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Hey curl friends! So I have been noticing a little trend about the natural hair videos that have been popping up on my YouTube homepage as of late. It seems as though a lot of naturalistas have been creating videos around the concept of no longer using oils and butters in their hair and partaking in #the30DayHairDetox. Well if you have been here for any length of time, you know that for the most part I think coconut oil is BAE, so naturally all of this talk piqued my interest and I had to find out exactly what this buzz was all about.
As far as I can tell, it seems as if a lot of folks out here have latched on to one or two sound bites and skipped over the most important details. I’ve done a little bit of goggling, watched a few (or 15) various youtube videos and I’m here to tell you what I found out.
So apparently back around 2015, Aishia Strickland, @chocolatecurlsbeauty, wrote an article for blackdoctors.org titled “10 Things Professional Hairstylists Want Us To Stop Doing To Our Hair”. I wasn’t able to find this exact article, but I was able to find a comment thread and from what I can tell, the ten things came from hairstylist Aeleise Jana, @hairloveart. One of those being “Stop with the coconut oil and Shea butter. A quality hair product costs more than $10 and an excellent stylist will charge accordingly.” At some point these two teamed up to form @iamblackgirlcurls and use their platform to develop and share resources for both stylists and consumers. This was during the time when hair challenges were all the rage in the natural hair community, so they decided to create The 30 Day Hair Detox.
Sounds all so good so far, but why are they telling me to get rid of my beloved coconut oil?
Well after watching their video, The Real 30 Day Hair Detox, I have a much better understanding of what these ladies are saying. So basically it’s 30 days of
- No Raw Shea Butter
- No Raw Coconut Oil
- No Raw Castor Oil
- No Eco Styler Gel
- No products that have any of these oils in the first 5 ingredients
Think of this as an elimination diet. Oils and butters do have their place, and that place “is formulated as ingredients in quality products.”
So what can you use on your hair during the 30 day hair detox? Shampoo, conditioner and styler. To quote one of the ladies, “the underlying theme of this challenge is to really just wash your hair. With SHAMPOO. And to use simple conditioning and styling products with water based and water soluble ingredients.” i.e. Botanical gels. Three points to the why of this challenge;
- Hair should be simple
- Moisture = Water
- There are better products than the Shea based ones.
The idea being that this time is for you to get to see your real hair and that once you remove the layers and layers of buildup the hair is able to absorb moisture again. Now the idea of “seeing your real hair” is a bit of a foreign concept for me. But after seeing some of the comments, things like how do you know how often to wash your hair, just kind of blew my mind. My first instinct is to say both of these are common sense. Like sis, how can you go your whole life and not know your hair without products or how often you should wash your hair? But I took a beat, and had to realize that if you are someone who only ever had their hair done in a salon, and never gained from the experience of doing your own hair, I can see how this might happen.
So what do I think of this whole no oils, no butters, 30 day hair detox? I think it makes sense because I think they are speaking to the naturals who don’t ever use a cleansing shampoo (only co-washing) while constantly applying raw oils and butters and then go a month or longer without washing their hair. BTW, this is another thing that blows my mind, a MONTH, like how and why? It makes sense that this type of routine would cause build up, preventing your hair from being able to absorb moisture and result in it feeling dry.
Will I be doing the #30dayhairdetox? Probably not. Because to some extent, I am mostly following this hair philosophy. While I do use co-washes, I try to make sure they have a cleansing ingredient. I also alternate with a general cleansing shampoo, like Carol’s Daughter Wash Day Delight Water to Foam Shampoo or the Briogeo Scalp Revival Charcoal + Coconut Oil Micro-exfoliating Scalp Scrub Shampoo. And often I will just decide which type of cleanser to use depending on what I feel like my hair needs on wash day. I also wash my hair every 7 days! And you already know how I go on and on about cleansing your scalp, it’s just basic hygiene for your hair. The only raw oil I’ve ever used is coconut oil and I haven’t applied it directly to my hair in a very long time. As for the stylers I use, and yes a leave-in is considered a styler, most of my favorites like, Kinky Curly Knot Today and Uncle Funky’s Daughter Curly Magic are botanical, water soluble products. Same goes for the Qhemet Biologics Cocoa Tree Detangling Ghee and Moringa Tree Conditioning Ghee.
However there is one component of the @iamblackgirlcurls hair method that I would like to try adding to my routine. And that is to fully dry the hair under a hooded dryer to lock in the style and to not use water to refresh. The idea being once you have properly locked in your style, you shouldn’t need to rewet the hair to refresh. I did hear mention of being able to use a water based mousse to refresh like The Doux Mousse Def Texture Foam. I do not have the space for a hooded dryer, but I’m sure I can make do with diffusing with my Dyson Supersonic hair dryer.
Other Products I’m loving:
- Honey’s Handmade Pumpkin Kokum Chocolate Deep Conditioning Hair Mask
- Honey’s Handmade Honey Healthy Hydration Hair Mask
- Honeys’ Handmade Just a Minute Mini Series Conditioners
- Beekman 1802 Goat Milk Shampoo Bar Trio
- Qhemet Biologics Egyptian Wheatgrass Cleansing Tea
Recommended Videos
That’s it for this #ManeMonday, I hope you found this information helpful. Let me know if you will be trying the 30 day hair detox or if there is absolutely no way anyone could convince you to give up your oils and butters! In the grand scheme of things, it’s really all about learning what works best for your hair!
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