What is Hygral Fatigue and How to Combat It?

Hygral Fatigue is a topic that I have mentioned in previous blog posts so I’m certain you have heard of it by now. If not, no worries, I will briefly explain what it is and how I work to combat it.

What is Hygral Fatigue?

Let’s touch on what happens to the hair fiber as water passes in and out of our hair strands during wash day. When hair is wet, the hair shaft expands and swells to absorb water and hair product. As water and product passes through our strands and evaporates, the hair shaft de-swells, contracts and shrinks back to normal size. The repeated process of expansion and contraction is stressful and damaging as it weakens the hair cuticle and cortex, thereby making it prone to damage. The damage that is done to the hair fiber from the expansion and contraction is known as hygral fatigue.

How Does Hygral Fatigue Occur?

Washing your hair won’t necessarily lead to hygral fatigue so don’t panic just yet. Instead, the probability for hygral fatigue is based upon the overall health of your hair and many other factors:
-how frequent the hair swells and de-swells {beware of frequent co-washing & baggying}
-how healthy or damaged the cuticle layer is {photos of my cuticle damaged hair}
-how gentle or rough you are when manipulating {detangling & combing}
-how harsh or drying your products are {oil rinsing to combat dryness & tangles}
-whether your styling tools are damaging to the cuticle {seamless vs. seamed combs}
-whether you use harsh towels that rough up the cuticle or gentler options like the curly tee towel
-etc.

How to Combat Hygral Fatigue!

Textured hair has a tendency to take in more water than other hair types which makes it susceptible to damage. In addition, our hair loses a little bit of protein each time we wash our hair. Therefore, protecting the inner protein structure of the hair shaft is important to combatting hygral fatigue.

Using oils prior to shampooing is one of the best ways to protect the inner structure of the hair. Pre-shampooing, or pre-pooing for short, means applying a (thin or heavy) coating of oil to our hair and allowing it to penetrate into the strands for 15-30 minutes or more before shampooing. Pre-pooing protects and buffers the hair against the harsh and drying effects of shampooing and prevents the loss of protein from the hair.

While there are many oils to select from for a pre-poo treatment, it is best to use an oil that penetrates deep into the hair to protect the inner protein structure. My favorite is extra virgin coconut oil! Research has shown that extra virgin coconut oil…
-penetrates past the hair cuticles;
-is a polar oil, meaning it has an attraction to the proteins within the hair fiber; and,
-it strengthens and reinforces the hair shaft from within.

The presence of extra virgin coconut oil reduces the amount of swelling within the hair shaft, thereby minimizing the potential for hygral fatigue. Therefore, extra virgin coconut oil makes for a great pre-poo treatment based on its overall benefits to the hair as well its ability to combat hygral fatigue!

Related Article: What is Hygral Fatigue | Learn Impacts & Prevention 

How do you combat hygral fatigue?