*Requested* Train Your Hair For Moisture Retention | Long 4C Hair Haircare

We all have heard the Mantra that after hair is naturally dry. This is not entirely accurate, because sebum does not fully coat our strands. The water held within afro hair rapidly evaporates to avoid this from happening. We must replace the water as well as mimic the overall effect of sebum. This is how you maintain the softness of your strands. The two main goals, when training your hair to hold and moisture, is 1. to get water into your strands 2. to prevent the water from evaporating. So how do you get water into your strands? You have to focus on the type of water you are using heart or mineral. Heavy water will prevent your hair from being properly hydrated. Try to use filtered water at best, adding humectants to your water, such as vegetable glycerin or a mucilage like slippery elm, will help the water penetrate your strands deeper. When you factor in porosity opening your cuticles is necessary for both low and high porosity hair using heat. After you've added your water and leave-in conditioner will allow for deeper strand penetration to prevent water from evaporating. You turn to emollients. Your first emollient is your leave-in. Conditioner leave-in conditioners have two jobs: one the help to hold the water on the Strand, which gives the water more time to absorb into the Strand too. They lubricate the inner and outer strand to prevent friction that can lead to breakage and strand splits, always add. Leave-In conditioners to recently hydrated hair, never add a leave a non-dehydrated or dry hair. Your next step to delay water evaporation is adding a water insoluble layer. This can be oils, butter, gel or grease it's difficult for water molecules to pass through these substances. Therefore, evaporation takes longer and your hair stays softer. The last step is to close your cuticles. This can be optional for low porosity hair, because your cuticles can easily close at room temperature. However, for high porosity, it may be a necessary step, use a low, PH solution to close your cuticles. Finally, time water will eventually evaporate from your hair, but how long it takes will depend on how well you seal the water into your hair, monitor your hair to see when it starts to feel like straw, it's usually around three days after wash day. At this point, you will want to rehydrate your hair. You may not need to add more leave-in conditioner, but you will need to seal the new water in with an oil or butter.