OILS ON A HAIR JOURNEY

 

 

Hello ladies

I hope the month of March has been good to you all.  As promised this post is all about oils and natural butters.

Natural oils and butters (shea butter, have so many great uses in a hair care regimen. I decided to dedicate this blog post to sharing what these uses are and hope that readers will be encourage to use natural oils more in their regimen.

 

WAYS TO USE OILS ON A HAIR JOURNEY

 

Oils as a pre-shampoo treatment
Oils are great for lubricating our hair strands which helps with detangling prior to washing. I recently wrote a blog post about the benefits of pre-pooing and using oils as a pre-poo. Please see the post here.

 

Mixed in with deep conditioners 
Various oils are packed with so many beneficial properties that are great for our hair and scalp.

For example coconut oil has a molecular structure that allows it to penetrate our hair where it binds with the protein and helps to reduce protein loss.   Hair that has lost too much protein will become very weak and break easily.   Coconut oil therefore helps to keep our hair healthy and strong from within.

Black castor oil has its anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties and may help with problems like hair thinning and hair loss.

Adding a teaspoon or two of these oils to your deep conditioner will contribute to the health, smoothness, shine and strength of your hair.

 

Protect ends and scalp during relaxing
For ladies who relax their hair, it is very important to protect our scalp from direct contact with the relaxer to reduce the risk of scalp burns. It is also important to protect previously relaxed hair from the relaxer.

When relaxer is being washing out of our hair, it will come in contact with our previously relaxed length. Rinsing out relaxer takes time and it runs through the previously relaxed hair for several minutes whilst being washed out. This is enough to begin to process the hair. Over the years this can lead to over processing of the previously relaxed hair.
By applying oil to our scalp and previously relaxed hair we create a barrier which slows down the effects of the relaxer on our scalp and on previously relaxed hair.
When texlaxing my hair, I prefer to use a heavier oil such as JBCO, olive oil or a butter such as Shea butter to protect my scalp and previously relaxed hair. Some ladies simply use good old Vaseline.
Weaken relaxers for texlaxing
Following on from above, oils can be mixed in with relaxers to weaken its strength and straightening ability. This is commonly done by ladies who wish to texlax their hair. I tend to dilute my relaxer with 2 teaspoons of olive oil.

 

For Shine
Rather than using a hair sheen spray that contains a lot of synthetic ingredients, a few drops of coconut oil can provide amazing shine.

 

 

Scalp Massages
There are many scalp friendly essential oils we can indulge in.
Rosemary essential oil is one of my personal favourites. With regular use of rosemary oil helps to stimulate our hair follicles which encourages hair growth. It is also believed that rosemary oil slows down premature hair loss and graying of the hair.
Tea tree oil is known for its anti viral and anti bacterial properties. Lavender and peppermint oils are examples of other essential oils popular with ladies on a hair journey and that have great effects on our scalp.

2 to 3 drops of these oils can be mixed in with a teaspoon of a carrier oil like olive, coconut, almond, JBCO, avocado oils. This can applied lightly to your scalp for a tingling and refreshing scalp massage. Alternatively, you can add a few drops into your shampoo and deep conditioners.

 

To seal in moisture
As part of our hair regimen moisturising usually goes hand in hand with sealing.

As our hair ages the cuticle layer( the outermost layer) is not as compact as it was when the hair first grew out of its root. This porous state of our hair especially at the ends means that it absorbs moisture fairly quickly but this moisture also exits or is evaporated form our hair very quickly.
This is why sealing with an oil plays an important part by slowing down the evaporation of the moisture we have put in our hair. Coconut and olive oils are great for sealing.
Some ladies with natural or very thick relaxed hair prefer to use something heavier like Shea butter or castor oil to seal.

 

I am sure majority of you use oils or hair butters in your regimen and that it does your hair a world of good. Please share what types of oils you use and how you use them in your regimen. A fellow reader will definitely learn from you.

I have a section on Hairducation in which I share how I grew my hair with wigs but realise that I haven’t dug a little deeper into the techniques of my wig regimen and why I believe it works for me and so many other ladies. In my next blog post I will do just that. Come back soon

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Lade
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