Natural Hair Care: Dealing With Dryness

(Image credit to Google)

I think every Natural, especially New hit the Dryness mark. I call it the 'Dryness Plato'.
"I can never keep my hair Moisturized." "My hair is so dry all the time." "I moisturize my hair all the time and still nothing!" "I cannot keep dealing with this, can you please help me!"

Been there, but how do you get over that if you are currently THERE???

My first questions are what is your hair routine?
What oils/products do you use?
How Often do you Shampoo your hair?
Do you do Hot Oil Treatments and how often?

Your Texture, as well as your hair and scalp needs in general need to be looked at. Also please keep in mind that what might help ONE Natural Hair Beauty will not necessarily help YOU!

One of the biggest leads to Dryness/Can't keep moisture is Over-Shampooing.

We Shampoo our hair to get the dirt, clean the hair, the pores. To generalize it. But how often do you Shampoo your hair and what kind do you use?
We live in a Society that is very into Grooming and those with Straight hair/Oily hair are always washing their hair to get the oils out. That's great except we need to put and KEEP oils IN our hair. You cannot follow the lead of hair that isn't yours!
You can't Shampoo your hair 3 Times out of the week. You're stripping your hair of oils as soon as you saturate your head with it pretty much.
If you using a Sulfate filled Shampoo then you really are leaving no oils behind, even natural oils and you must fully condition (recommend Deep Condition ((DC))) to replace that stripped oils and moisture.

"But I workout a lot/sweat a lot. I don't want my hair to smell."
Fully noted. Using NATURAL products e.g; Coconut Oil/Jojoba Oil/Avocado Oil, will aid in not only moisturizing your hair but also be clean to use and won't just sit on your hair/scalp. If you are someone who feels they must Shampoo 2 times a week then COWASH (Conditioner ONLY wash) your hair every other time you would normally Shampoo. Then work your way down from there.
Some Curlies don't even use Shampoo, they just strictly Co-Wash - usually based on personal preference. As your hair growths and you learn more about hair care, you also learn more about your own hair care needs.

"No matter how much I use my hair is always thirsty!"
I can most definitely relate to this one. I have 4B/4C hair and not only does my hair get major thirsty if I don't have my proper hair routine but my Scalp gets dry fast and here comes the flaking.

Do you do Hot Oil Treatments? Better yet, HAVE YOU?
Hot Oil Treatments are great for getting moisture into your hair as well as working with any Dryness you have hair OR scalp wise! Also a great way of keeping oils in your hair while washing. Some Store bought HOTs will say to apply after washing. Personally, I feel it's more effective before washing.
I do HOTs before I Shampoo and then I Deep Condition right after I shampoo.
If you have Trouble with HOTs, do you apply heat your heat while you have it covered? Your hair might be Low Porosity so the cuticle is very hard to get moisture in. Heat will help open up the cuticle to allow moisture/oils in.

A Great Pre-Poo is Coconut Oil. It opens up the hair shaft, allowing moisture in and also helps when it comes to Shampooing so your hair isn't being completely ripped of oils and 'bone dry'.
Pre-Pooing also helps with your Conditioning, it has something to hold onto and get into the hair better, faster, and you'll have softer/shiner hair!

Coconut Oil actually Relaxes my curl so I don't like washing with it. I have a Pre-Poo Mixture of Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Jamaican Black Castor Oil - Jojoba Oil - Wheat Germ Oil, Rosemary, Tea Tree that's in a Spray Bottle w/Water. I Saturate my hair with this before I CoWash.

Are you someone who puts heat on their head? Did you just color your hair? Then you might need a Protein Treatment!
Old Fashion Mayo w/an Egg and if you have some oils you want to add will Doctor your head up.

The LOC Method has also been on the Rise lately. Liquid - Oil - Cream/Butter. After washing your hair, you put in your Leave-In Conditioner, then Oil on your hair to help Seal in the moisture and then your favorite Styling Butter/Cream to help retain and maintain moisture.

Usually the cause of the Dryness is not necessarily the product/oils you are using but how your hair is taking them.

The further you go along in your hair journey the more you learn about the wants and needs of your hair. What causes it dryness and how to maintain moisture.

I get really dry hair and scalp, my Routine is CoWashing every 3-4 Days. If I've been in Protective Styling majority of the week/low strand exposure then Once a Week.
Pre-Poo before CoWashing.
Every other Week I Shampoo - Homemade Hot Oil Treatment (Jojoba Oil, JBCO, Wheat Germ Oil, Glycerin, Rosemary, Peppermint). Then I spritz my hair with a Coconut Oil/Water mixture with Lavendar/Glycerin/Castor Oil to open up my strands. Put on a Heat Cap for a good Hour to make sure. Deep Condition after Shampooing - Castor Oil as well as Wheat Germ added to it.

After rinsing that out I put in my Leave-In. Oil my scalp with JBCO, Avocado, Extra Virgin Olive, Jojoba, Sweet Almond w/Essential Oils. Massage my scalp very well with this.

Put my hair in a protective style using a Cream.

I oil my scalp every day/every other day to prevent flaking from Dermatitis.

Hope this is helpful :-).

Product Review: As I Am - Coconut Cowash

Hello!

I haven't forgotten about this place or my visitors. Please trust that. I've actually been busy with trying to Aim at more Hair Related Topics and I can't really review Hair Products if my own hair is not in Tip-Top shape. Especially if I am reviewing for my fellow Curly/Coily haired Beauties!

A month ago or so I actually Dyed my hair Burgundy.

As you see only my hair that had the Blonde in it is where you can really see it. And sorry for the crazy hair, this was a 4 day Two-Strand twist that was flat (kept hair tied up) that I Untwisted. This is from yesterday, so the Color has washed some, but it's still very Vibrant. I'm debating if I want to keep it. It's a Temporary Dye, I used Manic Panic which is a GREAT SEMI-PERMANENT DYE if you are a Natural and you want to play with color but afraid of Damage. It's like conditioner with color in it. It will not Damage your hair. I mixed Purple Haze with Vampire Red to achieve my Burgundy.

Enough of that. Onto my Review!

I purchased this Cowash Conditioner actually some months ago, I had reviewed AS I AM Twisting Defining Cream before so I'm not new to the Line. I actually got the Defining Cream when it came out and if you read my Review, I was upset that it caused major Flakes in my hair.
Since I had that negative experience with this Brand after first time use I was a bit Hesitant on this one but I figured a Conditioner couldn't hurt that much, right?

It's noted as a Cleansing Conditioner with Tangerine and Saw Palmetto in it. That's really what got me, the Tangerine and Saw Palmetto.

I was surprised to see that this Item didn't mention "For better results use with This product and This product." It was nice to see that the product alone is suppose to give the cleansing feeling.

How does it look and feel?

I actually added Jamaican Black Castor Oil to it, along with Peppermint & Tea Tree Oil for my Scalp/Dermatitis.
It has an Off White/Pink color and it feels like a Cream Conditioner in your hands (before I added what I did) but not a Cream Oily feeling.

But as far as how it feels on your head...

I have 4B/4C Hair. It said you could Detangle with this on but would I? No.

I did not have a Smooth/Cream/Silky feeling on my hair as I put this on. I even put a Shower Cap on for a few minutes and it wasn't any better. It felt actually like I had kind of a Protein Treatment in my conditioner. I washed it out and tried it again to see if it was just the First Try and the Second Washing was the same feeling.

Does it Cleanse as Advertise?

Yes, actually. I scrubbed my scalp after applying it on my head and what Dirt was on it did get lifted. If you have Dermatitis as I do, it will lift the Flakes as well so if you had a bad area be ready to be Combing/Brushing your hair to get it out, lol. Which is a good thing! And my hair had moisture in it after washing and it felt nice.

I blow dried my hair after the Cowash and my Hair didn't feel dry as it usually tends to do. Even with heat protection.

As for a Rating I give this Product a 3.5 out of 5. It was a nice Product to try and it did give my hair a nice clean feeling for a CoWash but was it anything Spectacular? No. For me, it was one of those "I'm Glad to try it but I won't be buying it again" once it's gone.

Nothing more special than a Bottle of Suave Professional with added Essential Oils I feel for far much Less in Price.

Did it affect my Curl?

Yes. At first I didn't notice it when I initially towel dried my hair. Then after I detangled with my Leave-In I noticed how my hair didn't have any strand curl definition. I put my hair in Two Strand twists and none of my ends would curl up. A Day or so later I put my hair in a Bantu Knot for 2 days and took it down and again my curls were not there. It was just a bushy mess. Even though I enjoy crazy messy hair, there were no true curls so I wasn't feeling that.

I tried again with the CoWash and same thing with twisting hair for Bantu Knot and no curling at the ends. Hair doesn't hold curl.

Disappointing. I will use up what else I have. Try to make it work and then move onto the next one.