Hi! My Name Is Kemi And I'm An Oil Junkie :)

Lol! I was staring at my dressing table one day and just shook my head laughing at myself. There was a time in my life when my dressing table would groan under the weight of my lotions and perfumes. These days, it's groaning under the weight of hair products - particularly oils!! I removed every single one of them and 'paraded' them on my dining table.

I sort of arranged them in categories of how I typically use them or what they are meant for. For instance pre poo, essential oils, carrier oils etc

So in the Pre Poo corner, we have:

1. Bringraj Hair Oil - Bringraj (Eclipta Alba) Literally translated to mean 'King Of The Hair' This herb has been used for thousands of years to grow, thicken and condition hair.

2. Brahmi Amla Hair Oil - This is a mix of 2 other popular Ayurvedic herbs. Brahmi (Gotu Kola) has been used for thousands of years to strengthen and add body to the hair and is known as Ayurveda's most potent hair vitalizer while Amla darkens, nourishes and strengthens hair at the roots to prevent excessive hair shedding. Great for conditioning, preventing split ends and enhancing hair growth.

3. Hair Trigger Explosive Growth Elixir with Cayenne Pepper - This as the name suggests is supposed to speed up your hair growth with a mix of potent growth stimulants. It contains Avocado, Castor, Sage, Jojoba and rosemary oils; Biotin, Silica, Black Tea, Cayenne pepper, Garlic and Onion. (yes garlic and onion lol) Garlic and onion are known for their high sulfur content which help to stimulate growth. A lot of ladies make their own onion and garlic juice and have reported good results. This product comes in different scents and this one is the Vanilla Pound Cake. It actually smells like toffee ( and is quite thick like melted toffee to be honest) As sweet as it smells, I found it a bit much and the oil, too thick.

The Exciting World Of Natural Oils And Their Benefits In Hair Care - Part 1.

Before the 'revolution' in  black hair care began, a lot of hair products specifically targeted towards the care of our hair, were laden with mineral oil a.k.a parrafin liquidum and petroleum oil a.k.a Petrolatum (some of them still are actually). Now while these emollients are not 'bad' in of themselves, the effect they have on our strands in the long run is where the problem lies.

We know now that moisturizing our hair daily with a water based moisturizer and using a deep conditioning treatment weekly is a key factor in making our hair supple, well elasticized and breakage free. When we apply these moisturizers, it's like giving our hair a 'drink of water' - effectively quenching its thirst.

Now think of petroleum jelly - if you smear some on your hand and then pour water on that portion of hand, what happens? The water glides off as the petroleum jelly has created a 'barrier'.

The same thing happens with our hair! When we apply products laden with these substances, they create an un - permeable barrier and any moisture we try to apply subsequently, just sits on top of the strands instead of penetrating through and 'quenching' the hair's thirst. Result? Hair gets dry, brittle and eventually breaks off. This is even more pronounced for those who wash very rarely yet load these products on their hair and scalp very frequently.