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The Arctic Blast has gotten most of the country in its grips and as we fight to stay warm and dry, our hair needs to be our concern too. To combat the dryness, we have to start thinking about adding new items to our hair care repertoire to stave off the bitter cold and dryness.
Who wants to roll into spring with neglected hair? I sure don’t and neither does any natural as dry hair can also become brittle hair or damaged hair. Keeping our hair moist is critical to maintain healthy hair so as we embark on fall we need to up our game to keep the strands moisturized and elastic.
Glycerin
Glycerin is a humectant designed to bring moisture in and retain it. It can be natural or synthetic and if natural it will usually be mentioned on product labels coming from vegetable oils or animal fat. It is water-soluble and can easily be added to water or hair care products to add moisture in your strands.
There was some hoopla about it not being good for winter but as The Natural Haven has quickly dispelled that theory more Naturals are using it in their hair products as well as their spray bottles year round. Fall is the perfect time to start adding glycerin to your hair routine but there are some things you need to know about it.
- Glycerin needs to be mixed with water, 1 part glycerin to 3 or 4 parts water but since it can feel sticky adding other ingredients like oil and/or a conditioner is necessary.
- A little goes a long way so a few drops to a spray bottle with other ingredients like oil and conditioner along with the water is perfect.
- Glycerin is great for natural hair because it can prevent breakage while combing but not on relaxed hair. (Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists pg 39-52 1985)
- It is perfect for leave-ins because it is highly soluble in water so you get better results with leave-ins and not so much with rinse out products.
- Glycerin can penetrate the hair cuticle and can strip away any chemical colors that are present. “According to curl chemist Tonya Mckay Beckar, if you use a semi-permanent hair color, glycerin is able to strip away the color quite easily. If you use permanent hair colors, the particles are much smaller and absorb more quickly. After the first washing, the color particles are absorbed into the hair shaft and glycerin will not be able to strip the color away.” Livestrong.com
You can use it in your spray bottle or just look for products that contain it, but make sure it is within the first five ingredients for optimal effectiveness.
Have you tried the powers of glycerin this fall and winter?
Sabrina
