Hey there. How are you today? I am posting this as a reply to a set of questions a fellow sister asked me on our facebook page recently and I knew the answer would be very long so I am answering the questions here so everyone may benefit at once. Her questions go:
“… Wanted to buy oil since I’ve never used any need to know what’s best olive or coconut…..?”
To start with, both Olive oil and Coconut oil are very good and often work hand in hand. Olive oil is an antioxidant and Coconut oil mimics the oil (sebum) that is produced by the skin naturally to oil our hair. I use both oils most of the time interchangeably or as a combination. I use both Olive oil and Coconut oil in my conditioner when deep conditioning. I also use Olive oil to do an oil treatment and I apply it to my tips mainly because that is the driest part of the hair. but I am always careful not to let it touch my scalp because it causes my scalp to itch and leaves me with lots of dandruff to deal with. I use Coconut oil to add shine and softness to my hair especially in summer but in winter, I prefer olive oil because Coconut oil solidifies in winter and may make the hair feel hard like straw. I do not apply coconut oil onto my scalp because of dandruff issues. I recommend you try both oils one at a time to see which one agrees with your scalp and hair and best addresses your needs.
“…Also what brand of hair food would you recommend…?”
It is difficult for me to recommend any hair food brand because we live in different countries such that what is available here may not be available elsewhere though there are quite a number of international brands around. My rule of thumb is, stay away from mineral oil based products if you can, stay away from silicons and use natural products as much as possible. I recommend that you try and read ingredients closely when buying hair food and buy a small quantity first so that you can test how your hair will respond to it before you plunge in and spend on a big jar. That normally saves you a lot of cash. If it does not agree with you, you can always give it away to someone whose hair agrees with it. Most of the time, I do not apply anything to my scalp but when I do, especially when I have twists in and my scalp is more accessible, I use Damatol. It helps with dandruff and my scalp loves it. For my hair, I use water, oils and my whipped Shea butter. Before you ask me where you can find Shea butter, I’m letting you in on this one, Natural Sisters is working very hard to make whipped Shea butter available for sale. Many people have been asking me for it and I ended up giving them some from my jar until I discovered that my supplies were depleting very fast, so I decided to whip more and sale it. Hopefully it will soon be available for purchase online.
“…Can u explain what really is co washing…?”
Co-washing is kind of short for, Conditioner washing. This is when you use your conditioner only to cleanse your hair instead of using shampoo. This is a recommended practice for natural kinky hair as it safeguards our hair from excessive dryness. Most shampoos have high doses of sulfates in them as a cleaning agent and these sulfates tend to leave our hair clean, yes but also very dry as it strips the hair of the little oil present that lubricates our hair. So using conditioner only helps because it is gentle and moisturises as well as making it soft so breakage is avoided. You may be worried if this will really cleanse your hair but trust me, IT WILL especially if you avoid mineral oil based products that weigh down your hair and draw too much dirt to your hair. Co-wash every week and you will reap the rewards. Peace and health to you all. Cheers!
