Hair

Conditioner as a Moisturizing Styling Aid?

I was reading a post on the Honey Brown Sugar blog a few weeks ago in which Wes, the young lady who runs it, was discussing how she uses Aussie Moist Conditioner as a leave-in treatment. She explained how in order to combat the frizzies, it is essential to impart moisture in the hair, otherwise the hair will suck up the moisture that's in the air and get poofy. Apparently, Aussie Moist Conditioner is her leave-in of choice. Now, Wes stated in her post titled, "Battling Humidity," that she follows the same regimen as Teri, the author of Tightlycurly.com.

At first I found it strange that ladies were actually using regular conditioner -- the kind you normally rinse out, as a moisturizing leave-in treatment. That was until I recalled how I used to use a conditioner by Infusium back in the day as a leave-in treatment. The only difference was that the conditioner stated on the bottle that it could be rinsed out or left in. Now, this was a long time ago, back when I was relaxed, so unfortunately, I don't remember what the name of the conditioner was. I visited Walgreens the other day to search for it, but couldn't find anything that resembled it, although I did see that Infusium has a leave-in treatment, but it appears to have the consistency of a pure liquid, and not that of a creamy conditioner.

After perusing Tightlycurly.com, particularly the section in which Teri lists a variety of conditioners that can be used to comb through curls and leave them soft and moist (See Combing and Setting Conditioners), I decided to try the conditioner leave-in method on my naturally curly hair. I'm so glad Teri has taken the time to research ingredients and their effect on the hair, because this is definitely not something I'm good at. After jotting down the names of a few conditioners she recommends, I headed over to the nearest Walgreens to get a bottle of conditioner. At first I thought I was going to purchase the Aussie Moist, as it came highly recommended by Wes at Honey Brown Sugar, but I actually ended up purchasing the Totally Twisted Curls and Waves Conditioner by Herbal Essences.

After washing and conditioning my hair in the shower, I then towel dried my hair and applied the Totally Twisted Curls and Waves Conditioner. I used my wide tooth shower comb to remove any tangles, then brushed through my curls with a vent brush (I don't have a Denman brush, which is what Teri recommends using, but my vent brush seemed to do a pretty good job at distributing the product and detangling my curls). Since I washed my hair at night, I allowed my curls to hang loose for a little while (it probably wasn't even an hour), then I twisted my hair into six buns (three on each side of my head), secured them with duckbill hair clips, then put on my satin bonnet and went to sleep. The next morning, I took down my buns, fluffed out my hair, and this is what I got:

My hair looked well conditioned and moisturized for most of the day…
Then by the time night rolled around, my hair was looking a dry, crispy mess!
Although I spritzed my hair with water the following day and reapplied some of the Herbal Essences conditioner in areas that needed it most, my hair didn't have that well moisturized look and feel that I so love. On top of it, my curls didn't pass the "Touch Test." I always ask my husband to touch my hair and let me know what he thinks anytime I try a new product. He was not feeling the dry, crispiness that was my hair. Now, Tracyee, the diva who runs KISS, shared how she uses VO5 Moisture Milks daily as a moisturizer, then seals in the moisture with Aphogee Gloss Therapy Polisher or Avocado Oil. Perhaps that's where I went wrong: I didn't seal in the moisture with oil. Seeing that my curls were not looking or feeling lush with this product, I rinsed it out the following day and did a co-wash to remove any dirt/oil/product, and this is what I got:

My hair sans product

My curls felt soft and were well defined thanks to having the conditioner in my hair for a few days. Apparently, the Herbal Essences Conditioner acted as a great deep conditioning treatment, although it wasn't working too well as a styling/moisturizing aid. I can't really say that this method doesn't work for me just yet, as I plan to try it again, but next time seal in the moisture with some oil. I also may want to try a different type of conditioner, as the Aussie Moist has now piqued my interest. It just sounds moisturizing :-). Until then, I'll just stick with my combo of oil and curl activator gel, because it passes my moisture, look, and touch test!


XOXO