by
Geniece
It’s no secret that naturally coily and curly hair types benefit from products that foster moisture retention. This is particularly true during the dry summer months when natural hair has a tendency to become especially dry and requires regular moisture in order to prevent breakage. One particular option that I learned earlier in my healthy hair journey was the “water only” regimen. The water only method not only recommends using products with water high on the ingredient list of a product, but also using water and nothing else. According to advocates of this method, spritzing or washing one’s hair regularly with water provides hair with needed moisture without the added build up that comes from oils, butters or silicones often included in hair products. I’ve experimented with this method and like many methods, there are benefits and drawbacks.
Water Only
I found that when using the water only method there were two important factors necessary in order for my tightly coiled hair to retain moisture:
1) I need to LIGHTLY mist my hair with water each day.
2) The weather needed to be cool or mildly hot.
Exposure to extreme cold or extreme heat required that I add a butter or oil to seal in moisture. Still, spraying my hair with water each day during very cold or very hot days reduced the number of times I felt it necessary to add a butter or oil. The water only method is a great option for individuals with very fine hair; as oils and butters can weigh down your hair style and/or require that you wash your hair more frequently. Even if you don’t have fine hair, you may find that a water only (or water mostly) regimen reduces the need for butters and lessens the buildup that you experience each week.
Other Liquid Only Options
While I have found success with the water only method (moisturizing my hair on wash day with a butter and spritzing the remainder of the week), I have found that other liquids had proven to be even more beneficial to my hair. I am a huge fan of aloe vera juice and often look for ingredients with aloe vera high on a product’s ingredient list. Why? In addition to adding moisture to my hair I find that the pH balance of aloe vera helps to smooth the cuticles of my hair making it feel softer. Now, to be clear: Just because my hair “feels” softer it doesn’t necessarily mean that it actually is softer or that water is inferior to aloe vera. However, if a natural product safely helps smooth the cuticles of my hair, I will use the product often because well, who doesn’t like the feel of soft hair?
Other liquid only options that you might also consider are rose water, glycerin mixed with water or using a homemade spritz with mostly water and a few drops of oil. If you are in love with fragrances but aren’t crazy about chemicals you might consider infusing your liquid mixture with dried rose petals.
If you have never experimented with a liquid only regimen or find that a water only regimen recommend is lacking, consider the alternatives described and add oils and butters every few days if necessary. You might even find that during late summer and early fall the liquid only regimen serves your hair well.
Tip: If you wear braid outs or twist outs, at night, I recommend adding your liquid of choice to sections of hair you plan to set. If you wear a bun or other up do styles, I recommend spritzing your hair in the morning and tying it with a satin scarf for a round 15 minutes to provide a sleek look.
Have you experimented with a liquid only regimen? What were the pros or cons? What is your favorite liquid moisturizer of choice?
19 Responses
With liquid only (aloe Vera) could you do this process when wearing wigs and how often should you spray on your hair
I’ve never used an aloe Vera juice and water mix but I am very interested. Before, I used this mixed, I would like to know, what is the best water for this mix?
Distilled water
I quit all products, now it’s just water and if I want to clean my scalp I use water with Himalayan salt and sometimes lemon. and No my hair does not smell, neither is my scalp dirty.
I prayed so earnestly about my hair and that I am a 100% convinced that my hair does not need products, God himself created me and he made everything perfect Psalm 139:13,14. So since God did not gave me a bottle of oil or shampoo or whatever, at birth, or a list of steps to take to get soft and beautiful hair. I trust God to have made me perfect, but I should just be patient with my hair and the transitioning time and not expect or compare. I asked God for simplicity and still beautiful hair and after not using shampoos, etc. already now I take it farther and use just water and sebum, and I will not use al sorts of technics to get the sebum to my ends.. Even this was made by God to reach the ends of my hair without manipulating my hair. I am tired of twisting, preening massaging and all other thing I did.
The reason why I use Himalayan salt to clean my scalp; I use it on my whole body and the effects are amazing, just to name a few: softer skin, weird freckles and blemishes or dryness are gone! Praise God for this.
Seriously, by all those things I was doing I was just proclaiming that God did a horrible job and I need to fix my hair/show Him how it is supposed to be done.. Romans 9:21. God has wisdom to over see everything our body needs including the curly hairs on my head.
I have to say like every other person, we have good and bad hair days and, I have to say, my hair days have been better using no products. Easy detangle and less breakage.
So now it is in Gods hands and I will pray and use what is see my hair loves and that is WATER and patience! 😀
I too have started the water only method. Just on the 2nd day of it and documenting the journey of it written and video. So far, just on day 2, I’m impressed. My hair is soft and has a bit of shine to it. I have cottony type hair, and more 4c in the top and front. I washed mine in twist for now. For the first two weeks the youtuber WaterOnlyWashing suggests washing it at lest 2 weeks daily til you feel the sebum covering the hair strand. I can’t wait to see the ultimate results of this. So far, I’m sold. Also, my ends curled better with just water than with product. I did lightly oil a few with coconut oil. I’m still pretty amazed with this method.
Free samples give away. 100% natural aloe vera products. Send your info for free trial of products.
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_1111462076514.jpeg[/img]
I would love to try water only…but what about detangling? Removing shed hair under running water has never worked for me long-term–I always end up missing a lot of it and generating massive mats and knots later. And I can’t just detangle with water because my hair snaps super easily without a lubricating oil. Geniece, how did you detangle without increasing breakage during your water-only stint?
That is exactly what my question was for the whole thing. I have very thick hair and I couldn’t imagine just water to detangle it. Could somebody answer our question on how we would detangle our hair using the wash only?
I have been doing the water only wash for almost two months. I truly enjoy it…I have adapted it to my lifestyle though. YouTube WaterWashOnly and there is a blog by Minimalist Beauty- Dawn Michelle she explains it also.
I lightly finger detangle then place in 6-8 braids…then I detangle on wet hair after massaging and lightly “scritching” the scalp and bring the oil from the roots to the tip with a boar bristle brush. I use a bamboo brush. After a few weeks the oil (sebum) from your hair will be coating your strands and it is so much easier to comb and detangle…
Hope this helps some…
The bamboo brush is when I comb through my wet hair. The boar bristle is used on dry hair…
Free samples of aloe available
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_1111462076514-1.jpeg[/img]
I’ve been water only washing for about 6 months and honestly detangling has never been easier. Your hair get’s used to and adapts to not having products in it and once you get to full sebum coverage no more breakage (at least that’s what I experienced). Our sebum is our natural sealant so no need for oils or butters. I dry (As in completely dry, no water spritz) finger detangle and my hair doesn’t break or shed as much anymore (I have really thin strands just fyi) . When I was moving into water only I detangled with flax seed gel on dry hair and it works pretty well. Flax seed gel melts tangles away pretty well too. So you can try that before you go straight into dry detangling if you’re not comfortable.
Hi Dananana, I know you directed your question at Geniece, but I do have an answer for you 🙂 Once your entire length of hair is coated in sebum, detangling is a breeze. I have 4a/b hair, fyi. Detangling with conditioner plus oil was never this easy for me. The sebum provides awesome slip, I can detangle in and out of the shower, using my fingers only. So, i massage my scalp, and then ‘drag’ the sebum down my length. Shed hair just glides out AND my number of shed hairs has drastically reduced. There is a you tuber, wateronlyhairwash. She obviously uses the method, and has informative videos you may want to check out. All the best to you, hhj.
Thanks for the suggestions, Mea and la*belle! I might have to try this method soon 🙂
She is moisturizing with something of a higher pH that penetrates her strands effectively (water) and then ‘sealing’ with something of a lower pH that smooths the strands and helps her hair retain the moisture (aloe vera juice)….It’s exactly what I, and most naturals do.
I spritz with water lightly when prepping my styles for the next day, and then spritz with hibiscus tea to ‘seal’ and smooth my strands…I apply a light oil and KIM.
I tried water only once and found that my scalp would become extremely irritated (firey, itching sensation) if I went multiple days wetting my hair and not adding some kind of oil to my scalp. That’s actually how I learned that castor oil works well for me as “grease” for my scalp. I would wet or spritz my hair in the morning before work, and by lunch time, I was practically clawing the skin off my head it burned so bad. Then I’d have to rush home to shampoo and condition because that was the only way to relieve the feeling. If I tried to just rewet, it would be another day of scalp irritation, and I’d spend the evening scratching my scalp with a hair pic because after a while, my nails wouldn’t do the trick. Anyway, I learned that I have to apply an oil to my scalp. And even as far as just using water on my hair, my 4c hair loses moisture far too readily to not apply a moisturizer on top of the water to seal it in. Water only leaves my hair brittle and rough after my hair dries. Because of that experience my routine is now mist with a liquid, massage castor oil on my scalp, and apply moisturizer to my hair (I shampoo and condition as needed). It’s simple enough and works for me.
I’ve tried it. 3 months using water only wash, and its great!
-Hair is soft
-Hair doesn’t feel as dry.
-LOW BUILDUP
-No itchy scalp. If it itches, its probably due for a waterwashing!
Purpose: To the hair moisturize itself by using the natural oils the body produces via the scalp.
Result: Healthy & hydrated lower maintenance hair, with fewer knots.
Cost-effective: no buying of hair products.
How to:
-Clarify hair with shampoo.
(because you will no longer be using any shampoo or conditioner from here on)
When water washing: Soak that scalp. Just standing under a shower for ten minutes is just divine.
-DO NOT WATER-WASH EVERYDAY. You can suffer hydrofatigue and actually damage your hair.
-I use ground temp water. Cool (basically luke warm to touch)
(Hot water strips away the sebum (natural scalp oil) from your hair, which undoes all your progress.)
-I wash when my hair feels dry.
-Spritz daily.
-Massage daily to increase sebum (natural scalp oil) production. This will help control any dry scalp (white flakes) you may experience. Also promotes massive hair growth
-DO NOT manipulate WET HAIR, leave it to air dry until damp. This will reduce breakage
Other Liquids methods:
-Tea Bag (orange pekoe or any bitter tasting tea bag), soak 2 tea bags in 4 cups of boiling hot water. Leave until cool.
-Pour over hair until soaking, properly soaked. Air dry.
-Rinse out on wash day
-Hair smells nice! Like Tea!
-Blend until liquid the aloe vera from the plant (if you have) mix with water or teabag recipe from above. Soak hair.
-Rinse next wash day
-If not blended properly, aloe vera chunks can stick to hair.
Haven’t tried the rose water method. But rose water does reduce the appearance of blemishes on the skin and evens the tone. The best rose water is made from harvesting roses from a rose plant in your own garden.
Rinse the leaves of any bugs.
Place in a heat proof container
Add enough hot water to cover the leaves.
Cover the container (yes making rose tea)
and leave overnight.
If roses are red: the water will be pink, white: brown, etc
Strain out petals (they will be discoloured) pour into a dispenser. Use within 2 weeks or until the scent is off.
ANYWAYS… after 3 months of water only washing.
I washed my hair with soap after 3 months, and oiled my strands.
Bad idea: The oil clogged my follicles and gave me infections.
(at this point my scalp had gotten accustomed to its own natural oils, and needed nothing extra)
The build up was something awful, and dry scalp came back with a vengeance. I eventually washed it out after 2 weeks, and.. had ..no more itchy scalp!
PRECAUTION:
If you work or in areas where your hair is exposed to high levels of dust, chemicals (from hair sprays, cleaning, vehicle exhaust, etc) this method may not be for you, because you WILL need to wash those chemicals off of your hair and scalp and WATER WASHING WILL not do that for you.
There are natural soaps out there, harvested from trees, you can also consider using that as a hair cleansing method verses the harsh chemicals found in soaps and shampoos.
Wow, thank you for all that info. Very useful as I am WO too. Very affordable method, and my scalp is so happy. I have found that taking flax seed oil worked wonders in terms of sebum production.
I’m so used to oils and butters that I would feel like I am starving my hair or something… I will need to see really impressive results to want to actually try it! Thanks for the articles btw !
http://www.elletransitionne.com (for the frenchies)