Unable to retain moisture in my hair?

gingercurly

I've been browsing for a bit and haven't found an answer to this question, so I figured I'd post it myself. Here's some background: I've been embracing my curls for a long time, and have RARELY (like once a year at the very most) used heat on them. Never dyed or chemically treated them so they're quite healthy. I used Shea Moisture for a long time, but it started weighing my hair down and making it look very stringy and unhealthy despite clarifying once every week or so. After getting a Devacut and loving how my hair reacted to the products I've started using the Devacurl Original line of products (No-Poo, One Condition, Ultra-Defining Gel), and it's gone much better except that my hair no longer retains moisture like it used to. I'm guessing that part of it is the weather since it's very dry in the Mountain West but I think some of it is that I need to change up my product routine. In the past I've always just put gel in my hair and moved on, but where I grew up is significantly more humid than here so that may have been why I could get away with it. What I'm looking for is some way to keep my hair from getting so dry over the course of a day. 

I'm 3A, medium porosity, hard to say on the coarseness but definitely not fine. Should I be using the LOC method? How do I go about this and what products do I use? Thanks in advance for your answers!

BrittanyM

Try combining a drop or two (start small and work your way up in drops) into one of your cream products. That should help retain moisture. If that doesn't work, try not washing all of your conditioner out in the shower (wash about 80% out; I hold the length of the hair at the nape of my neck and rinse at my scalp. Water of course runs through my ends but not completely removing all the conditioner). Best of luck!

WavyKfromNJ

One thing that is very easy and cheap to do is to put all of your styling products in your hair while it is soaking wet.

Water is the only way to moisturize you hair.  Everything else is just helping you hold the water in.

You may also have to take a little extra care if you live in a hard water area.  This will affect how products rinse out of your hair.  Here is a great post on hard water and how to take care of your hair with hard water:  http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/hard-water-and-your-hair.html

It is possible to have hair damage from something other than chemical treatments and heat styling.  Being out in the sun & wind.  Rubbing your hair with  rough towels etc can contribute to damage

Therese1

Do you do deep conditioning treatments? In the winter here, the air is extremely dry, and I have to deep condition once every week or two to keep my hair from being horribly dry. I use Jessicurl's Deep Conditioning Treatment and put it on freshly washed hair for about 20 minutes.

I would also add a leave-in conditioner to your routine. Some people also put a drop or two of oil on their hair as a sealant after washing. This requires some experimentation as to which oils work for you and how much.

One thing that might also be helpful is to work a couple of drops of oil into your hair at nighttime, when your hair is dry. Just put a couple of drops into your hands and rub them together, then smooth them into your hair. Doing this at night helps ensure that the hair has time to absorb the oil so that it won't look greasy. I like to use Weleda's Rosemary Conditioning Hair Oil, which is not too heavy and has a nice scent.

Kinky Curly-Coily Megan

Is your moisture and protein balance okay? If this is off your hair will have a hard time retain moisture. 

gingercurly

Yay thank you all for helping me! I tried deep conditioning with my Aussie 3 minute miracle deep conditioner today to see if it would help. I hadn't been because I wasn't sure how to work it into my rotation of products, but we'll see how that goes. Also leave-in is a great idea. I haven't had great luck with the ones I have tried in the past, but I'll maybe try out some other products. Any suggestions would be great! 

Also hard water is definitely an issue here, I'll have to read that article about it because I didn't know that there WAS a way I could take care of my hair in spite of the water. The protein balance... I'm not sure. Is there a good way to tell?

Thanks again for all your help!!!

BrittanyM

Since you mentioned the Aussie Deep Conditioner, just be sure to clarify with a sulfate shampoo every once in a while since Aussie has a lot of silicones. Otherwise, you may experience build up in the future. My favorite leave in cocktail for maintaining moisture is kinky curly knot today with shea moisture curl and style milk. Mixing those two together has enabled me to maintain moisture longer it seems, but if you're hair is easily weighed down, ignore that suggestion.

WavyKfromNJ

I like the Garnier 1 minute mask.  There are several "flavors", are CG, and can be used as a leave in or deep conditioner.