Haven't checked in for some time, prepooing today with an oil mix on my scalp and EVCO on my ends. Got a nice heat treatment walking around in the sun.
Are you pre pooing overnight each time or just for a few hours before washing? If you don't do overnight, do you sit under the dryer at all? My very first session was Saturday overnight and it was great. I won't be able to do overnight this weekend, so I'm trying to decide if I should just skip it.
I pre-poo every time I wash or cowash. However, on my cowash days (Tuesday's) I sit under my conditioning cap for 20 - 30 mins. My wash days are Saturday's but I will pre-poo Friday evening in preparation for my wash day the next day.
Did an overnight pre poo treatment with The Body Shop's banana conditioner mixed with coconut oil and Vatika Dabur hair conditioner. It gave me optimal results the last time I used it so I decided to revisit it, now I'm just being lazy with washing my hair and all that. Ugh.
Pre pooing with KV Fenugreek Oil on my scalp and EVCO on the length. I added New Era Moisturizer (protein) to the bottom 3rd of my plaits to reinforce my ends.
That is a good question. For me personally, I always pre-poo before I allow water to touch my hair regardless of if I am clarifying or not. I do this to try and combat hygral fatigue.
What is "Hygral Fatigue"?
Hygral fatigue is hair damage as a result of the expanding and contracting of hair due to the uptake and loss of water. The constant expansion and contraction can cause damage to the hair fiber which then weakens the hair cuticle and cortex. As a cuticle becomes damaged, it will eventually be exposed leading to porosity and breakage issues. Two things that no one wants.
How to Prevent It
Preventing hygral fatigue is about maintaining your hair's inner protein structure and decreasing the amount of water that penetrates the hair shaft during the washing process. In her book The Science of Black Hair: A Comprehensive Guide to Textured Hair, Audrey Davis-Sivasothy notes that black hair is extremely susceptible to damage and high-porosity problems and polar oils are the best way to combat them, and more specifically hygral fatigue.
Although all oils are non-polar, some have polar regions and can therefore be termed "polar oils" :sings:: the more you know!). Oils such as coconut oil, almond oil, sunflower seed oil and castor oil are examples of polar oils. What makes polar oils so useful is that they can be rinsed easily from one's hair and can also penetrate the hair shaft allowing a person's hair to be rewetted or remoisturized without subsequent build-up on the hair shaft.