In Regards to Moisture–Part 2

One of my first posts on this blog was how I keep my naturally dry hair hair moisturized. I’ve decided that I can expand on this a bit more. So I present to you lovely ladies the second part of this post.

Deep conditioning on dry hair

I know I already mentioned deep conditioning on my last post. But have you tried deep conditioning on dry hair? Think about it. If the hair is clean and has not absorbed water or other products, it can absorb more moisture from your deep conditioner. I’m sure there’s a fancier, more scientific explanation, but there’s mine!

I don’t do this much anymore. Frankly, I hate waiting for my hair to dry these days. However, if you are really hurting for moisture, please give this a shot. I typically do the following:

• Shampoo or rinse hair
• Let hair air dry. Put it up in twists if your hair tangles and knots easily.
• Apply deep conditioner to completely dry or almost dry hair.
• Apply plastic cap/bag and let it sit for an hour or more

You will be blown away by the results. There are a few downfalls of deep conditioning on dry hair, so be warned:

• It will take longer to do your hair with the added step of waiting for your hair to dry
• It may make detangling worst if you let your hair dry naked
• You will use more deep conditioner because your hair will absorb more. Mine is quite thirsty and I use almost double what I use on wet hair.

I remember my mother doing this when I was a little girl. Funny how some of those hair practices keep coming back.

Baggying

When you “baggie” your hair, you are essentially apply a moisturizer of some sort and then putting a plastic cap or bag over it. You can do this overnight or for a few hours. I think I’ve pointed this out in another post before, but Chicoro, author of Grow It! , has a wonderful Baggie Tutorial on her fotki.

The only time I’ve ever done this was with my TWA. In most tutorials you find online, people just baggy their ends while it’s in a ponytail with sandwich bags. Of course you can’t do that if your hair is 2 inches long. I found that it worked just as well with a plastic cap and moisturizer applied to my whole head.

When doing the baggie method, watch out for:

• overmoisturizing. If your hair starts to feel mushy, then you may need to hold off on this for awhile.
• breakage. If you’re doing the bun method, your edges and also where the hair meets the elastic band may suffer. Take care.
• jherri curl jokes. Man, some people are so mean when you wear a plastic cap to bed!

The hair does not need to be wet or even damp, just well moisturized. There’s no need to wash beforehand, just apply your favorite moisturizer to dry hair. You can also seal with an oil if you desire, which leads me to my next point…

Sealing

Sealing is something I tried and then quickly dumped as a newly natural lady. It was just not needed at that point in my hair’s growth. But now I find myself doing it a lot.

Sealing is applying an oil, pomade, or butter following the application of a moisturizer. Think of it as “sealing” moisture into your hair. I also find that it keeps the dreaded single strand knots at bay.

I prefer a light oil when doing this so that my hair doesn’t feel too greasy. Grapeseed and coconut oil are nice choices.