Pore clogging oils
We all love a good oil and once you find your holy grail be it castor oil*, jojoba oil* or even just plain olive oil, once you find something that works for you it’s unlikely you will let anything as silly as science get in the way of that *wink*.
You may have seen the post published recently that showed products or ingredients that are pore clogging according to science. Surprisingly to many of us, it was found that coconut oil* is actually quite pore clogging. By comparison mineral oil* and petrolatum are not.
Same thing can be argued for cheap hydrogenated oils over natural hard fats like shea butter* or cocoa butter*. I don’t know about you but for obvious reasons you won’t see me giving up my coconut oil* for petrolatum laden products any time soon!
Have the tests been carried out on black hair?
Is this really relevant when the chemical make up all hair is the same? Actually yes, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that black hair differs a lot from other hair types. It’s shaped differently microscopically, individual strands of hair both curl as well as twist their way out of our scalps, its more prone to breakage and holds less moisture on a good day than other hair types.
So when you see claims that a new miracle oil will make your hair 15 times stronger with several uses, really think about those claims before parting with your cash. A lot of the hair science conducted has been done on non black hair so while a product may work just as well on your curly mane as on someone with straight hair don’t expect exactly the same results. Take everything with a grain of salt but don’t knock things until you’ve tried them.
Conclusion
I could go on and on about things that work great in a lab environment but fail miserably in the real world but I’m sure you get my point now. I’m not trying to make you mistrust science, but rather to trust your gut when it comes to your own head of hair if you are experienced enough at handling it.
Science is a vital part of the hair industry as it will continue to be in the future. And even when it fails at giving us a clear solution to a problem it at least tells us where to look which can be invaluable anyway. Happy hair growing!
I have a very bad case of what to do with my hair I am very depressed and feel lost I can send pictures of whats left of my hair many pictures I see of hair journey the individual hair is already full and good length nothing compared to what I am going through
I’m so sorry Chereta, without knowing what is specifically wrong it will be hard for me and others to give you advice. I can only say hang in there it will probably get better. I didn’t big chop until I had transitioned for 2 years so I don’t know a lot about short natural hair but there are many, many you tube videos out there, have you tried searching on you tube under short natural hairstyles? It does get better, I think back to 2012 when I first started my journey and how hard it was… I felt lost on many days but you tube became my saving grace. Good luck to you.
Just google specifically what you want to know/improve on and you will find there is always help at hand. If you see it as a journey that will bring ups and downs, but still an exciting one, you will get there. It is a learning process. Have faith.x
#dropsthemic I felt this one Alma! Lots of things were put into perspective, especially deep conditioning. Loved the article
Unfortunately I will be sticking to my coconut oil. I react negatively to mineral oil. Eggs with mayo an whatever oil I have at the time work wonders. I don’t trim often. I just did a big chop (got fed up of transitioning). Weekly washing for me (I may be able to stretch to two weeks)
Great article.
I can say that the average hair growth rate was a myth for me. It took me 3 years of being natural, all over root-to-tip heat damage, and silica supplements, to find out my hair can go for 3 months without growth.
Needless to say, I now take one silica pill a day since I began transitioning (June 2014). For the first 5 months, it helped me get to an average 0.5 inch per month. I took a 2 month rest from silica and noticed my hair didn’t grow at all. From December to the end of January 2015 I grew one inch per month.