Let’s try something. Run your fingers through your hair. That’s it, all five of them from the roots to the ends! Feels smooth like a hot knife slicing butter, right? Soft as a whisper, like the wind through bird wings… Or is your hand stuck in a pile of straw-like strands? Well, this might just mean you’ve hit a dry spell and your curls could do with a drink!

If your hair is feeling dry, it’s probably a bit damaged too. Just watch how a drop of water sizzles on the hot plate of your straighteners and evaporates into hissing steam.

Now imagine what that’s doing to your hair. On the surface, excessive heat styling, harsh colouring and chemicals leave your curls looking frazzled and flat. But the damage being done goes much deeper.

As the heat and chemicals burn through the hair strand, precious moisture escapes through cracks in the cuticles, which form a protective layer around the delicate core. The result is bone-dry, brittle and breakage-prone hair.

It’s not just the cuticles that protect your curls from dryness. The sebaceous glands in your scalp are pumping out natural oils all the time to keep your skin and hair healthy and hydrated.

It’s a fine balance though; too much oil will give you greasy roots, while too little results in dandruff and an itchy scalp. Sebum creates a protective barrier on the scalp’s surface, then travels down the hair shaft to lubricate each strand of hair.

But here’s the catch: the straighter the route down, the easier the journey. Throw in the twists, turns, kinks and coils of curly hair and the sebum faces plenty of diversions to delay its trip down to the ends, which become dry over time.

The Curl-prits

• Weather: Winter winds and cold air dries your hair out, while the heat and harmful UV rays from the sun sucks out precious moisture from your hair. This weakens the natural pigment needed to filter out the light radiation and prevent it from penetrating the hair shaft. The same goes for swimming – you might love the beach babe look, but chlorine and salt water wreak havoc on your hair if you’re not using the right products to protect it. 
  
  
• Damage from styling: Much like the sun, but closer to home. Heat styling is a one-way ticket to frazzled and fried hair. Colouring and chemical styling works like this: First, the chemicals weaken the hair shaft. Then, they break down the pigment. This causes your cuticles to swell, and eventually alters the very structure of your hair. That’s thirsty work for your curls to deal with.
  
  
• Over-washing: You might try to remedy your dry hair by washing it more often, but this actually does more harm than good. For most curl types, once a week is a good balance; any more and you’ll be stripping your hair of the natural oils it needs to keep itself moisturised. Watch out for products that are heavy on alcohol and drying agents too. 

Curl Heroes for Dry Hair

For dry hair, it’s all about hydration, hydration, hydration! Our Curl Heroes are dripping with moisture-boosting ingredients to soothe and soften your hair. Your thirsty curls will drink them up like a cat laps milk.

• CONDITIONER

Made with baobab oil and cupuaçu butter to keep your curls as soft as a baby's bum. With sweet orange essential oil and other citrusy scents for wash day bliss. It also contains yucca plant extract, a natural and gentle cleanser perfect for co-washing dry and damaged hair.

As a moisturising conditioner: Keep your hair soaking wet and drizzle water as you apply to keep the moisture locked into the hair. Leave in for a minute or two. Be gentle when teasing out the tangles. Rinse and finish.

As a deeper treatment: Repeat the above and leave in your hair for longer. Turn up the music. Sing along. Steam up the bathroom and let the steam work its magic in your hair. For thicker curls, rinse out and keep some in for a leave-in. For finer curls, rinse out completely.

As a co-wash: Use just like you would a shampoo. Give yourself a dreamy scalp massage to stimulate sebum production. Rinse out to remove product buildup, but retain moisture.

• DEEP CONDITIONING CURL MASK

Let’s get deep. Formulated with fancy FiberHance™ to penetrate the hair shaft to strengthen, repair and restore your curls. Moisture-boosting shea butter and nutrient-rich baobab oil work together to nourish, soften and hydrate. A match made in curl heaven.

Apply on dripping wet hair after cleansing. Use your pretty fingers to detangle or comb through. Wait at least 15 minutes before rinsing out. For some extra love and a deeper treatment, wrap with plastic and cover with a hot towel. If your curls are dry and damaged, leave some of the mask in to act as a leave-in. Keep diluting with water when rinsing instead of rinsing out completely. You can even use it for each wash instead of a normal conditioner for dry and damaged curls.

Hero Ingredients for Dry Hair

ALOE VERA LEAF GEL

Cooling, soothing, healing, strengthening… Is there anything this plant can’t do? With fatty acids to reduce the inflammation caused by dandruff and deep-conditioning qualities, aloe vera is a dry scalp’s best friend. Much gentler than your average hair product, it removes excess sebum and buildup from other products to cleanse the hair and scalp. Some say it even makes your hair grow faster – explained by the high count of vitamins A, C and E that contribute to cell renewal. Aloe there, dream hair.

FIBERHANCE

Sounds fancy? Well, it is. This active ingredient works at a molecular level to penetrate deep into the hair cortex, creating new hydrogen and ionic bonds that support and restore the internal keratin structure. Building up the inner strength of the hair fibre, it works from the inside out to repair damaged hair and bring back the power to the curl. Chemicals, heat and harsh treatments don’t stand a chance. It also goes by the name of Hydroxypropyl Gluconamide. Do you feel that? That’s chemistry.

BAOBAB OIL

There’s a reason why this superhero ingredient features in all five of our products. Extracted from the seeds of the fruit that blooms on the majestic Madagascan baobab tree, this nutrient-rich oil has been used by women for centuries for its deep conditioning qualities. Packed full of fatty acids and vital vitamins, including all three omegas, this wonder oil absorbs quickly into the hair to nourish, moisturise and soften your curls. They don’t call it the Tree of Life for nothing.

CUPUAÇU BUTTER

Moisture-rich and filled with fatty acids, butters are a curl’s best friend. But not all butters were created equal. Cupuaçu is an Amazonian superfruit, and the butter pressed from the seeds is one of nature’s most powerful moisturisers. With healing hydrophilic (water-loving) properties that lock in moisture and a whole alphabet of vitamins and antioxidants to feed your hair with nature’s goodness, this butter will banish breakages. Plus, it creates a protective barrier against the sun’s harmful UV rays. Hello, summer and shine.