Hello Naturalistas! In my last post, I discussed the different types of hair porosities and how they affect the moisture entering the hair shaft. Hair porosity, ultimately, defines how moisture and different products penetrate the hair and how well the hair retains that moisture. Different methods of locking in moisture depends on the type of porosity hair you have. The L.O.C. and L.C.O. methods are a few ways to keeping hair silky soft and maintaining the balance between healthy moisturized hair or dry, brittle tresses.
The L stands for either Leave In Conditioner or Liquid, and some people choose to make their “L” a liquid leave in or simply use water to open up the hair shafts. The “O” stands for oil and the “C” for conditioner. People with high porosity hair tend to use the L.O.C. method, those with low porosity hair use the L.C.O. method.
Finding what works for my hair has truly taken some trial and error! Research is always important when selecting products. In the beginning, I used Jane Carter’s “Revitalizing Leave In Conditioner”, Cantu’s “Argan Leave In Conditioning Repair Cream”, and Jojoba Oil to seal in the moisture. This combination was a bust and ultimately left my hair feeling dry and the completely opposite from what I was expecting. Then, I realized that if all the products I used together were from different brands and had different ingredients, I had to be sure that they would work well together. I took a small amount of each product to test my theory out, and I confirmed my suspicions: My products just sat on top of my hair instead of dissolving together. They worked well individually, but together they just weren’t compatible.
I switched up my routine and tried some products that were recommended to me by a few of my close friends and ended up with a different result. I switched my leave in from Jane Carter to Carol’s Daughter’s “Hair Milk Refresher Spray”, my conditioner to Camille Rose “Curlaide Moisture Butter”, and switched from Jojoba Oil to a generic Avocado Oil. This combination of products worked wonders and I only had to moisturize my hair only 2-3 times a week compared to almost everyday.
These were just some of the products that worked for my type 4 hair, but every hair texture and type in not the same! I encourage you play around with different products and experiment to find the combination that’ll leave your locks nourished and healthy.