Hey Tribe! Sick of dry hair and scalp? I can SO relate!
Dry hair and scalp is something that a lot of us naturals tend to struggle with for various different reasons. Without knowing the cause of your dry hair or scalp it can be difficult to tackle the issue. Lets look at the factors that can cause dry hair and scalp
Lack of care
I mean lets be honest. It takes a lot of effort to care for and look after our crown and sometime we get complacent. Especially when we are not too sure what our hair needs, it can be off putting to the point where you avoid it all together.
Environmental Factors
The weather! The colder months can cause a loss of moisture in our hair leaving our hair dry and brittle due to the drop in temperature. Prolonged sun exposure can also have the same effect.
Excessive Heat Styling
When you use heat in excessive amounts it can strip your hair of its natural moisture causing the hair to be dry and brittle. Make sure to use a heat protectant and allows time between each heat trying treatment.
Sebum Distribution
Sebum is a natural oil that is produced and secreted onto our scalp and travels down the length of our hair. Due to the nature of natural hair being curly, it makes it more difficult for the sebum to travel down the length of the hair leaving it more prone to dryness. It can also cause build up and flaking on the scalp due to the sebum sitting on the scalp.
Not Cleansing Hair Enough
I'm sure many of you have heard of the term co-washing, for those who haven't it is when you only wash your hair with conditioner and skip shampooing. While this is a great way to add moisture to the hair, when done on a continuous basis it may be doing you more hard than good. Continuously applying conditioner without cleansing can cause product build up blocking the moisture you're trying to get into your hair leaving it dry.
So! what can we do to maximise moisture retention and banish dry hair and scalp ? Here are my top 5 tips:
1. Having A Proper Hair Routine - Having a consistent routine and knowing what your hair needs is vital. What porosity type do you have ? Its important that you know what each porosity type you have as they all have different needs in order to thrive. For example, consistently doing protein treatments on low porosity hair can cause dryness and stiffness to the hair whereas high porosity hair would benefit from frequent protein treatments. Ensuring that when you're doing the cleansing step in your hair routine you focus on your scalp, using the pads of your fingers to massage your scalp helping to remove any build up. Need help with building a routine ? Here's 10% off my how to build a hair care regimen Ebook!
2. Protective Styling - Afro hair is the most delicate and fragile hair type of them all! Making sure you're keeping it in protective styles will help prevent from damage and drying out. Ensuring you're doing low manipulation styles that keep your ends tucked away. Our ends are the oldest part of the hair and tend to be the section of the hair that suffers dryness the most.
3. Use Indirect Heat - The Outer layer of the hair shaft is called the cuticle and this consists of scale like cells that overlap each other. When we use heat on our hair it makes these scales open making it easier for moisture to penetrate the hair shaft. Ways you can use indirect heat is to use a plastic cap/bag, and place over your head when deep conditioning or using a hair steamer.
4. Sealing In Moisture - Using the LOC (Liquid, Oil, Cream)/LCO (Liquid, Cream Oil) method to seal moisture in. Personally, I prefer to use LCO. Let me explain why! See, Oil is a sealant, it creates a barrier so that moisture doesn't leave the hair so easily. Once you have applied that on to your strands, it can makes it a bit more difficult for any other products that provide moisture to penetrate the hair shaft. I always start with warm water as my liquid ( helps to open up the cuticle), I then use our ' Ayurvedic Moisture Retention Hair Butter', followed by our 'Soothing Scalp Oil' to seal.
5. Sulphate Free Shampoo - Sulphates are a cleaning agents known as surfactants. This is the thing that causes our shampoo to lather. Surfactants work by attracting oil and water together thus removing dirty and debris from the hair and scalp. Sometimes these surfactants can be quite harsh - sulphates are one of them. Sulphates tend to be too strip and strip our hair of its natural oils, Sebum. When this happens it can leave our hair dry and scalp flaky. Choose moisturising shampoos that are free of sulphates. Another tip is to pre-poo before shampooing. Pre-poo is when you use a treatment on your hair before shampooing. This helps to add a protective layer on to the hair and can add extra moisture to your hair reducing the likelihood of the hair becoming too dry.
6. Nutrition - What we put in our bodies play a huge role in the health of our scalp and hair. When we are not eating a balanced diet it can cause vitamin deficiencies, which then leads to our hair being brittle and scalp dry. Ensuring we are consuming the proper amount of B vitamins such as Biotin (B7), vitamins B6 and B12 can help prevent such issues. Foods high in these vitamins are: Eggs, bananas, salmon, beef, liver, potatoes and starchy vegetables, fortified cereals and sardines.
I hope this was of use to you! Want to know how to build your hair care regimen for you and even your children ? Get our ' How To Build Your Regimen E-Book'
Love Oumie x