One thing that I was notorious for complaining about was how parched my strands are ALL OF THE TIME. Every now and again, my hair would turn out as soft as clouds. But then I would use the same products just to not get the same results. This leave-in, that twisting cream; my hair still somehow turned out crispity, crackety, crunchity. I do know that my strands are naturally porous, so moisture retention is an uphill battle. However, even with using the most moisturizing products and every moisturizing method in the natural hair community (LOC, LCO, ABCDEFG) my hair was still dry the very next day. Then one day I did the one thing I wouldn’t have thought had that much of an effect on my moisture levels: I washed my hair. Though I hadn’t used any products with silicones, the fact of the matter was that my hair was coated. This was stopping my products from penetrating and moisturizing my curls and coils.

After this discovery, I then had to figure out just how often I needed to wash. I had previously been washing (shampooing) weekly and found that it was a bit too much for my porous stands, even when using a sulfate free shampoo. I then went off on the deep end, and barely shampooed my hair, thinking that I would retaining more moisture by doing so. Wrong! Many months of parched strands later, I finally came up with a wash schedule that allowed my strands to stay cleansed and moisturized at the SAME DAMN TIME!

  1. Weekly Clay Wash

Clays such as Bentonite and Rhassoul are a huge part of my hair and skin care regimens. These clays help to gently cleanse my strands and detoxify my scalp without drying my hair out. Not only that, but clays are known to have lots of minerals that our hair needs, but don’t get too often, such as silica and magnesium.

  1. Mid-Week Water Only Rinse, or Co-Wash

Because my strands are porous, even a deep conditioning treatment, closing my cuticles with a cool water/ACV rinse/Aloe Vera, and sealing with the heaviest oils and butters doesn’t allot me the leisure of going a whole week without re-moisturizing. And while a spray bottle filled with love is better than nothing, my strands usually still hit me with the “that was cute…” after a couple days. While daily spritzing is probably what I should be doing, unless my hair is in a protective style of some sorts it usually doesn’t happen. In comes the hay hair! With this revelation, I realized that my hair thrives when I fully drench my hair mid-week. If I’m truly just not in the mood, I’ll just get in the shower and let the water beat off the top of my head. If I’m feeling a bit jazzy, I’ll whip out one of my fave silicone-free conditioners and thrown in a light detangle session. I then let the steam from the shower hit me with the vibes before rinsing the conditioner out. By doing this, I get to revitalize my hair with the water, rinse out at least some of the products in my hair, and get a conditioning session in. SCORE.

  1. Monthly Shampoo Session

After about 3-4 weeks, my other two cleansing methods just aren’t cutting it and I need a full reset. This is usually THE BIG WASH DAY for me when I do everything! This is the day I take one of my favorite sud-producing sulfate free shampoos and get rid of all the gunk on my scalp, and coating of products from my strands. Anything over a month of not shampooing, and I may be asking for trouble (depending on what products I’ve used in the prior weeks). At this point, a thorough cleansing is a must!

What has been your experience with dry hair? Have you had any epiphanies?

-Sea