One of the most common questions that I have had recently from you all and members of my family surprisingly enough is how to maintain the moisture in our natural hair all week long during the Summer.
Last week my cousin described a scenario where her hair would look great on the first day of her wash and go but by day three, her curls literally felt like the #saharadesert! Like many of us, she has high porosity hair so maintaining moisture for days on end during hot weather is almost impossible without a little work.
So what’s a girl to do? How do you maintain moisture in your hair if you know for sure that you have high porosity strands?
The key to maintaining moisture is not found in any one product or any one activity. It is rather a combination of products and activities that will ultimately help you to avoid #saharadesert strands.
By now most of you understand that there are three basic levels to porosity – high, normal and low. Hair porosity simply refers to your hair’s ability to absorb and retain moisture.
If your hair is highly porous you will find that you will add your moisturizer and within a day or next few hours even, your hair will be dry again. I always say that my hair (fine and high porosity) reminds me of a strainer, what goes in almost immediately comes out.
Normal and low porosity strands have the opposite problem, they can absorb and maintain moisture well!
Lets talk Product
Whats in your spray bottle?
If you have porous strands, you might find yourself spritzing a bit more often during the Summer to keep your hair moisturized. I have a few combinations in my own spray bottle and I think its important that you are deliberate about what you put in yours.
Leave in, oil and water – One of my favorite leave in’s of all time is the classic As I Am Leave-In Conditioner and typically I will add a cap full of it to my spray bottle.
In addition to the leave-in conditioner, there is always an oil (olive oil, grapeseed oil) and finally water. The oil helps the hair to maintain the moisture that the leave in and the water provides.
Layering your products
It is very important to follow a specific pattern when moisturizing your hair, so if you use your spray bottle as your first line of defense, then be prepared to use a light oil to seal your hair and then a creamy butter on top.
A great butter that I have mentioned before is the As I am DoubleButter Cream! It’s light enough to keep the strand sealed but not weighed down which is important when you want to get your fluff, just right!
Additionally, always follow the LOC method – Liquid first (spray bottle), then oil (a little olive oil), then cream (DoubleButter Cream).
Let’s talk Activity
Pre-poo – with oil
Wash day is very important for us fine haired, high porosity girls because this is the day we lay the foundation for a successful week. I like to prep my hair for washing before I get in the shower and start doing anything. The pre-poo is where the magic of moisture retention starts to happen.
Use a light oil, something simple, like olive oil (the one you cook with) or grapeseed oil and apply the oil in sections to your dry hair! Give yourself a nice massage during the application to get the blood flowing allowing the oil to touch your scalp as well as cover the hair from root to tip.
Honestly, your hair should not be dripping in oil but use enough for full coverage! You do not want to overdo it. Put on a plastic cap and use a heat source so that your hair can get nice and steamy for about 15-20 minutes.
The oil will not only help with detangling, but it sets the foundation for moisture retention, it blocks stripping agents found in any of products you use on wash day and improves the quality of your hair strand. After the pre-poo, then shampoo and move on to conditioning.
Deep Conditioning
Saying that you should deep condition is like beating a dead horse but there is no avoiding it. If your hair is highly porous, fine, color treated or even relaxed you need to deep condition weekly and you need some form of protein (light, hard or both)!
Even if you pre-poo you want to ensure that you leave your hair with enough intense moisture and strength to last throughout the week. If you need intense moisture but you want a thickish formula try using the As I Am Naturally Hydration Elation Deep conditioner.
This deep conditioner has coconut oil in it which acts as a light protein, Quaternium-91 and Cetrimonium Methosulfate which have thickening, softening and conditioning agents with Antimicrobial, anitistatic, emulsifying, hair conditioning properties.
It is the perfect mix of strength versus moisture which is important for high porosity hair. Many of you like to ask how often you should deep condition, and the answer is pretty simple – It should be weekly or bi-weekly depending on your hair needs. I can deep condition with a light protein weekly and be just fine, most of you might need to do the same thing.
Others might find that using a hard protein treatment once a month is enough to keep your hair strong and moisturized.
Mid-Week styling
By mid-week, you may need to add more products to your hair simply because many of us are exposed to extreme environments and that does affect how our hair behaves. Summer heat is no joke for our skin or our hair and then add pollution to that your hair will go through it on a weekly basis.
If on Wednesday or on Thursday you find that your hair needs something extra, then take some time out of your busy night time routine to do just that.
Midweek styling for me literally always involves the spray bottle recipe I described above, the Loc method and some chunky twists. Keeping it simple is always less stressful.
Once you figure out your product combinations and the activities you need to ensure that your hair remains moisturized then all you have to do is figure out when you will be doing what and what products to use.
Depending on how your week is going you may not need to pre-poo or you might find that since you did a protective style for half of the week, there was no need to do your midweek routine. Everyone is different!
To summarize here is your High Porosity hair care activity list:
1. Pre-poo – Light oils can help you to retain moisture
2. Deep condition with protein (protein helps to repair the strand so that you can retain moisture longer)
3. Use a spray bottle with a great recipe combination
4. Do the Loc method everytime you moisturise
5. Protect your hair from the sun and harmful environments
Do you have high porosity hair? – Comment below and let me know how maintain moisture all week long.
This post was sponsored by As I Am Naturally but all thoughts and ideas are my own
