Dry, dry locs!

[KnottyAuthor]

I have to agree totally with Denny-shea butter and whipped anything would be a formula for build up 2/3 yrs down the line. With locking, you get to let go of the product mentality and learn that less is more and that less is enough! Save it for your skin! My skin loves it too-but your locks will not.

[creativity]

Regular castor oil has helped me so much. Just washed my locs last night and applied castor oil while damp. My hair likes it very much.

[SilverLotusGirl]

So castor oil in the winter isn't going to have the moisture in my hair sucked out into dryer winter air?

[thefineprint]

I took the advice of so many ladies here and created a spritz of water (about 70-80% of the mix is water) aloe vera juice, glycerin, castor oil, jojoba oil and coconut oil to use after a warm shower every few days. my locks have been so soft ever since

[teendoc]

Hi Everyone,

I need a little guidance. I've worn locs for ages. I think it was 1997 that I started locing, so my locs are mature. Unfortunately I've noticed in the past year that my locs are increasingly dry and brittle. I have had major breakage at the crown. By the time I lost around 10 locs, I started to try to see if I could figure out what the problem was.

First I thought it was not going to the loctician as regularly as in the past. Next I thought it could be more frequent coloring of the roots-3-4 times a year (attempting to cover the gray). But now I think it is something else. No matter what I do or use, within a week of shampooing, conditioning and twisting, the locs start to feel hard and "crispy."

I've been using what I thought were good products. To cleanse, I have used various shampoos like Jane Carter's sulfate free formula, Carols Daughter's new Monoi Oil Shampoo and Darcy's Botanicals cleansing cream. I condition with Oyin's Honey Hemp conditioner sometimes mixed with the Monoi conditioner. And for twisting I use Oyin's sugar berries pomade mixed with their whipped pudding. I've also used Jane Carter's loc twisting cream as well.

I think I have a ton of good products in the line-up but my locs are getting brittle and dry very easily. Should I try olive oil treatments or other remedy? Would you suggest product changes? I'm just not sure what to do.

Thanks in advance!

[Denny]

Could be the colouring, you might have to cut down on that if you are using permanent colours. How often do you do hot oil treatments, what is your water intake and diet like? If you are using the same products and getting the dry results seems a change up might be in order as well, tho these seem like good products to me.

[teendoc]

Hi Denny,

It has been a good while since my last color, but I do recognize that this might be an issue. I've got no color scheduled any time soon since it really doesn't help too much with the gray anyway. Those little suckers still come up around the hairline and don't absorb the color very well at all.

And truth is I almost never do hot oil treatments. When I more diligent in going to the loctician, the locs never seemed to need it. In about 15 years of loc'ing, I've only had maybe 10 hot oil treatments.

But last year I developed a lot of health problems due to lung disease. I ended up on high dose steroids for most of the year. And though I stopped the steroids in December, they seemed to have pushed up my blood pressure requiring medication that I hope to get off in time. So I don't know if the steroids or the illness played a role as well. That's why I'm trying to figure out how best to repair this damage.

Water intake and diet are fine. Thanks for the reply.

[Cbeandelight]

where do you buy the good organic essential oils?

[Denny]

But last year I developed a lot of health problems due to lung disease. I ended up on high dose steroids for most of the year. And though I stopped the steroids in December, they seemed to have pushed up my blood pressure requiring medication that I hope to get off in time. So I don't know if the steroids or the illness played a role as well. That's why I'm trying to figure out how best to repair this damage.

Water intake and diet are fine. Thanks for the reply.

This might be the cause - steriods can be damaging for hair. Most people I know that have to take them end up with hair problem. Perhaps its time to introduce hot oil treatments into your schedule. No harm in trying, hope it works.

[samchat123]

Not sure if this has been suggested, but try washing your hair with a really good clarifying shampoo, something like neutrogena (sp) anti-residue; to remove all products that may be coating the hair, rinse thoroughly, then saturate your hair with rose water and let it air dry or do a braid out. lightly mist it a couple of times a day with the rose water and you will notice a difference. This works better than anything I've tried. Castor oil does work, but leaves my hair feeling dry and hard the next day. Rosewater is really cheap at the indian store, less than $2 a bottle.