Oil vs. Leave-in Conditioner: What works as a daily moisturizer? - June 1, 2013

[ Hair after using leave-in conditioner; soft & defined! ]

Happy June everyone!!! I hope you all are enjoying the finally warm weather and of course, my blog!

Every head of hair is different; this is what I have been trying to emphasize throughout my natural hair journey and my blog. Curls also change over time, and I've experienced this first hand! After months of trials, tribulations and straight-up frustration and annoyance, I now have a flexible regime going for me, I have a handful of products that I use and I'm able to get the results that I want!

One of my most recent blog entries was about moisturizing your curls and how to tell if your hair is properly moisturized. Well, readers, I'm 6 months into my journey and I may have come to a conclusion that maybe oil isn't the right moisturizer for me and my curls! *GASP* I know, 6 months later eh! Since my big chop, I learned that my hair likes water based AND rich cream styling products but I also have always known that oils are essential for healthy, strong, shiny curls.

However, just last night, I realized that oil may not be a match for my leave-in conditioner! Instead of putting my sweet almond and jojoba oil in my hair before bed, I used my Curl Junkie Beauticurls leave-in conditioner, made with water, mango and Shea butters. This conditioner has more of a watery consistency with lots of "slip". I smoothed it onto my hair in small sections and immediately saw and felt the difference! Instead of just adding shine to my hair like the oil did, my hair was visibly moisturized as in shiny, my curls were more defined and they were moist, soft and untangled to the touch. After saturating my hair with oil, my hair was still always dry to the touch but I figured, you know it's oil, so it must be doing its thing! This random experiment is proof that you never really know until you try! This goes for anything! As long as the product, tool and/or routine is good (healthy and non damaging) for your hair, you have nothing to lose by trying it out! I would have never guessed that leave-in conditioner on dry hair could be a more effective moisturizing method for me. I'm glad I decided to stray from my regular oil path because I now found a new product that gives my hair what it wants and needs. Hopefully, I will see progress in terms of my hair texture after using this method for a few weeks. I will keep you posted on what happens! As always, thanks for reading! :)