best things we can do for our hair is to keep it moisturized. This is a vital part of having a good healthy head of hair. It’s a vital part of retaining length. It’s a vital part to make our strands healthy. It’s a pretty big deal. So we know how to moisturize our strands and this post will talk about how we can keep that moisture in the hair.

OIL, Oil, oil is the key to keeping the moisture locked in our hair. Oil is a natural sealant. It coats the strands so that the moisture is trapped in and will not be released into the air. Some of these are also carrier oils.

The primary part of the hair strand that you should seal are the ends, however depending on what type of oil it is I will normally coat my entire strand from root to end because oils are also good for our scalp. Some oils that have work wonders for my hair are below.

EVOO – one of the first I tried…it was poppin among youtubers…lol. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a great moisturizer and useful in homemade deep conditioner. It helps to strengthen hair as well. It is not apart of my regimen now but it does work. I started trying other things and stuck with those I felt my hair needed most.

Coconut OIl – my first love with oil. This is also great for moisturizing and deep conditioning. Others use it to pre-poo…I’ve never tried it for that purpose but I’m sure if so many swear by it that it works. I presently use it as part of my deep conditioning

Jojoba Oil – helps with split ends, it’s a fabulous in a deep conditioning mix, and it is good for dry scale. Almost forget that it moisturizes as well. I use this to seal with presently.

Grapeseed Oil – moistuizes and helps the hair shine. I presently seal with this also, I rotate between it and the jojoba oil.

Vitamin E Oil – This is a SUPER oil! It has so many benefits for hair, such as hair growth and loss prevention, it repairs split ends and it helps with moisture. I currently use it to seal and to message scalp.

These are the only ones that I have tried thus far, in the future I plan to try others such as sweet almond oil, carrot seed oil, and avacodo oil. Shea butter is also used as sealant, however I’ve never used it for that purpose.