Over winter break, I finally got my hands on some extra virgin olive oil and some castor oil. The olive oil was just the best looking/price one at the store I was at when I thought abuot it, but the castor oil I specifically went to the natural store near my house to obtain.
EVOO is one of the three oils scientifically proven to have a small enough structure to actually penetrate the hair strand. This is a type of moisture. Most people argue that moisture can only be obtained from water. I completely disagree with that, but I do think hydration can only be achieved through water. Of course, I don't think hydration is necessary in all cases, but I do think some form of moisture are necessary for healthy hair growth.
Because of the penetrating property of EVOO [which is shares with coconut oil, another oil I adore as you all know, and avocado oil, which I have never used] I decided to add it to my leave-in. My leave-in used to be coconut oil, for moisture and grape seed oil for its reported ceramides and sealing properties. Now, I have added EVOO to the mix.
My last post was about flat ironed hair—and I apologize for the lack of pictures [my phone is...broken, driver-ly speaking.]—but I could never keep my flat ironed hair moisturized. The cuticle was just too closed for anything to penetrate. This mixture not only moisturised my hair, making it softer, silkier, shinier and more well defined, but it also made my hair weightier.
I said at least a year ago that I love it when my hair feels full and weighty, because it seems like the moisture has been trapped within my hair and it just feels healthy. Well, when I got home, I put the new mix on 1/4 of my hair, and just castor oil on 1/4 of my hair. When I came back a few hours later, the ponytail with the EVOO on it literally fell, hard, out of the holder. It actually surprised me, and made me jump a little because I expect my hair to be molded to the shape of the holder. I'll get a little swing/bounce, yes, but my hair, especially at the root, does not like to fall. This fell like it was actually wet. My hair clearly loved the EVOO and I will continue to use it every day that I need more moisture.
Castor Oil is packaged in one of two forms. Black, and...whatever non-black is called. Black castor oil is castor oil where the ash from the bean was also added to the mix. It is believed [though not proven] that the ash from the plant is also helpful for hair, so many like to purchase black castor oil. I had no such ideas about the ash, and honestly, it sounds like it smells bad. Do not get me wrong, I will definitely try JBCO or something in the future, but I simply did not feel like it was necessary. Castor oil is naturally yellow-ish and smells very nutty. I'm not a fan of the smell, but it fades quickly. Since I use it at night, I don't have to smell it after putting my scarf on anyway.
The paragraph above mentions me putting castor oil onto 1/4 of my hair. That part of my hair felt a lot softer than the 1/2 control and 1/4 EVOO mix. It felt smoother and was much shinier. I loved the results, because it seemed to really help my cuticles flatten properly. While it felt better than the mix, I knew it wasn't actually penetrating.
So my new routine for when I do not want to add water to my hair is to use my mix and follow it up with castor oil to seal. My ends look healthier and healthier every day.
I also use Castor oil as a scalp massage. I've heard it can help growth, but most importantly I have no oil in my scalp, and I've realised that dry scalp could be causing some of my issues. Now, every night I do a very short scalp massage with a small amount of castor oil, and my roots are seriously loving this new attention. They're much softer and more malleable now, and I have a lot less flakes than I did before. I plan to add castor to my face wash in the future, and I might let you guys know how that works as well.
Overall, though I didn't think this would happen, both of these oils are now my staples and the sheer amount of moisture they've only contributed to my hair makes me much happier with my progress.
I have a new hair product that I will write about in possibly a month, it is a DC and I got amazing results last night, [my mother bought it for me] and I also repurchased coconut milk [Thai Kitchen] and used that. I know that together they resulted in just the best hair ever, but I don't know if one of them contributed more or less, so we'll see!
Have great hair days, lovelies!
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