You can over-moisturize your hair and cause more harm than good. Over-moisturizing your hair is called hygral fatigue. Hygral fatigue happens when our hair swells when wet, then shrinks as it dries, and that back and forth swelling and shrinking causes breakage.
Daily moisturizing is crucial to preventing breakage and retaining length. If either one is a hair goal for you, then if you haven't been moisturizing daily you should start in 2019. Another side effect is that it improves the definition in your curls, prevents tangling and knots.
A general rule of thumb is to moisturize your natural hair every few days, with some ladies needing moisture more often depending on their personal needs. However, the purpose of moisturizing is to increase the flexibility of your natural hair.
The hair will feel mushy, limp and excessively soft. Your curls will struggle to hold their shape, they will have little definition and tend to fall flatter than normal. You will have more frizz than normal, a fluffy, soft type of frizzy hair. Your hair will feel weighed down, as if you applied too much product.
The prolonged appication of body lotion to hair can result in weakening of the hand strands and ultimately breakage leading to excessive hair fall.
Dry hair hinders growth by increasing the chances of breakage, so it's important to moisturize your strands to restore growth proteins back into hair follicles. Look out for hydrating formulas that include growth vitamins such as zinc and biotin.
Moisturized hair is more elastic, less prone to breakage, and less prone to tangles. This means that moisture helps you retain hair length. As your hair grows, keeping your hair moisturized will allow your hair to grow in length.
If your hair feels dry after deep conditioning, then more than likely you have not cleansed your hair properly, or you are dealing with a significant amount of product build-up.
Take an inch of your hair and stretch it, if it doesn't stretch or breaks, feels dry and rough, it is brittle/damaged and needs moisture treatment. If the hair stretches far and does not return and/or breaks, feels mushy, gummy or cotton candy-like, your hair needs protein.
You should also apply moisturizer on wet hair only — this allows your strands to properly absorb the product. While you can use some leave-in and daily conditioners each day, stick to using deeper ones once per week.
Unfortunately, ANY amount of heat is damaging to hair, so using a blow dryer (or flat iron, or curling wand) every day is a bad idea. Daily heat exposure can ruin hair by stripping the hair's natural oils, drying out the cuticle and causing breakage and frizz.
After washing and conditioning your hair, using a leave-in — like our Quench — Moisture Intensive Leave-In Conditioner — or a moisturizer is pivotal to maintain moisture. Applying the leave-in or moisturizer while your hair is wet or damp will help lock in the moisture that your hair craves.
Moisturize. It's a good idea to replenish any moisture your hair might have lost throughout the day before heading to bed. Even if you have a good routine of regularly moisturizing your hair, applying a bit of something lightweight like our White Peony Leave-In Conditioner at night can make a big difference.
How Often Should I Hydrate My Hair? Ideally, you should hydrate your hair with a mask or a deep conditioning treatment at least once a week. But, every time you shampoo your hair, use a leave-in hydrating serum or conditioner for extra hydration.
By sliding a strand, or a few, between your thumb and forefinger, you might be able to feel for the health of your hair. A smooth, easy slide, likely means your hair is healthy, while a rough and bumpy feeling means you likely have some damage.
What are the signs of healthy hair? Healthy hair strands have a sheen and a luster, little breakage, minimal shedding, are moisture rich (so not dry), reflect light, do not break when brushed, and do not contain dandruff.
Typically dry hair appears flat and dull, think no shine. Dry hair is also usually more difficult to manage and when you touch it, it has a noticeably brittle texture i.e. knots and tangles, etc. If your hair isn't maintaining a blow-dry this can also be a sign that your hair is lacking hydration levels.
Overuse of hot styling tools, such as your hairdryer, curling tong and straighteners, can make your hair dry, prone to breakage and consequently more likely to fall out, especially if you use them every day. This is because when too much strong, dry heat is applied to the hair it weakens the hair shaft.
There are four primary factors that cause frizz: the environment, diameter of the hair fiber itself, level of curl, and the amount of damage. Avoid long and hot showers, excess exfoliation, and hot tools like traditional hairdryers and flat irons to prevent frizz.
Eat the right diet.
Those high in protein, the building blocks of hair, including meats and other sources. "Try increasing your protein intake with foods like fish, beans, nuts and whole grains," she recommends. Even if you're not a meat lover, you should still aim to maintain a diet high in protein for hair growth.
The more moisture for thick, coarse dry hair, the better. So use a rich, rinse-out conditioner after every shower, and follow it up with a moisturizing leave-in spray before styling. Once a week, apply a deep conditioning mask. Allow it to penetrate for five to 15 minutes for a silky, smooth result.