How I Retain Moisture

As curlies, we all know moisture is extremely important for our hair. But in the past I've had major problems with actually keeping the moisture in my hair.

At first, I had the same mentality as many newly naturals have: that water is the enemy. I grew up thinking this for SO long since I dreaded washing my hair once I got a perm because it'd no longer be sleek and straight. But through reading various hair blogs and watching YouTube videos, I realized:

• Water is the only real moisturizer for you hair.

I used to try and pile oil and cream based products on these curls and the results were semi moisture but then it'd be sooooo dry. Then I thought I'd learned a little thing or two about sealing my hair. So I'd wet it and then seal it with some form of oil. Which worked for awhile, and I understand may work for some people. But my hair would STILL be dry after a while. I was beginning to think that I just had freakishly dry hair  before I discovered the best possible way to seal my hair.

• The best way to seal in moisture is to wet the hair with water, apply a cream based moisturizer or leave in conditioner while damp, then seal with oil.

I discovered this method by accident (I was just fooling around with my hair products but when I woke up the next morning with shiny, moisturized locks I KNEW) and a post on another blog I like confirmed that this method is a must, well along with the usual tips such as:

• Sleeping with a silk scarf/pillow so moisture won't get sucked out of out hair.
• Low or no heat styling
• Protective Styling

But I also found another tip that helps my hair stay moisturized: No towel drying. I'm not sure which blog I read this tip from, but instead of using towels that are designed to soak up moisture (and can ultimately make our hair too dry). Naturals and other with dry hair also have the option of using an old t-shirt. It has the same effect (they both soak up access moisture) but the t-shirt method doesn't dry your hair out completely.

Well I've talked entirely too much already!!!

Stay Curly!!