Jasmine says;
By now we all know that natural hair needs to be sealed with an oil or butter to preserve its moisture. But my question is; which works better? I’ve tried both castor oil and shea butter and I’m kind of on the fence. I’ve heard lately about some naturals making oil mixes (combining several different oils) to seal their hair also. I was just curious as to what works best for your readers. Do they seal with an oil or with a butter? Do they switch it up by season? I’d love to hear their experiences!
Ladies, are you team oil or team butter? Please share!
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It’s whatever I’m feeling. Some days I feel like using oil, other days I feel like using butters…
Depends on what my hair responds to best, and that is dependent on the weather. Right now, I’m using a olive oil/shea butter mix. I hate how on different days, I get different results from the same product. Some days my hair will be soft, and other days it’ll be rough-feeling.
i agree..right now i am using an olive oil/coconut oil/shea butter mix and i love it..
My hair likes oils and I get less buildup than with butters.
I’m using a mixture of whipped shea butter with olive oil, sweet almond oil, coconut oil, and honey. I know it probably sounds a bit excessive but I’ve noticed a difference. It is a little “greasy/oily” during application but it’s worth it for how my hair feels after.
Does the honey make your hair sticky? Or is it such a small amount that it doesn’t make it feel that way?
No, it doesn’t make my hair sticky at all. I use only about a teaspoon in my mixture. But I’ve learned that honey is a natural humectant, which is just a fancy way of saying that it attracts and holds moisture. I’ve attached a few old links about some of its qualities. I couldn’t find the exact article that initially put me on. I believe it was on natural sunshine’s first blog site but I hope these are informative…
http://naturalhairrules.blogspot.com/2009/07/honey-sweet-treat-for-your-hair.html
http://rockyournatural.blogspot.com/2008/09/ingredient-of-day-honey.html
I find that butters keep my hair much more moisturised for longer than just oils, so I use butters.
Most of the time I use a mixture of both. In the warmer months I tend to use oils to seal in moisture, and in the cooler months (no cold weather in Florida) I use butters.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been sealing my hair with Castor Oil. I have noticed a huge difference in my moisture retention. I wish I would have done this a long time ago.
I still love my shea butter though!
After much trial and error, I’ve discovered my hair loves my simple castor and grapeseed oil mix especially in summer. Winter is when I pull the shea butter and a bit of castor, EVO, grapeseed oil and some essential oils out of the cabinet an into the mixer for heavy duty strand love :)
i LOVE castor!!
is your hair supossed to feel like it has a layer of oil on it? I just hate the way it feels and leaves my skin oily too. could thi be because Im using to much oil or that I may need to switch to a butter?
for a long time i had this problem when I first started using oil. make sure you are applying the water when you’re hair is WET. during the week when I wake up i spray my hair with a water bottle. Not soaking wet but damp. I rub some coconut oil and fluff hair in place.
I believe you are using it in access. Once you can hear your hair literally not making a sound ( like when you rub it and you can hear the sort of crunch (lack of better words)once you do not hear that the his is moisturized. You can build easily.. you can not take back unless you wash. So start with less and build. Water, moisturizer and then seal ( I like Castor Oil as my sealant). Hope this helps you out as well.
Thanks ladies ;-)
I seal my hair with butter. I use Kyra’s Ultimate Indulgence natural products. If you are looking for something to keep your hair uber moisturized, try her out! Before I started using her products I had problems with single strand knots, now I have noticed that I rarely have any and my hair stays moisturized for days! All I do is spritz my hair with my olive oil and water mixture and I’m out the door. I use the coconut hair milk as a leave in and then I use the water based mango butter moisturizer which does the moisture and sealing in one.
I would say find a good water based moisturizer to kill the steps of sealing, make sure the butter that you are using has water as the first ingredient and then butter to seal it in.
I know some women who still seal with oil after using a water based moisturizer as well, so just play with it and see what works for you. I dont have to use oil after using my mango butter moisturizer so I can kill that extra step.
I use my oil/water/gylcerin mix with Organic Root Stimulator Carrot Oil and final step of Castor Oil to seal. Every 2 days or so.
Personally I find that butters work better such as Shea Butter. It helps to keep my hair moisturized longer and makes my hair feel much softer. Oil works as well but I prefer butter because it’s thicker.
Assuming we’re talking about natural butters and oils as opposed to blends: Oils have always worked better for me. Shea butter has always just sat on my head, and in fact I only learned recently that when it coems to mixes (homemade or commercial), I do best with 25% shea butter or less. Even my shealoe has to be more aloe than shea if it’s going to work.
Re oils: Castor oil has been a godsend but again, I can’t use it straight because it’s too heavy. The heaviest oils I can use straight are olive and coconut.
Moisturize (Beauticurls) and Seal (Castor Oil)…
i used to use shea butter and while it left my hair soft it left it dull and crusty looking no matter how i mixed. so now i seal with cocnout oil and cocoon it (lol) with a grease. Yes i know, gasp. But it works and my hair stays moisturized and blinging. :)
‘now I seal with coconut oil and cocoon it (lol) with a grease’
:))))))))))))))
I’m going to use “cocoon” from now on Lol!!!!
I alternate between unrefined shea butter and plain, unscented mineral oil (from CVS).
The unrefined shea butter is good for stretching and it moisturizes but I have to reseal about 2-3 days later. At that point I use the mineral oil when I have drenched my hair in moisturizer, applied a little natural oil and then want to seal it all in for the next 4-5 days or so. I don’t apply any product after that until wash day so there is no worrying about whether or not additional moisturizers will penetratae the mineral oil barrier.
Plain mineral oil trumps every other oil I’ve tried for sealing. It’s worked better for me to use mineral oil-free products for moisturizing and then use mineral oil separately as the final step for sealing. It gives good slip too and doesn’t break out my skin like natural oils, even if I apply it directly to my skin (coconut and olive oil = zits all over my typically clear skin).
thats my exact routine…except i replace the mineral oil with petrol jelly… i get better results leaving the petroleum jelly as my last step.
Do you then both use sulfate shampoos to get rid of these products to avoid build up?
i actually dont have that much problem with buildup. I cowash once a week and then wash every 2 to 3. I usually use black soap. which i guees acts as a non stripping clarifier. I also use a sulfate shampoo every now and again and follow up with a good DC. But my hair is thick and stands up to products well.
No, I despise shampoo, it’s a waste of money, might as well buy soap.
Buildup is not an issue unless I just decide not to wash my hair for a month or something.
I use bentonite clay/ACV, it cleanses and softens my hair, makes detangling easier, and it makes a great facial mask. Wash day is now spa day.
Thank you both! I always wonder when people say they use XYZ, how do they use it.
this makes a lot of sense. it’s basically how my aunts use to do my hair as a kid. i have to analyse my hair regimen now and see if i need to do more of this.
Yeah, I realized that I didn’t like mineral oil in my moisturizing products, but alone it is superb for sealing. Old tricks work best sometimes lol
I’m thinking instead of mineral oil they used castor oil, or something w/mineral in it, b/c all i remember about mineral oil is they gave it to me to “clean me out”. aka laxative.
The stuff I use was in the laxative aisle and I actually bought it to clean out my ears. Then I just up and put it on my hair one day and voila lol
I use oil most of the time , by habit. but maybe i’ll start to alternate.
I’ve tried both and I prefer oils. I think the butters I’ve tried (shea and avocado) were too heavy for my hair or resulted in too much build-up or something, so my hair sometimes ended up looking rough and dull. Oils work much better for me. I don’t have a strong preference in terms of which oil I use. I’ve tried coconut oil, sweet almond oil, olive oil… These days I’m using castor oil mixed with a couple of drops of argan oil and that’s been working really well.
On wash day, when I’m doing my style for the next however many weeks, that’s when I’ll use a heavier moisturizer and a butter to seal. Throughout the week, I use oil instead of a butter, because my strands are fine, and I experience less breakage during the application process this way (yes, my strands can often break just from the mechanical damage of applying moisture or oil/butter to nourish it; the irony of this does not escape me). Depending on how my hair is dealing with the weather or how recently my hair was shampooed, I still may have to moisturize and seal with oil both morning and night to keep it happy.
My hair and skin reacts the same way with butter which is dry and greasy. So I use oil when or if I seal my hair.