Oil, Water, and Your Hair

Growing up we learn that moisturizing our hair means applying some sort of hair product. Which is true, but it is not complete information. It is important to know what to apply to your hair and when it is best to use it. Sometimes we turn to some sort of oil, hair food, or “grease” for relief of dryness but the best relief you can give your hair is water. A great hair moisturizer will always have water as the first listed ingredient.

We don’t always break it down this way, but oil is a sealant. If oil is applied to dry hair, you are essentially locking in dryness. The easiest way to avoid this is to only apply oil to wet or dampened hair. We learned that hair grease soothes our dry scalps and hair, and it does. It feels good when it is applied to our dry scalp but it is not the best solution, it is a temporary relief. You want to moisture your scalp and hair with water and/or a water based moisturizing product and then lock in that moisture with a sealant- your oils and hair grease.

I know growing up for me I got the idea that putting water on “black people hair” made the hair unmanageable, so putting water on our hair was avoided at all costs- even excluding swimming for some. But if you really think about it, when you apply water to your hair while washing or styling it is soothing too. It feels great when water touches a dry scalp. When you apply water to your hair while detangling or combing, even before adding hair product, it makes your hair softer and easier to manipulate and style.

If one of your hair concerns are dryness, try switching up your hair regimen to include more water and only applying oils to dampened hair to lock in moisture and keep dryness away. Also avoid hair products that include ingredients that dry your hair like some alcohols that can be found in hair sprays and gels that can be really drying and damaging when used often.

The more mindful you are about what you apply on your hair and when you use it you’ll find your natural hair journey getting easier and easier. It’s all about learning what your hair loves and our hair loves water contrary to what we grew up learning. It’s the best way to keep dryness away.