By Nicole Harmon of HairLiberty.Org
It takes just the right blend of water (for moisture) and emollients (for smoothing) to tame curls and coils. The emollients are the tricky part. Too heavy and they’ll weigh your hair down, too light and you’ll end up with frizz. To find the right leave-ins for your hair, it’s important that you understand your “strand thickness”, which can be categorized as “fine to medium” or “medium to thick”. When you see those words on a product label, they’re not referring to how much hair you have; they’re describing the thickness of each individual strand on your head. The words “coarse” and “thick” are used interchangeably, but they both refer to the size of individual strands of hair.
Your “strand thickness” isn’t determined by your ethnic background. Two women may have similar looking coils, but one woman’s strands might be twice the size of the others. The only way to know exactly where your hair falls would be to visit a trichologist or dermatologist who has a special microscope that measures strand size. Fine hairs are around 60 micrometers in diameter; thick hairs are around 100 micrometers. However, you don’t need to be that exact. The tell-tale sign of fine hair is thick-looking roots with a thin-looking ponytail. If you have fine hair, you’re likely to have a lot of strands. Those strands look nice and dense near the roots, but as the hair grows longer, the relative thinness of the strands becomes more noticeable toward the ends.
The strand thickness slightly varies on different parts of your head, so it can still be difficult to decide how to categorize your hair. Don’t worry about getting too specific, you just need a general idea, so you can find products that make your hair look and feel the way you want.
Choose your leave-in conditioners and stylers based on the emollients that you see in the top 5. If you think your strands are fine to medium, choose products that contain lightweight emollients. If you think your strands are on the thicker side, look for products that contain heavier emollients. Whether you’re using a leave-in conditioner or styler, you need to be able to distribute the product evenly, from root to tip, without worrying that it will leave your hair looking greasy.
Lighter Emollients for Fine to Medium Thickness
Argan Oil
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate
Dimethicone
Grape Seed Oil
Mango Butter
Phenyl Trimethicone
Soybean Oil
Sunflower Oil
Sweet Almond Oil
Heavier Emollients for Medium to Coarse Thickness
Avocado Oil
Castor Oil
Cetyl Esters
Cocoa Butter
Coconut Oil
Jojoba Esters
Jojoba Oil
Olive Oil
Mineral Oil
Shea Butter
* Dimethicone and phenyl trimethicone leave the hair shinier than other ingredients so keep an eye out for those if you want glossy coils and curls.
It will take some trial and error to find leave-ins that you love. Many products contain a combination of light and heavy emollients. This is a good time to read the rest of the product label, not just the ingredients list. The descriptions on leave-in products usually mention “fine” or “thick/coarse” hair.
Ladies, what is your strand thickness and which leave-in works best for you??
Nicole Harmon is a Cosmetic Chemist and the Founder of HairLiberty.org. She has received rave reviews for her seminars on ethnic hair education and science. She’s on a mission to help the Product Junkies of the world save MONEY, sort through marketing HYPE and buy SMARTER! Her new e-book, Coils & Curls: The Hair Product Handbook is available for purchase now!
My hair is very fine 4 type coils but it’s pretty porous and prone to dryness, yet my hair loves thick oils and butters – the thicker the better. The exceptions are mineral oil and heavy cones which my hair hates. Also straight shea butter is not my fave on my hair but my hair loves it for DC’ing or as an ingredient in styling creams. The lightest oil I use is coconut oil – I prepoo overnight with coconut and avocado oil, or camellia or argan oil on blow dried hair. Other than that my staple oils are Shea oil and castor oil!! Can’t.Live.Without.Em!
I have been natural 8 months now. I still have not found the staple products for my hair. I am having a problem with dryness. I haven’t found a good moisturizing shampoo, deep conditioner, and leave-in. Please help! I currently use the Cream of Nature non-sulfate shapoo with argan oil. seal with cocnut oil and olive oil mix. I every other day I spirts with glycerin mix with water. MY hair still feels squeaky clean and feels like it has been stripped after I shampoo. I plan on switching to the Shae moisture shampoo. And try the Giovanni leave-in direct. Could anyone please advise me on what to do. I am getting impatient….
I have fine hair….anything oily is too heavy for my hair…but after reading Leslie’s response…I want to try Mango butter…where do I find it? Thanks ladies!
i saw this back in June and am still sharing it to some new naturalistas. i want to go and purchase all of the thick-hair emollients and then play in my hair. thanks for the great tips!
My hair is very fine but I find that castor oil,cocoa butter, coconut oil, jojoba oil, olive oil and shea butter works wonders for my hair. It weighs my very light hair down during wash and goes. Plus it’s good for length retention. I’ll try some of the lighter emollients.