i’m a pre-poo geek! i love mixing things up in blenders and getting sticky fingers with honey and oils.
notice i said honey. i keep telling kinky haired naturals like myself to start using honey. you guys have really got to stop sleeping on one of god’s greatest hair elixirs!
one of the things i like about pre-pooing is that it helps with detangling because it can make your hair very soft.
pre-pooing is simply a pre-shampoo treatment, which is applied to the hair and/or scalp, left on for a period of time and then shampooed out. some people like to apply oils (olive, jojoba, etc.), conditioners or some combination of the two.
i like oils and other natural and organic ingredients.
benefits of pre-pooing
“pre-poos have many different benefits. pre-poos often help protect our hair from the harsh shampooing process. the majority of the buildup we are trying to remove lies on our scalp, not our hair (especially if you are not using a lot of product). our hair really only needs the conditioning aspect of the wash cycle. using an oil or a conditioner can help provide a barrier between the hair and the harsh detergents in the shampoo.
in this case, this pre-poo helps to condition the hair. it seems counter intuitive. why would we put a product on our hair that we were eventually just going to wash out? actually, conditioners and oil often work better when applied to dry hair. think of a sponge. if you place a dry sponge on a spill, it will absorb more than if your placed a wet sponge on that same spill. our hair reacts the same way, absorbing conditioner into the hair shaft.” source
when i want to do a goooood pre-poo, this is my recipie. this may or may not work for you, but i’ve not found one type 4 and above who did not see super soft hair after making this mixture. and transitioners found that it made their roots soft. since naturals are all “roots/new growth” anyway, your entire head should feel like butter after trying this pre-poo.
first, be sure to start with dry and well detangled hair. after you’ve detangled well with your hands if need be, put hair into four sections and clip each section. this is a must because this prepoo mixture is a bit sticky so working in sections (on hair that is long enough) is a life saver! next, saturate each section with the pre-poo mixture below:
1/4 cup raw wild honey
1/4 cup organic molasses (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup raw sugar (raw is important as is still has molasses and is not bleached like white sugar)
1/4 cornstarch
1/4 cup lemon extract (or you can use fresh squeezed lemon if need be)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
10-12 drops of your favorite essential oil; i use rosemary and tea tree
leave on hair for 30 minutes to an hour. i always suggest doing this and then watching a good movie.
i don’t wash this out with shampoo, i use my regular conditioner to wash it out and i’m left with hair so soft and manageable that it’s indescribable.
if you decide to try this recipie please report back and let me know how it went for you! happy pre-pooing!
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you are welcome, ebz. glad you found this post helpful! pre-pooing can be beneficial.
Okay, so I didn’t use all of those ingredients (mainly because I didn’t feel like going to the store), but I still got really good results. All that I used were the honey, apple cider vinegar, vatika oil, evoo with a few drops of ylang ylang and eucalyptus oils. The smell wasn’t so pleasant, but I put on a shower cap and let it sit for abou 20-30 mins. Washed it out with Kinky-Curly’s Come Clean shampoo and my hair felt pretty darn good. I hadn’t been moisturizing it for about 2 days, and after pre-pooing I didn’t have a hard time detangling at all. I might have to add that I didn’t detangle before and it wasn’t on dry clean hair, but I still got good results.
Thanks for the idea, never thought I’d become someone who pre-poos.
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Thanks
BJ
beautiful – i do this on hair that is 1. not super tangled (after braids, week/s old twists etc.) and 2. hair i gently detangle with my hands before i get started to make sure i have no small tangles. so if i’d had my hair pinned up, i’d take it down, run my fingers through and then proceed to add this pre-poo.
i don’t use a comb to detangle dry hair – not even my shower comb – but using your hands is not a problem because it’s not teeth. once you get this pre-poo on your hair, your hair will then be “wet” and you can proceed with your regular styling.
Dry AND detangled? If you’re not “supposed” to detangle your hair while dry, how do you manage to work with dry, detangled hair?
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