The Drip Dry Method | My Secret to Extreme Moisture Retention in Tightly Coiled Kinky Hair

Tightly coiled kinks fall all the way to the end of the moisture retention stick.  Natural oils don't make their way down the hair shaft to seal the cuticles and so the hair is relegated to dryness.  As a conscientious healthy hair practitioner you are burdened with a moisture and seal routine every 2 days to ensure your hair isn't lost to the dark, I mean dry side.  You've gotta keep that hair moisturized - moisturized hair is happy hair, and happy hair is healthy!

So how do you get healthy moisturized happy hair?

I have the secret...can you keep it?  I'm going to share it with you.

It's one of those secrets you're never sure you should tell, though. Should you let out into the world? The fear of it falling on the wrong ears, being misinterpreted, and coming back to bite your ear off.  But... I trust you. I trust that you listen (and read) very carefully. That you internalize. That you comprehend. That you think. And that before action, you understand.  So I'm going to share my secret with you.

If ever you've suffered dry strands, that never seem to hold moisture, no matter what; I have the remedy for you.  As I described to you before, I stumbled upon this technique about 6 months ago and have been repeating it ever since because the results are hard to deny. I have hydrated and moisturized hair, not requiring a mid week/style moisture and seal routine.  Without much effort - maybe I am a lazy natural after all - I have managed to obtain and retain high levels of moisture in my tightly coiled kinky hair, which at the beginning of this here hair journey seemed near impossible.

And this is basically how I've achieved it, with only 4 steps...

The Drip Dry Method

Following a full wash session, including deep conditioning, after detangling and rinsing with cold(ish) water

1. Tightly squeeze hair in sections using hands, 4 should be about right
2. After squeezing, not wringing, hair should not drip water immediately, but after about 2 mins will begin to drip again
3. Use a towel around the shoulders to catch drips - unless you enjoy having your top soaked, or it's the middle of summer and water dripping down your back is refreshing
4. Do some much needed work, chores, editing, catching up on blog posts and YouTube, you know, the regular for 2 hours or more  - depending your hair's profile (length, porosity, density, thickness)

Follow with your regular post wash routine (L.O.C or L.C.O) and style as usual.

Notes:

• I tend to wear low-manipulation and short term protective styles a lot.  So my strands are not overly exposed to the elements of the environment - read: no wash n gos and limited twist outs.
• Currently my hair is short; not TWA short, but not chin length (when shrunken) either.  Therefore I don't have soaking wet hair hanging on my neck, back and in my face as it drip drys.
• I ran this 'experiment' during the warmer months, where walking around with wet hair wasn't an issue as it may be as it gets colder - thankfully however here in Bermuda the temps don't drop too much, but just enough for it to become a problem

Definitely keep these things in mind if and when considering this technique.  If my hair were longer, and as it does grow out more I can't say that this would be my go-to method.  Also, if I wore my hair out more the moisture retention period may not be as lengthy.  However, this works for me for now.

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While you determine for yourself if this suits you at this stage in your hair journey, browse my mini picture gallery of my last wash day where I attempted a comparative experiment to show the results of different drying techniques on my strands.

Before and After Towel Drying

I conducted active drying on both front sections of my hair.  On the left view I towel dried by using a towel to squeeze my hair to remove "excess" water.  I didn't rub or ruffle the towel to avoid raising the cuticles and causing frizz.

Before and After T-shirt Drying

On the right view I T-shirt dried, by wrapping the hair in a 98% cotton t-shirt, and left on for 30 mins without manipulation before removing.

You can see the strands are clearly dry.  The T-shirt dried portion was still fairly damp after the 30 mins, the Towel Dried section was practically bone dry (to prevent excessive air drying I used a hair band while waiting the additional 30 mins for comparison)

Back view of freshly washed hair

After Drip Drying 

After 3.5-4 hrs the hair is still visibly wet.  However, it is no longer dripping wet.  The hair was quite wet to the touch but would not release any water when squeezed (but did sprinkle when shaken)

You be the judge...

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If this method fits your hair profile and routine, test it out.. let me know how it works for you in the comments below!

What's your method for extreme moisture retention?

~ Josie Jo ~