When you touch your hair do you feel a brittle bale of hay or juicy, succulent locks? Though we may desire it, the unfortunate truth is that for many of us, the latter isn’t an easy feat. Due to our natural kinks and coils, the oils from our scalp tend to have a difficult time spreading evenly from root to tip. This makes our hair prone to dryness and breakage.
Regardless of whether your hair is straight, tightly or loosely curled, chances are it needs to be moisturized regularly. Luckily, in recent years the black hair section of the drugstore has expanded rapidly to meet this need. But now there’s a new problem of what to choose.
If you’re trying to find good quality and reasonably priced moisturizers, look no farther. The following products are literally the cream of the crop.
Taliah Wajid Great Detangler leave in conditioner
This product gets 5 stars for doing exactly what it claims. Perfect for smoothing out stubborn knots, this leave-it has a high liquid content that makes it applicable for both wet and dry hair. In addition to the regular good stuff like vitamin E, shea butter, and aloe vera it also has silk protein which improves the strength of your hair.
Tresemme Luxurious Moisture Conditioner
I’ve never failed to be satisfied with this product. Not only does it smell excellent, but it softens the hair on contact. Its advanced moisturizing system infuses the hair with vitamin e without weighing it down. Also, at $6.00 for a 28oz bottle, you get a lot of bang for your buck.
Alikay Naturals Shea Yogurt Moisturizer
Few two-in-one products perform both functions equally, but this one here…this is bae. If I had to guess, I’d say that the airy whipped cream consistency is what helps this product to moisturizes and seal so fantastically. The main ingredient, shea butter has great properties that heal, grow, restore and add shine to your hair. Once upon a time, I used to moisturize my hair, only for it be completely dried out by the next day. But since I started using this product, I can now go at least 3 days before I must moisturize again. It is very rich and heavy, so you shouldn’t use that much if you want to avoid greasy hair.
Carols Daughter Black Vanilla Hair Smoothie
Looking for an intensely moisturizing deep conditioner? You can’t go wrong with Carol’s daughter hair smoothie. The product is very thick and full of natural and organic ingredients that make it a great S.O.S treatment for dry and damaged hair. This would be a good hair mask to reach for after a protective style.
TGIN Butter Cream Moisturizer for Natural Hair
Use this dense creme as a daily moisturizer to hydrate your hair or set your twist/braid out. It nourishes with a rich blend of coconut butter, shea butter, olive oil and vitamin e oil. I find that this product wants to be absorbed as quickly as possible, so I’d recommend this for high porosity hair types.
Rapunzel Hair Lotion
A newcomer in the game, Rapunzel’s hair lotion is the quintessential versatile black hair moisturizer. This isn’t your mom’s pink lotion. It has a light formula, despite being rich and creamy—making it ideal for all hair types. Active ingredients are avocado oil, shea butter, and stearyl alcohol (a thickener agent that produces a silken feel). This is the only product on the list that you can’t get at your local drugstore.
Oils
It’s very important to include a raw oil or blend of oils into your hair moisturizing routine. Use them in your hot oil treatments or as a ‘sealant’ after you have applied a leave in, lotion or butter of your choice. These three are staples:
Castor oil: This thick oil is an ace at locking moisture into your hair and smoothing the cuticle down. It has also been shown to benefit the scalp with its anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory features.
Jojoba oil: Jojoba oil is very light and mimics the oil that comes out our scalp (sebum). I love it because it has a molecular structure that allows it to enter the hair to moisturize it from the inside.
Sweet Almond oil: Sweet almond oil contains a variety of vitamins and proteins that add shine and luster to hair.
At the end of the best way to achieve moisturized hair is to learn what your hair needs. Pay close attention to the ingredients that are listed in the products you’re using and stay true to your regimen. Over time you will notice a difference.
