How To Deep Condition Your Hair without "Conditioner"...

This site is all things natural hair and locs and the best way to care for them. The question often comes up...… "Should I put conditioner on my locs?" The answer is often times no, however that is not 100% correct. Our hair faces all the weather conditions and air pollutants that our skin faces, so you should be conditioning your hair just as you protect your skin. When we hear conditioner many of us think of the thick white creams labeled conditioner that we were used to pre-locs.

Lets talk about the definition of a hair conditioner, a product used to improve the feel, texture, manageability, and the appearance of your hair, usually made of fatty acids, humectants and oils. Certain natural oils are humectants, like olive and coconut, honey is a humectant as well. The reason many in the loc'd community do not recommend conditioner is because of the risk of hydral fatigue. Hydral fatigue is when your hair swells eventually leading to damage like over stretched hair that ends in breakage. This condition may occur when that rinse out conditioner is not fully rinsed out, which is easy to do when you have locs because of the thickness of your hair or individual locs.

When I use traditional conditioner on myself or my clients hair, I rinse for a minimum of 10 minutes. I as a Loctician do not recommend traditional rinse out conditioners for those choosing to do their own locs at home, unless you are able to make sure you are able to dedicate the time to make sure it is completely rinsed out. That was part of the motivation behind the creation of the Loc'd Up With Nikki After Mist Oil. It's an "oil" but it is an actual leave in conditioner, so applying it in a small amount daily, delivers those same benefits you got before you were pre-loc'd using traditional leave-ins'.

Now, this post is about deep conditioning so lets get into it! What should you do when, let's say you've been swimming all summer and as you should have been, subsequently washing your hair after each swim, it may happen that you have dull, lackluster locs, or your just think its a good idea to deep condition your locs, I promise there's no bad time to deep condition. When that happens a deep conditioner may be necessary. You can deep condition as often as your washing your loc babies. I wash weekly so I usually deep condition weekly, to add to that I mist and lightly oil my hair daily.

To deep condition your locs, grab some of your favorite oil or oils, or use one of our Loc'd Up With Nikki Oils, warm them or use at room temperature, and coat every loc 2-3x more than what you would usually use. Cover your hair with a plastic cap (or grocery bag if that's all you have on hand), cover that with a towel, or sit under a dryer, or and leave it on for 15-30 minutes, remove the covering and style as usual. Your options for oils are limitless and depend upon your individual hair needs, in my next blog post I will discuss the hidden benefits of commonly referred to oils and how they can benefit you on your loc journey. Remember this: Your hair is your crown that you never remove!