Moisturizing and Sealing (that sucker in)

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Hi Guys!

I know, I know- boo to the disappearing acts routine, abi?  I know.  Please accept my apologies for the impromptu hiatus. 

Ya'll know how it goes:
Girl gets busy.
Girl procrastinates.
Girl gets defiant. 
Girl feels guilty for procrastinating and being defiant.
Girl comes back; vowing to never ever ever leave again...

No one else does this?  Yeah, me neither. 

 Lol

Okay, so hopefully by now, and through this series, it should be super obvious that moisture is of the utmost importance when it comes to good hair care.   Personally, I was kinda slow to understand its full significance.  As a relaxed girl, 

(you know, these “as a relaxed girl” mentions aren’t really digs at having relaxed hair, but instead, are a testament to how clueless I was with haircare as a whole.  So, abeg no vex),

  I would deep condition my hair biweekly; blasting my hair with an abundance of moisture and nutrients for the month.  Afterwards, I would blast my hair again with intensely concentrated heat from my blow dryer- the “warm” and “cool”  settings forever remained unused.  Finally, I’d unleash my flat iron; no attention would be paid to the temperature, and I would proceed to essentially sear each strand into ultimate silkiness.   

Looks pretty good, right?
Just think how much healthier it could've looked with proper care.

Two to three hours later, I would be rewarded with bouncy, airy, free-flowing hair.  It's amusing, because as much as I love oils and creams today; seriously, I can’t get enough of them, I basically abhorred them when I was relaxed.  Oils weighed down my hair strands and totally caused them to stick together.  My hair needed “swing” and movement, and applying heavy creams/oils said,
“No Geri, not happening” to all of that.  
So, I rarely ever applied anything to my hair.  I would definitely get the swing and bounce, but that also came with dryness and constant split ends.

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Moisturizing

I consider water as the ultimate hydrating substance available to us.  Ever notice how most products that promote moisture or moisture retention usually begin with Water (Aqua) as the first ingredient?  
Right!  
Manufacturers know this too.   

Water is wonderful, yes, but it can evaporate fairly easily from our hair strands, so we have to work a little harder to hold on to it.  

Okay, so think of it this way, whenever you bathe, you use water to hydrate your skin as you cleanse the dirt off with soap.  After you wash, most of us move on to applying a cream or lotion (moisturizer) to the skin, to further “trap” in the water.  Check those ingredients again.  The cream will usually list water as the primary ingredient, but chances are, that it will probably also be accompanied by glycerin as another ingredient on the list. 

Remember, glycerin is a humectant that draws water in from the atmosphere.  So, the cream on your wet/ or dampened skin acts as a barrier to promote moisture retention in your skin.  The same logic also extends to our hair.  Creamy moisturizers are pretty much the same as leave-ins.  

Products that contain a substantial level of water in their ingredients can be termed a moisturizer, and sometimes, applying them to your hair is sufficient to introduce added moisture to your hair, as well as, to lock the water into your hair.  Other times, you might need a product that is oil based to really really seal that sucker in.

Tip 1:  I moisturize and seal in three layers- like a sandwich

a. H20 is applied directly to the hair (hair can be freshly washed or lightly misted with water)

H2O

b. A creamy moisturizer/current leave in of choice is applied 

Trader Joe's Nourish Spa Conditoner
used as a leave in

c. A heavier or oil sealant barricades everything in (i.e. shea, castor oil, etc.)

Mango Butter
Tip 2:  If my hair is freshly washed, I like to wait until my hair is about 50 percent dry, before I apply my leave in.  I apply my moisturizer to hair that isn’t dripping wet, because I find that if it is applied to soaking wet hair, everything usually slides right off.

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Sealing

Sealing is short and easy.
It's the final step to locking moisture into your hair, and is best done by applying a heavy cream or oil over the moisturizer. 

Castor Oil- I use this a lot during the winter months

NOTE: A sealant isn’t the same as a moisturizer.  I often hear casual mentions of hair that is ‘moisturized’ with oily bases like shea butter.  However, since shea, mango, cocoa, and other butters do not contain water, they can’t be moisturizers.  They only serve to either lock in moisture or keep moisture out.

Tip 3:  I never apply oil butters to dry hair.  I always ensure that there is a level of moisture already present in my hair, before I introduce my butter barrier.

Explaining these processes probably gives an overly complicated impression about moisture retention, but I promise that once you've found the routine that works for you, it will totally become second nature.