Hair moisture and softness - same difference?

WELCOME to my new followers!!! I don't know that I have any real goals for the amount of followers that follow my blog, but I do appreciate people joining and following, it makes my ranting posting worthwhile. :-)

Onto the topic at hand: Hair moisture and softness.  One of my new goals is to moisturize DAILY. This can be with a spritz of water followed by a leave-in, shea butter or oil. Regardless, my goal is to moisturize daily. Some of you may be thinking: "WHOA Monique, isn't that a bit much?"

Well, let me tell you about my hair: It always feels dry, with the exception of RIGHT after I apply a moisturizer or am doing a DC. Sometimes I wonder if it's ok for my hair to feel this way, simply because it's never not felt this way, with one exception.  Once time last year in October, I applied warmed shea butter to my hair and it felt soft the ENTIRE weekend.  Other than that one weekend, I've never been able to maintain the softness.  I tried it again, but I didn't see the same results.

Do any of you experience this? Do you apply a moisturizing product but see no difference?  Is this something I should be concerned with?

I'm wondering if these issues may have something to do with the quality of the tap water that I use to wash my hair -specifically looking at the hardness of the water.  I work for a water company and have a lot of familiarity with water quality.  Look out for a post on this and an analysis of Philadelphia City Water soon!

6 comments:

  1. Hi: I'm a new follower so I don't know what your hair regimen is. Do you use a shampoo or clarifier on hair frequently? Also, you may be onto something concerning the water quality. I know its something that I want to look into just for curiosity sake. . .

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  2. I have the same problem. I'm also wondering if I could get the moisturizing thing down, if twists and twist outs would look better for longer. I've only tried it once now (see profile pic or here for the whole pic: http://mykraftykreations.blogspot.com/2010/07/so-this-is-me.html).

    I made some whipped shea butter with coconut oil and I'm going to keep trying that while my hair is in afro state, then twist with it and see how it goes.

    I'll be interested in seeing what you discover about the water. But somehow I think for me that it may be more to it than that. Maybe I just need to drink way more water???

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  3. hmm i moisturise daily for this exact same reason... generally it's every day, sometimes twice a day. i alternate betwee using evoo, coconut oil and shea butter to seal, though i think evoo does the job best.

    never thought about water affecting it, i think it's just a property of our hair (mine's 4a/b)that in a 'normal' state, it feels slightly dry to touch.

    I think there are so many factors - are you wearing hats alot (mine seem to help keep moisture in), are you doing protective styles whilst moisturising it (for me flat twists keep my hair super moisturised when i come to take them out), is it hot/humid/dry/cold outside? all these things make a big difference to how moisturised my hair is or isn't.

    basically as long as it doesn't feel crisp to the touch i think it's doing ok...

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  4. When I have my twists in, which is something like 75-80% of the time, I spritz nightly with water and conditioner and follow that up with shea butter or my coconut oil/shea butter mix, focusing on the ends of my hair. I also usually spritz again in the morning. When I'm wearing some other typpe of style, I usually just sprtiz when I feel it's needed, but I don't use any butter because it's too much manipulation and will pull out the curls or mess up the style.

    As for softness, I definitely DON'T have the soft feeling I associate with my hair being straightened, but I think I've realized there is a different *type* of softness my natural hair has, which I get pretty regularly. I do deep condition weekly though, so maybe that's it?

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  5. @ Calalily, I wash my hair and DC weekly. My hair is 4b, kinky.

    @ Libby, Ironically, I do feel like moisturizing shortens the time length that a style lasts. My hair goes back to its 4b self after I moisturize.

    @ Samantha - I feel like your hair always looks SO SOFT. I'm surprised that you write this! I think I don't believe you, lol, jp.

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  6. I totally understand, my hair is that way although it feels a little better when in twists but when it is in its natural state it always feels dry. I also wash and DC once a week. sorry I cant help just posted cause I totally feel you!

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