Moisturize vs Nourish
Moisturise or nourish? Nourish or moisturise? It's often a great mix of the two... we explain it all to you!
You probably already know the answer to this question: moisturise AND nourish your hair... but do you know the difference between these two terms? The most common problem for curlies is dry hair, and it's important to define whether it's a lack of hydration or a lack of nourishment: they are two very different problems (well, we'll give you that... for us curlies it's both ;-)! Did you know that hair is like us?
Dehydrated hair needs to "drink", and Malnourished hair needs to "eat" (and curly hair needs both!).
How to recognize dehydrated hair?
In general, it is dull, rough, electric, tends to "swell" in contact with humidity (as it is very porous), and is full of frizz - in short, everything we run from ;-). If you often use a hairdryer or a straightening iron, or if you colour or straighten your hair, there is a good chance that your hair is suffering from dehydration - and therefore lacks water (it is "thirsty")! If left unchecked, your hair will become increasingly porous, and therefore brittle. Dehydration is the most common cause of low hair tone and shine! And while 10% water is enough to moisturise the skin, hair needs 15-17%.
How to moisturise your hair?
The first (and most obvious!) thing is to drink lots of water, at least 1.5 litres a day - yes, it works! Next, for your hair routine: use aloe vera treatments, and also treatments that will "seal in moisture", i.e. hold the moisture in the hair, capture the water molecules and lock them into the hair:
- First of all, use a shampoo that is moisturising and sulphates-free (as sulphates dry out the scalp and hair and slow down the production of sebum). Our Magic Fig shampoo contains vegetable glycerin, which is a moisturising and humectant agent, i.e. a substance that helps to retain water: like tiny sponges, its molecules attract and retain water from the inside and outside, then fix it in the cortex (the structure made of keratin proteins in the hair).
- Then remember to moisturise your hair daily, not just when you wash it, with a daily moisturiser!Properly moisturised, hair becomes shiny and soft to the touch, and won't swell at the slightest hint of humidity! So bye-bye frizz!
How to recognize a hair in lack of nutrition?
We all know it because we experience it every day, curly hair naturally lacks nutrition... simply because it produces less sebum than others! And then there are other factors that contribute to hair malnutrition: bleaching, straightening, pollution and even "junk food". Generally, malnourished hair is very dry, fragile, split and breaks easily. In short, it is "starved"!
How to feed your hair?
- Malnourished hair constantly needs vegetable oils such as prickly pear oil, avocado oil and jojoba oil, and also fats such as shea butter and coconut oil. So treat them with nourishing masks and oil baths:
- First of all: use a nourishing shampoo, and most importantly: do a mask! Every time you wash, after or even before shampooing, it's man-da-to-ry. Our Intense Mask Care, which moisturises AND nourishes deeply, contains two ultra-nourishing plant oils: prickly pear oil and avocado oil. Let the mask rest under a warm towel to increase its effect!
- Then, take oil baths by leaving our Care Oil on for half an hour to an hour before shampooing (or even overnight)! Well-nourished, the hair will be protected from external aggressions, and will become stronger and more resistant over time!