Home Hair care Moisturising Type 4 hair. The LOC Method

Moisturising Type 4 hair. The LOC Method

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

You keep moisturising your hair but somehow it just feels dry and there seems to be no end to dry hair days. You have all the products the bloggers, vloggers and frinds are raving about but for you, nothing seems to be getting to your thirsty strands. You have stopped using all the products that have been demonized by the Natural hair community but there seems to be no change on what you see on yours. You are frustrated and rightfully so, at your crown that just seems to have a mind of its own and is evidently rebelling against you the carer and wearer. Stop there! Are you using those products well? You see type 4 hair can be very porous and so retaining the much needed moisture will need more tactic and science. One of the tactics you can use to arm twist your strands to hold on to moisture (water) as long as possible is the LOC method. 

The LOC method is the layering of products on your hair in an effort to lock in moisture as much as possible. Because our hair can be very porous (please note, not all type 4 hair is very porous but most is) any moisture that is introduced to it is quickly absorbed but it is also lost to the atmosphere at as much speed. With the understanding that our hair needs water to stay strong , water entering the core of our strands is not a problem then and that is why we use silicon free products just to make sure we do not block that passage of water into our hair. However, if it quickly leaves, then there is no gain. Instead, weaker hair will be the result because of continued expansion and contraction as water goes in and out. So if you were wondering whether sealing moisture is really necessary, now you know it is worth that extra step to hair care.

The LOC method, step by step.

LOC (2)

Things to Look out for

Yes there are also things that you should make sure you do right for you to get the desired results.

  • It is best to do the LOC method on clean hair that has just been washed but can also be done on old hair to replenish moisture before the next wash day.
  • Don’t be heavy handed on products. You need just a bit of each product as over-doing it will mean a lot of product on your hair and no styles will hold and you might end up with a greasy head. Get it from me. I have done this before and learnt my lesson.
  • Work your hair in sections if your hair length allows for that. This way, all your strands have a chance to moisturised
  • If you have low porosity hair, you may want to skip the oil and just apply the butter or cream to your hair because the products will not be able to penetrate your hair much and you may have a greasy head as well. Your hair simply does not have a dryness problem because of low porosity. So a liquid and a cream should be adequate.

There are many variations to sealing moisture by layering products. These are the LOCO method which is the Liquid, Oil, Cream, Oil and also the LCO method which is the Liquid, Cream then a heavier Oil like castor oil. These three aim to do the same which is help high porosity hair to retain more moisture. You will want to try them all out and see which one agrees with your hair and lifestyle if your hair has high porosity and suffering from excessive dryness. All this is scientific and really does work. Covering water with oil will make the water’s evaporation rate much slower.

Do you use any of these methods t lock moisture? Please share in the comments below.

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1 comment

Best Oils For Natural Hair In Winter | Natural Sisters - South African Hair Blog 12 June 2014 - 12:30

[…] is so important to your hair so that you don’t lose all that moisture too quickly. I use the LOC method, explained already on this blog. For a leave in, this formula should work but I would limit or […]

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