Our stylish locks can last for a long time with proper maintenance. But still, many people find it hard to keep them moisturized, especially during the hot summer. Once your locs lose moisture, they are prone to dryness, breakage, and thinning.
So how to moisturize locs? Are there some common mistakes we should avoid? If they’re already dry, are there ways to recover their health and shine again? Keep reading to learn all about proper loc maintenance!
7 Ways to Moisturize Dry Locs
Firstly, follow me to know 7 practical ways to care for your locs. Let’s start to make your locs amazing again!
Regular Moisturizing
The first step to moisturize locs is spritzing them with water to get them fully wet before washing them. Then rub the locs smoothly till our scalp with regular shampoo. When washing we can focus more on the roots of locs to make sure it’s clean enough.
And for the choice of shampoo can simply use sulfate-free ones to maintain locs color better. Don’t make the mistake of using many heavy products and different buildup. This is a very simple and useful way to clean and moisturize locs regularly.
Leave-In Conditioner
Another way to avoid dry locs is to use a leave-in conditioner along with regular shampoo. After using shampoo to remove residues from locs, it is common to put on some conditioner for locs.
Leave-in conditioner is quite easy to use for your locs to keep healthy and look more natural.
First of all, make sure the leave-in conditioner is specially formulated for locs. While using the conditioner, we can put more on the dryer part of the locs and avoid the scalp part. Then keep them stay on the locs for several minutes while rubbing gently.
Natural Oils
Like conditioners, natural oils are popular and helpful for moisturizing locs. It is vital to lock in moisture and make our locs sheen. There are several natural oils to choose from, such as coconut oil, olive, jojoba oil, and essential oils.
Coconut oil and olive are lighter ones that absorb easily to moisturize your locs. While jojoba oil is a heavier one and can even protect against bacteria.
When we use natural oils can leave it for about 30 minutes which is longer than conditioner. And can also rub a few drops onto our palms to massage our scalp gently.
Deep Conditioning
There are always areas in the locs that aren’t cleaned enough by simple shampoo. If we wear them for a long time, the locs will become hardened and the hair will gradually lose its luster.
So regular deep cleaning and conditioning are quite required after a period. But not recommended for starter locs, as may ruin them with improper conditioning.
For mature locs with about 1 year, deep conditioning will help to recover locs to moisturize. By keep applying and rinsing deep conditioner every 1-2 weeks, our locs will become as shiny as new ones!
Detox Treatment
Detox treatments are a great way to get rid of residue and the buildup in our locs. Detox can not only use for our bodies to lose weight but is also good for our scalps to keep healthy.
It will cleanse your scalp and locs by removing the impurities that harm your hair. Among many detox treatments, apple cider vinegar fits our locs practically well.
Apple cider vinegar is a type of fermented juice that comes from crushed apples. When we rinse locs with it, it can be beneficial for killing the microbes that stink and dandruff in your locs. But be aware to dilute it with water when using it as it is acidic.
Aloe Vera Gel
Aloe vera gel is an effective natural watery gel that comes from the aloe vera plant. It can use to be a natural cleanser to put on the locs and scalp. An aloe vera gel shampoo can help to reduce dandruff that relieves our itchy scalp.
And aloe vera gel can also act as a conditioner to restore our locs strength and beauty. It benefits to moisturize our dry locs and may help to keep the natural hair oil in balance. Besides, aloe vera gel can get from aloe vera plants
Butters
A final way to moisturize your locs is butter. Butter has been used for skincare for a long time. But in fact, they can also improve our dry or split locs. They not only moisturize but also perfectly recover damaged locs.
Almond butter and cocoa butter are some of the common butter for locs. After shampooing the locs, warm up some butter on our palms and spread them throughout our locs.
After a while rinse thoroughly the butter. By using them for several weeks, our locs will become softer and smoother than before.
Things To Do
Besides the above ways, there are also some tips to keep in mind for caring locs.
Healthy Diet
Even when we try every effort to moisturize our locs, many overlook a healthy diet! To get our locks looking healthy and shiny, high-quality protein is a very important part of our diet.
Healthy proteins such as eggs, fish, organic meat, soybean, nuts, and black beans are highly beneficial to hair health. Another key factor is daily water intake.
Drinking water hydrates our bodies and boosts our metabolism. Normal metabolism is conducive to the absorption of nutrients into the body. Drinking enough water every day will surely keep our locs far away from dryness.
Hydration Treatments
If you want to save your dry locs right away, getting hydration treatments is quite helpful. These treatments are one of the most popular at hair salons as they’re convenient and effective.
The most common hydration treatment will start with hair musk. Place moisturizing conditioner on the locs, then heat them with steam. Through this treatment, nutrients will penetrate the locs and leave them supple.
Cover Your Locs
Cotton pillowcases and sheets tend to cause a lot of dryness and lint. So we need to keep in mind that covering the locs with the right fabric when sleeping will be beneficial. The dryness and lint from cotton pillowcases or sheets can easily transfer to our locs.
Wearing a satin scarf or silk hair band when sleeping can keep your locs soft and moisturized. Also, when we need to bring extra locs during travel or store them long term, remember to wrap them in silk or satin. This will protect them and prevent breakage over a long time.
Looking for Help
There are always some new techniques being discovered. You can seek professional advice or keep up with loc specific forums like those on Reddit. They are full of useful experiences and techniques shared by many people.
If you are looking for a particular style or product, can also read people’s feedback and reviews online.
Pay attention to locticians as they may have experience with the products you’re looking for. This way, you’ll be more educated on the product before you start to use it.
Things to Avoid
Finally, what mistakes should we avoid to keep your locs moisturized and healthy?
Avoid Overwashing
With summer coming, we may easy to feel nasty especially going to parties and exercising. Wearing long or heavy locs will feel even nastier.
Commonly, we tend to take showers and wash our locs more frequently than before.
Although washing every day will keep us clean and refreshing. But overwashing may wash away all the oils, which can lead to dry brittle locs and even heavy breakage.
So washing our locs once a day or every other day is good enough in summer to keep our locs clean.
Avoid Heat Treatments
Heat treatments help to bring versatility to the styling of our locs. But heat treatments such as flat irons, curling irons, and other chemical tools will also lead to some heat damage.
It can be short-term damage such as dry and less shiny. And also can be long-term damage such as brittle and broken.
Doing heat treatments once or several times every year will not cause big problems for our locs.
Doing some deep conditioning or hydration treatments can help to reduce the damage. Yet, overheating treatments are not easy to heal and recover in a long time.
Don’t Overdo
In the end, don’t overdo our locs with oils or products. Keep putting many too much in our locs can lead to dandruff development, hair loss, and even harmful to health. Besides, we should choose the right hair care products depending on our locs quality.
For example, essential oils are not very suitable for people with oily scalps. And overdoing with some moisturizing products can result in drier locs too. So avoid using the wrong ones and not overdo help to keep our locs healthy.
How to Moisturize Locs
Above is a summary of some of the most useful and practical ways to maintain your locs. Moisturizing methods are constantly changing with new research. It could very well be that while you’re reading this article, new ways are being developed.
Leave a comment to share your helpful ideas below.
