Moisturize, Seal, then Heat? Introducing the Deep Moisturizing Treatment

I feel like things are headed in the right direction with regards to my skin care journey.  So now I'm turning my sights back to focusing on my hair.  I've been coasting for a while with my hair journey and progress has been pretty stagnant.

I figured that it's best to jump back on the bandwagon by going back to the basics.  In search of a little inspiration, I headed over to YouTube. The intention was to uncover a different technique that could make a huge difference in my moisturizing and sealing regimen.

Charisse Christine (the woman who introduced me to this new method).

Little did I know that, moments later, I would be introduced to a method that I call the "deep moisturizing treatment."
 The ingenious YouTuber who created this method did so because she needed something to help products to penetrate her low porosity hair.  Low porosity hair can be both a blessing and a curse.  We all want a tight, compact cuticle layer.  Whenever we see a close-up image of a damaged hair strand, the first thing you notice is the lifted, damaged, cracked cuticles.

We try our hardest to correct that situation with healthy hair practices.  We deep condition, incorporate protein and eliminate direct heat.  All this we do in the name of smooth cuticles.  But then something happens.  It seems harder and harder for our hair to retain moisture.

How can that be?

Our perfect cuticles have now become an obstacle. Products have difficulty penetrating the strand and conditioners that we developed to bind to damaged areas of the hair, are less effective.  The biggest concern with low porosity hair is maintaining daily moisture.  I'd moisturize and seal, but the results never seemed to last.  Luckily for me, high humidity levels in the air helped a little.  But now that summer's gone, I'm even more concerned.

Which is why I'm so excited to try this deep moisturizing technique.

The process starts off like your typical moisturizing session we all would.  First Charisse adds moisture by using Shea Moisture's Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner.  Next, she layers on a lightweight oil. Sweet Almond oil is her current favorite.  But it's what she does next that makes things interesting.

Her final step isn't sealing with a heavier product, instead, she chooses to utilize indirect heat in the form of a portable hair dryer bonnet.  The heat produced by the hair dryer allows the cuticle layer to open (like when we deep condition).  Lifting the cuticles allows for the product to better penetrate the thirsty strands.

According to Charisse, this simple tweak in her moisturizing regimen has made a dramatic difference in how her hair feels.  She boasted that her hair seems stronger and more moisturized as a result of applying this method.  One thing I picked up in the video is that she claims to wake up with soft, moisturized hair in the morning.  This probably means that she uses this method before bed.  Her hair is tied down while she sleeps allowing the cuticles to seal back up.

I'm only speculating but that would make sense.

Since I've just touched up my new growth, I suspect that my hair is back on the higher porosity end of the spectrum until I can fortify it again.  Even so,  I'm still going to try this method anyway.  I think it could benefit both low & high porosity hair.  If the hair is low porosity and damaged, I might reach of a moisturizer with light protein.  Or perhaps, I'll mist the hair lightly with a protein leave-in before layering a moisturizing cream and oil.  The key is to seal the cuticle layer once again after the moisturizing process is complete.

Take a look as Charisse explains this process in detail.