As far as we know, people living in Africa and America have very curly hair. In addition, a feature of this hair type is easy to get coarse hair and breakage. Today, we will introduce you LCO method to solve the question “ how to soften coarse African American hair ?”. Please stay tuned and read this post until the end.
What is LCO method?
LCO stands for liquid, cream and oil. These are things we need to soften coarse African American hair.
In this method, liquid is leave-in conditioner. So what is leave-in conditioner? It is a type of conditioner that you needn’t wash your hair after using it. It will moisturize and provide nutrients to your hair.
Similar to leave-in conditioner, cream can make your hair smoother and softer. It has ability to define curls, tame frizz and add moisture to your hair. Honestly, if your curly hair is short, there is no need to apply cream, leave-in conditioner is enough to make your hair bouncy and fully.
Some natural oils such as coconut oil, olive oil, almond oil, etc. will have deep humidity effect and stimulate hair growth. Specially, these oils hardly cause side effect so that you can use it in long time.
Why should you use this combination?
As you can see, leave-in conditioner, cream and oil have the same benefit to our hair. You may consider that “do we need to use all of them at once?”. The answer is YES. These three products not only provide threefold nutrients and moisture to your hair but they also support each other.
Steps to use this method
Step 1: Preparing your hair
Firstly, you need to wash your hair. If your hair is oily and dirty, it will be hard for moisturizing process. Moreover, after shampooing, your hair is easier to detangle and remove knot. To make it better, you should use conditioner and rinse your hair with cold water.
Secondly, you can use hair-drier or let your hair dry naturally. We recommend you to use hair-drier with cool mode, because high heat can cause split ends and breakage and so on to your hair.
Thirdly, you should use your hair to detangle and remove knot in your hair carefully and gently. Remember to start detangling with the end of your hair so that you won’t hurt your scalp, then use a wide teeth comb to brush your hair. After that, you have to divide your hair into parts.
Step 2: Applying liquid, cream and oil to your hair
It is easy to realize which one will be smeared to your hair first, isn’t it? You have to start with each parts of your hair to make sure that you don’t forget any one of them. This is the key answer of the question “how to soften coarse African American hair?”
First of all, you spray leave-in conditioner onto your hair. You should spray around your hair and your scalp as well. Unlikely oil, this type of condition does not stimulate your scalp to secrete more. On contrary, your scalp can absorb nutrients from leave-in conditioner easily thanks to its liquid form.
Right after spraying liquid, you will smear cream to your hair. Because it is really creamy so you need to do it fast and make it evenly. You should pile a little cream to your hand and apply it. If there is not enough, you can add more until you are satisfied. You need to choose the product that is suitable for your hair or it will make your hair dirty and cause dandruff.
Lastly, applying oil. You shouldn’t use too much oil. If you do, your hair will be oily and not full at all. Moreover, it is a bad idea to apply oil to your scalp because it will speed up the scalp’s secretion. Therefore, you should smear oil from the mid-length to the end of your hair only.
Step 3: Twisting your hair
After applying the products above to a part of your hair, you need to separate it in two strands and twist them together. Thanks to African American hair, the natural curls can hold the twist without using hair ties. In addition, twisting your hair can relax your hair and support the nutrients absorption of your hair. It gives a hand in setting your hair in order as well.
Step 4: Loosening your hair
When you wake up, you need to loosen all the twists. You should do it by your hands gently. Then, you need a comb brush to make it smooth and in order. Your hair will be much softer and smoother. Especially, you can see that your hair will be shinny and fully after being moisturized.
Before and after doing LCO method (Source: Internet)
Tips for you
– You should let the twists overnight to have a deep moisturizing process. Additionally, you cannot go out with this weird style, right?
– You should do LCO process 1-2 times per week. If you conduct it more, it doesn’t mean your hair will be better. It may cause oily hair and your hair color can be dull.
We hope that you know how to soften coarse African American hair after this post. There are still a lot of other methods that we will introduce you afterward. Therefore, don’t forget to follow our website to discover all of them. If you have any question about hair care, please let us know.
I am Thomas Taw, the CEO of CITIZENSNIPS. I have experience in hair product development and chemical research, as well as sustainable resource engineering. In 2009, I co-created Sunsilk, one of the world's leading haircare brands. More recently, I was the CEO of SMOKINGPANDA LTD. I am a professional with a strong track record in delivering tangible results.
