Products are as important as having a hair care routine, so hair not absorbing moisture and products can’t be a good thing. When it comes to moisture, natural hair especially 4C hair needs moisture to activate and define curls, soften the hair, add shine and strengthen it depending on the ingredients in the product.

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On this post we discuss all things moisture and products absorption and reasons why your hair isn’t absorbing and retaining moisture and products. We have different moisturizing products from moisturizing deep Conditioners, leave-in conditioners, hydrating hair mists to moisturizing shampoos and moisture sealants.

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Why Your Hair Isn’t Absorbing Moisture and Products.

What you should know before moisturizing and applying products on your hair.

First things first, you ought to know a few things before moisturizing and using any products on your hair. You need to know the following, if you don’t know already.

Porosity Type.

This determines how you Moisturize and the products you use on your hair. There are three porosity types ; low, medium, high. Each deserves its unique tender, love and care. High porous hair, absorbs moisture and products fast and loses as fast while low porous hair takes longer to absorb moisture and products and doesn’t lose the moisture as fast making it prone to product build-up. Medium porous hair is the easiest to deal with since it absorbs moisture and product at the perfect rate.

When dealing with low porous hair, use lightweight moisturizing products and if you use heavy moisturizing creams like me, a little goes a long way and you might not need to moisturize daily. When wearing protective styles like twists, I moisturize weekly and when wearing my hair out, I do moisturize after 2-3 days. Since, it’s prone to build-up, clarifying once in a while is healthy especially when you’ve been wearing a long term protective hairstyle.

Related post; how to care for low porosity type

When dealing with high porous hair, use moisturizing shampoos, don’t use clarifying shampoos unless when necessary to avoid drying out your hair. When it comes to moisturizing products and sealants, use heavier and creamy ones to lock-in moisture for longer periods. Protein treatments are essential for this type to fill in the open or rather lifted cuticles and repair broken protein bonds.

Related post; how to care for high porosity type.

Products type and how to use each.

If you are starting your natural hair journey, am sure you’re overwhelmed by the different types of conditioners and styling products. How do I know? I once was that girl, clueless and overwhelmed, who knew about different shampoo and conditioner types? Well, not me. The first step is learning the essential hair products, how to use them and the best products for your porosity type.

Here are some of the essential products you must know about;

• Shampoo- shampoo or cleanser’s job is to clean your hair and scalp. There are gentle cleansers, moisturizing shampoos and clarifying shampoo or sulphate shampoos. Gentle cleansers and moisturizing shampoos cleanse without stripping off natural oils while clarifying shampoos or sulphate shampoos are deep cleansers that are perfect to get rid of product build-up and cleanse after a long term protective stylers.
• Deep Conditioners- used after cleansing to deep condition/ moisturize, strengthen the hair and repair damage. We have moisture based and protein based deep Conditioners each playing essential roles to keep your hair healthy.

Related posts;

• What’s deep conditioning is and its benefits
• Everything you should know about moisturizing deep Conditioners.
• Everything about protein treatments and the best protein treatments for damaged hair.

• Leave-in Conditioners – these are moisturizing conditioners that should be used after rinsing off the deep Conditioners and to moisturize in between washes.

Related post: The best moisturizing leave-in conditioners for dry hair.

• Moisture Sealants- used to lock-in moisture after moisturizing. Sealants can be either a butter or an hair oil of choice. Lately, I don’t use moisture sealants since my go to moisturizing leave-in cream works just perfect for me.

Related post; All things moisture sealants and the best butters for natural hair.

• Curl Defining Cream/ Curl Creams – as the name suggests, these products give your curls the definition we all love.

Related post; best curl defining creams for curly hair.

Other hair care products include; edge control gels, mousse, hair styling gels.

Natural Hair Routine.

The third and most important thing you ought to know about and create is a consistent and healthy hair care routine. A natural hair routine is basically how you care for your hair from wash day regimen, day to day hair practices to protective styling. Having a consistent routine helps you know what’s working and not working. If possible get a hair care journal to document your hair care journey. We have a journal for you, get it here.

Related posts;

• Natural hair routine for beginners.
• Why your natural hair routine isn’t working.
• Ultimate 4C Hair Daily Routine For Hair Growth.
• Our Natural hair routine ebook.
• 3 Essential Products for Natural Hair Routine.
• Everything you should know before moisturizing natural hair
• Moisturizing Routine for Dry 4C Natural Hair.

Reasons why your natural hair isn’t absorbing moisture and products.

Product build-up

This is one of the major reasons why your hair isn’t absorbing anymore moisture and products in between washes. When your hair is experiencing product build-up, you’ll notice flakes, curls weighed down and oily hair. The hair and scalp can’t absorb more products since it’s already coated with products. The best way for the products to work is to cleanse your hair and scalp.

High Porosity

If you’ve high porosity, meaning the cuticles are more open then your hair prone to losing moisture fast. This can make it challenging for moisture and products to penetrate the hair shaft effectively. When dealing with high porosity hair, use heavier creams to retain as much moisture and the good stuff that products offer to your hair.

Product Application

How you apply products do matter alot especially if you have dense and thick hair. For dense and thick hair, always apply products on sectioned hair. Start by sectioning your hair into 4-8 parts depending on how thick your hair is. Apply products on a section at a time and when applying moisturizing products, start by spraying your hair with water, until your hair’s damp then apply your go to moisturizer.

Moisture/ Moisturizing Related Posts you might have missed;

• How to keep your hair moisturized for days.
• The best time to moisturize natural hair
• Must have hair moisturizing products.
• How To Moisturize 4C Natural Hair after Washing.
• LOC/ LCO moisturizing methods
• 4C Natural Hair Moisturizing Mistakes to Avoid.
• Go from dry to moisturized hair in just 5 Minutes.