FAQs Friday – Should I moisturize my hair everyday? And more questions
- Should I moisturize my hair everyday?
- Should I use a clarifying shampoo before relaxing my hair?
- Should I condition my relaxed hair before I shampoo?
I. Should I moisturize my hair everyday?
There are at least five things that determine how frequently you need to moisturize your hair.
- How well your hair was deep conditioned during your last conditioning session: If your hair was well conditioned on your wash day, you can go as long as 3-4 days before you need to re-moisturize your hair.
- How well your hair retains moisture: If your hair retains moisture very well, you can go as long as 2-3 days before you need to moisturize your hair.
- Your environment/climate/season: If you live in an area that the weather is dry or it’s a dry season or winter, you might need to moisturize your hair everyday. On the other hand, if you live in a humid environment, you might not need to moisturize so often. I must also mention here that your home environment or working environment also has a part to play. If the air in your office or home is dry or air conditioned, your hair might also need more frequent moisturizing. During my last wash day, I commented that my hair was breaking a little bit more than normal. I had kept my hair pinned up for three days before letting it down. I hadn’t moisturized at all during that time. I kept trying to understand why my hair was breaking and then it hit me. My chair in the office was just directly beneath the air conditioner: it must have been responsible for drying my hair out. Now, I moisturize nightly and no more breakage for me.
- The type of moisturizer you’re using: Some moisturizers are better at keeping the hair moisturized longer than others.
- Whether or not you seal in the moisture: After moisturizing your hair, it is important to apply an oil on top of that to prevent the moisture from being lost. If you don’t seal in the oil, you should expect to moisturize your hair everyday.
Getting to know how frequently you need to moisturize your hair is usually on a trial and error basis. With regards to moisturizing your hair, you need to be proactive. If your hair starts breaking before you moisturize it, then you stayed too long. Next time, reduce the time between moisturization by a day.
- Back to the basics: Moisturizing and sealing your hair
- Suggestions for leave-in conditioners and hair moisturizers
II. Should I use a clarifying shampoo before relaxing my hair?
It depends on how straight you want your hair to get when you relax it. If you want it straight, then you should use a clarifying shampoo to to get rid of buildup 4 days to a week before your next relaxer touch-up. Excess buildup might prevent the relaxer from fully processing your hair.
However, if you want your hair to intentionally be under-processed also known as ‘texlaxing’, you don’t need to clarify it.
A typical wash day just before you relax your hair should go as follows:
- Wash your hair
- Use a protein treatment. It is advisable to use a protein treatment to prepare your hair for the potential damage that relaxers cause.
- Deep condition your hair with a moisturizing conditioner to soften it.
- Style as normal
- The pros and cons of ‘texlaxing’
- Back to the basics: Knowing your relaxers
- Back to the basics: ‘Safely’ using chemical relaxers
III. Should I condition my relaxed hair before I shampoo?
Yes you should. Conditioning your hair before you shampoo is called pre-shampoo conditioning (or prepoo for short). You prepoo your hair for at least two reasons:
- Prevent hygral fatigue
- To prepare your hair for the harsh chemicals in your shampoos especially if you use shampoos containing ingredients like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, etc.
When you wet your hair, it absorbs this water and expands. As it dries, it contracts again. Hygral Fatigue is hair damage that results from hair expanding while wet and contracting when drying hair.
Studies have shown that using Coconut Oil as a prepoo treatment will protect the hair fiber from hygral fatigue. Coconut oil is readily absorbed by the hair. When you use it as a pre-shampoo treatment, it binds to some of the hair’s inner proteins and reduces the amount of water that the hair fibre can absorb. As a result, the hair’s ability to abosrb water is reduced.
If you have hair that easily absorbs water (also termed as porous hair), you have an even higher chance of damage from hygral fatigue. This means that if you have hair that is very porous, your hair will absorb more water than people who have hair with normal porosity. It is therefore very essential that you don’t skip the prepoo step.
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Hi, I stumbled on ur site. Ur really doing a good and great job. God bless u tremendously. O well can u plz tell me the exact stuffs or products to use at each stages of undergoing the hair regime stuff and an alternative to use if u can’t really get the products. Thanks
im so reading this post way way too late…hey hey doc 😉 so doc i think after being abit boastful d last tym bout hair n laughing all the way to the hair retention bank, the hair gods decided to show me who’s boss by hitting me with a wave of laziness n a whole lot of forgetfulness! so once upon a tym last week i realised my hair was not as awesome as i thought n started to realise lil things…i frst decided to blame the new moisturiser i greedily bought coz thats the one thing im addicted to… combing through shoppin isles for them in all the shops i visit (evn if i went ther d previous day). so anyway miss greedy eyes bought the ors hairepair anti breakage after realising it was a difrnt type from the one i bought at the beginning of my journey. i then started giving my wonderful moisturiser africa’s best organics carrot oil (new location discovery at a salon) ‘dirty looks’ evry nyt i moisturised- n put it at the bottom of my basket 🙁 (silly girl) i think dat tipped d balance n my hair jus refused to be moisturised. heh, then i found sum other cheap vatika moisturiser without mineral oil or petrolatum (im stil skeptical of that story) but dat didnt stop this product junkie from buying dat 🙂 greedy greedy! lol….now after all that nonsensical behaviour…..i was examining my hair…i evn had to put on my contacts to seeeeee properly, but really jus to try n understand this process of dusting iv heard about….boy did i nearly fall off my chair! i found split ends oooooo! i was so upset n started to research on what i hav or havnt done wat happened n how my ‘life cld be ending’….dramatic i know ryt. i then became a ‘find out y ur hair is breaking junkie’… n things new to me now r apple cider vinegar rinses, porosity, jojoba oil,argan oil (but the vo5 intensive treatment version)…. n hennnnnnaaaa which is actually on my head ryt now. today i clarified with some body on tap coz i know it has sls, i then did an apple cider vinegar rinse (whoop whoop porosity balance) now i hav a mix of henna and tea (brewed together) put in some jojoba, coconut oil and castor oil n a wee bit of rosemary oil. (ok d oil junkieness can never b cured) and mixed in some tresemme moisture rich conditioner and some honey> coz i really aint tryna play with these stories of hardness, no no no no way. after this il do a mini co wash depending on how the hair feels after dis henna n deep con remix. i found a kids detangler that i want to try as a leave in detangler…its actually a kids detangler by caivil ‘super soft’. dr apart from the mineral oil and petroleum or petrolatum and the lanolin wat are we supposed to stay away from? dis kids detangler has polysorbate 60 and i read somewher that it is made from mineral oil or petroleum and corn starch or was it syrup… now iv seen this ingredient on alot of product lists so eeeek help, what exactly is this ingredient and what other ingredients is it advisable for us to use or not to use. n finally got a good shampoo and conditioner… tresemme moisture rich whoop whoop n from my research its has a gr8 ph too….close enuf to our hair needs…dr and if u dont know of this website, check it out…..it has a world of chemistry based info…http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2012/02/ph-of-conditioners.html. doc pliz o, i wanted to know what is the difference between micrograms and milligrams, what is the conversion? til d next episode laters doc, hope ur hair is doing super 🙂 sizzling mom. i stil dunno how ur able to hv such a busy life n do all this blogging.. u n sooo many bloggers n vloggers r saving our lifes…seriously, jus putting all dis tym into oneself is self esteem building and really gives us a good me-time balance each day (as long as we r patient with our tresses)…. happy hair journeying…xoxo
dr…..evry month i hav verbal diarrhoea.. sorry but hey…by now u know im jus a plain hair junkie lol.
LOL. You know you’re my favourite commenter right? I just crack up when I see your comments!! Yes I’m doing well and my hair is too.. my dear, it’s not been easy blogging, maintaining family and other things. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I haven’t blogged for a while.
You really are an addict but I sincerely love your passion. So the difference between micrograms and milligrams is this: 1 milligram = 1000 micrograms.
I actually know that website: you know I browse so many hair sites searching for knowledge. That has helped me this far in my hair journey.
I also love Tressmeme naturals moisture rich conditioner.. it’s really nice for my new growth. I also have it stocked in Sizzelle, my online store http://www.sizzelle.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_74&product_id=300
Although I think mineral oil and petrolatum are not very good for the hair, I realize that it depends on the particular product in question. Some products containing these ingredients are sometimes good. It’s just a matter of trial and error in the end.