I have to be honest, I hadn’t even heard of the LOC method until L4L writer Roni penned a fantastic post explaining that is a systematic way of moisturizing and sealing your hair for better moisture retention. Long story short L-O-C is an acronym for the order of product application (liquid-oil-cream) and has become quite popular among natural haired ladies. Now you should already know how I feel about something that as universal as moisturizing and sealing being reserved for natural vs. relaxed hair, right? So, of course I decided to experiment a bit with the LOC method on relaxed hair so I could report my experience.
It is so funny how the online “hair community” goes through phases: products, techniques, terms and even styles are the hot ticket item one minute and the next hardly anyone is doing them. I bring that up because I’ve been using something similar to the LOC method since the start of my hair journey…only it wasn’t called LOC. I referred to it as “triple layer moisturize and seal” a phrase which other bloggers actually picked up and now use, but that isn’t the original name either. I say that to say – this isn’t really new, it has just been re-branded. Now for my thoughts on the LOC method on relaxed hair…
I had a very hard time feeling comfortable following the L-O-C steps in that order because in my mind oil not only seals in moisture but also blocks additional moisture from being added. Therefore why would I use a cream after the oil? But I wanted to try it exactly as written and I must say my hair did feel more moisturized then my normal two-step moisturizing and sealing routine. However, next I tried it in the order that makes more sense to me: Liquid-Cream-Oil and here are the products I chose to use:
- Liquid: OBI Naturals Curl Enhancing Spray. Many naturalistas simply use water but a pH balanced moisturizing spray seemed a bit better so I opted for it.
- Cream: Bee Mine Luscious Balanced Cream Moisturizer. My favorite moisturizer of all times, so no surprise there.
- Oil: Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. I still wanted my hair to be as light as possible so I passed on heavier oils like castor and olive.
- I also used Jane Carter Revitalizing Leave-In (liquid), Bee Mine Deja’s Hair Milk (Cream) and Grapeseed Oil (Oil) occasionally.
Now, what I am sure you all want to know,
Is there a difference using the LOC Method on relaxed hair versus natural hair?
Well, yes and no. In Roni’s post her third step was a cream, but it was a styling product. One of the very few differences I’ve noted between naturals and relaxed women is less use of a curl enhancing product for our heads. I don’t say complete lack because many of us still use curly butters, puddings, pomades, and mousses to give our braid and twist outs definition and if you look above, the first step in the LOC method on my relaxed hair was a product labeled as curl enhancing spray. We don’t do wash n’ gos…that’s called air drying for us. So for natural haired ladies following the steps exactly as laid out in the acronym makes perfect sense, the third step isn’t supposed to add additional moisture its supposed to help with styling. Plus a lot of styling products are less moisturizing and can even be drying so sealing the hair with an oil prior to application is great. However for relaxed girls, I think we should modify it just a bit to make it work best for our hair. Just my thoughts…
