To pre – poo or not to pre – poo?

This past weekend, before I began to wash my hair with my current installation( yes, I still have my partial weave in… chose to leave it in for another week or so ), I noticed how DRY my hair and scalp was. Like, super dry.

Because I have a partial weave, and I typically flat iron the real part of my hair to blend in with the extensions when  styling, I don’t moisturize as often for two reasons: 1. I don’t want the extensions to become super oily and 2. I don’t want the real part of my hair to look overly greasy.

Now, before my wash days, I haven’t been pre – pooing like I usually do. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the phrase “pre – poo”, its short for pre – shampoo, meaning a moisturizing routine you use before shampooing your hair ( for example coating your hair with olive oil, jojoba oil, etc.) Realizing how dry my hair was this past weekend, I realized that, partial weave or not, my hair was in DIRE need of a good pre – poo treatment! And so the process began.

Heres my five step formula on how to properly pre – poo your hair before either co – washing, or clarifying your natural hair:

1. Make sure you have all of the ingredients you need. Great pre – poo ingredients to use are sealing oils, such as coconut oil ( unrefined ), Olive Oil, Jamacian Black castor oil, etc. Make sure you also have a wide tooth comb for sectioning, and a plastic cap for covering the hair. My personal favorite is coconut oil! Make sure it is always unrefined.

2. Section your hair. I typically section my hair into four sections, since that is what tends to be easiest for me. With my current installation, I simply separated the real part of my hair into two small sections before the process.

3. Coat each section with the pre – poo mix or oil evenly, and twist or braid to prevent tangles or breakage. Pretty self explanatory.

4. Cover hair with a plastic cap and allow your hair to sit under a hooded dryer for 15 minutes. No hooded dryer? No problem! You can either use a blow dryer for approximately 20 minutes, cover without heat for an hour, or simply allow the pre – poo to moisturize overnight. 

5. Follow up with your typical wash routine! 

There you have it! The pre – poo process is such an important part of a naturalista’s wash routine. One of the most important ways to maintain healthy, natural hair is to always moisturize. The more moisture, the better! 😉

Hope you naturals had a great weekend and a wonderful MLK day! Here are a few pictures from a Charity Ball I attended this weekend  in Downtown Detroit for UAW Ford Motor Company. We do it big in the D’!

 

Posted up with my co – worker/ fellow fashion blogger ransackthecloset. Check out her posts on http://ransackthecloset.wordpress.com! 

Share your comments and thoughts below. Always remember: You are Fearfully, Wonderfully and “Beautifully mane.”